Friday Fantasy: 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025

A calendar is useful, if boring. Start of the month, check for appointments and things you are planning to do. Cross off the days as they pass, and when you get to the end of the month, flip over the page and start on the next. Either that or you are ripping off one page, day-by-day, month-by-month, all the way to the end of the year when you will start all over again with a fabulous new calendar. Of course, a calendar can be themed or display pictures from your favourite series of books or television series, or whatever you like, as there is probably calendar for it. What though if you wanted to go an adventure, fight monsters, find treasures, be a hero? Well, you would think that you were out of luck, except that is for the 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025. This is a calendar on which you can face challenge nearly every day, whether it is battling goblins, facing mushroom men, avoiding a trap, and fighting a boss like a two-headed giant or a minotaur! As you play from one month to the next, there will be rewards, but also greater challenges, and as you cross one defeated monsters or overcome challenge after another, you can keep track of your score on the 365 Adventures app, compare your score with others, and at the end of the year find out what your overall score is for the year.

Published by the amusingly named Sorry We Are French, the 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025 is a desk calendar that you can play once a day for two minutes for the whole of the year. Alongside the fliptop calendar itself, the 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025 comes with a rules leaflet, five six-sided dice—four red, one blue, and Marlow. Marlow is the hero of the story, a brave and mighty warrior, ready on January 1st, to enter the dungeon labyrinth of monster-infested rooms and trap-laden corridors, fight monsters big and small, face down bosses of increasing toughness, and put what treasures he can find to use to defeat yet more monsters! Marlow is represented by a flat metal enamelled figure, armed with sword and shield, and always moving to the right, deeper into the wing represented by the current week, and down to the next level, each one represented by a whole month. There is a challenge every day and a boss monster to defeat on Sundays! Marlow does not have to defeat every monster to keep moving forward, but the more he defeats, the greater his score at the end of the year.

Each day player gets to roll the dice to defeat one monster or the boss monster at the end of the week/wing. The have a value of between one and six, whilst the boss monsters have values ranging from sixteen to thirty, the values for the boss monsters varying across the week. The values for both monsters and boss monsters rise over the course of the year. Each day, the player rolls the dice up to three times, the aim being to roll slightly different whether facing a monster or a boss monster. To defeat a monster, a player has to roll three of the same value as a monster. Thus, for monster rated as a four, he must roll three dice with the number four on them. To defeat a boss monster, the total number on all of the dice must equal or be greater than the value of the boss monster. The player does not have to select the monster he wants Marlow to attack prior to rolling, which means that he can match the dice results to any monster for the week. If a player fails the roll for any monster, nothing happens, but if defeats a monster or the boss monster, he crosses that monster’s shield out, and will add it to his total for the month. A player does not have to defeat everything in a week/wing and Marlow is going to go onwards anyway, just as the days are going to pass. However, the fact that a player can attempt to defeat any monster and/or the boss monster at any time in a week feels like Marlow is moving back and forth through a wing rather than constantly moving forward.

So far, so good. At the end the month, the player gets to flip the month over and move Marlow down into a new level of the dungeon. What this reveals is a nice piece of colour text as well as a new element to the game play of 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025 added for the new month/dungeon level and going forward. For example, February adds a new rule. This is for traps which can only be overcome by rolling numbers that do not match the value of the trap. For March, Marlow discovers a magic sword, which once a month, allows the player to flip the blue die to its opposite face, and there is a magic sword box at the top of the month to remind the player that he has used it. Later months and levels add elite monsters, invisible monsters, monsters that provide a bonus score and reduce a boss monster’s value, and so on, all the way to December, where everything gets much tougher!

365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025 is a day-by-day monster beat ’em. Like any commitment for a year, a player is going to start out strong, playing it and rolling dice day-by-day, but whether he can stick it out for a year is a matter of his willpower. Likely he will lapse occasionally and race to catch up. Beyond tracking the passing of the days, the 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025 is not much use as a calendar as the boxes for each day is occupied by a monster or trap, but it is not designed as such, being more game than calendar. The game play is not particularly detailed or deep, and so not particularly challenging either.

Physically, the 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025 is nicely presented, full of colour and detail that make you wish some of the creatures were available as card standees for your proper roleplaying game. There is a touch of humour to the art as well, like the cap-wearing pink teddy bear with dynamites trapped to its belly and the generally cranky monsters. Both the basic rules and the monthly additions are clearly written and easy to understand. The only problem is Marlow. Marlow is meant to adhere to the calendar with its magnet, but this does not work, making tracking Marlow’s position day-by-day difficult.

365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025 is a silly product, what you would call a ‘stocking filler’. However silly it is, it is well executed and actually quite clever in its design. For the player prepared to stick it out, it offers a little respite from the world everyday with a little dice rolling and some monster bashing.

—oOo—

Sorry We Are French has expanded the range for 2026. There is another fantasy adventure for Marlow, now joined by Mira, with 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2026, but 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 1926 expands into a new genre as private detective John Miller discovers mysteries and age-old secrets on the streets of Arkham.

Jonstown Jottings #103: Figurines of Glorantha

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford's mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—

What is it?
Runequest: Figurines of Glorantha is a short supplement for for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. It is by the same author of GLORANTHA: Trinkets from Dragon Pass.

It is a five page, full colour, 3.28 MB PDF.

Runequest: Figurines of Glorantha is reasonably presented, but it could have been better organised. It needs a slight edit.

Where is it set?
Dragon Pass.

Who do you play?
Adventurers of all types who could come across these rare items.

What do you need?
RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. It can also be run using the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – QuickStart Rules and Adventure.

What do you get?
Runequest: Figurines of Glorantha is a description of seven figurines, or statuettes, which might be found in the world of Glorantha. In comparison to other treasure guides from the same author, it points out that they more common, since they are typically carved or sculpted to represent deities, powerful ancestors, and cult figures. Some of those described in the supplement are rarer than others and some are tied to more obscure deities, which lessens their usefulness in a campaign. They are crafted from a variety of materials—bone, clay, metal, stone, and wood—grant a magical effect that is either linked to a Rune or the purview of the creature or deity represented.

For example, Fast Legs is a rough carving of a horse’s hindlegs with a handle sacred to the cult of Mastakos, Orlanth’s charioteer, the God With No Home. It is dotted with tiny points that represent Mobility Runes. It must be held in the hand to be effective and increases the wielder’s Move score and Kick skill. Gelid Breath is a flat plate of bronze with the arms, mouth, and face of a man. Crafted by Orlanthi priests, if held to the mouth, the user can fire darts of ice through its mouth using his Blowgun skill. However, if character’s player rolls a critical failure of one hundred, it explodes and will inflict damage directly to the character’s head. Perhaps the rarest item is Korasting’s Bless, a dull, but heavy statute of a pregnant Troll female raising her hand to her face in blessing. If broken into pieces and eaten by a Troll female, her next birth will always be of a Troll rather than of Trollkin.

As with the other treasure supplements from the same author, the figurines in Runequest: Figurines of Glorantha vary in quality and usefulness, as well as development. More description of their histories and their legends would have been welcome, especially since they are meant to be rare. However, none of the entries are overly powerful and they feel more thought out and less rushed than in other supplements from the author, making it the best of the series so far.

Is it worth your time?
Yes—Runequest: Figurines of Glorantha is an inexpensive way of adding more magic to give Player Characters or NPCs minor powers that will enhance their legends and the entries are some of the best yet.
No—Runequest: Figurines of Glorantha is simply too expensive for what you get and the entries too underdeveloped in terms of the setting. Plus, the Game Master could create her own with a little bit of research which are just as good.
Maybe—Runequest: Figurines of Glorantha is expensive for what you get, but entries are far from being poor and the Game Master might want to add a little variety to the treasure found or perhaps take inspiration from the treasures presented here and either develop more of their legend or create new ones of her own.

Friday Fantasy: The Tomb of Grief

King Leland never wanted to be king, but he reluctantly took up his duty as others had before him. He found no favour with the lords and ladies of his court, heeding little of their advice or their wishes, and only entering into a marriage of convenience to appease them upon becoming king. Instead, he favoured Sir Eardwulf, a lowly knight who was at first a friend and then a lover, who he wished to raise to rank of Earl. This outraged the nobles of the court such that a faction led by Lord Blacklow moved against the king’s wishes, capturing and beheading Sir Eardwulf before his ennoblement could come to pass. King Leland was apoplectic with grief such that it fuelled years long retribution upon those lords who had conspired to kill his lover, soaking fields and forest in their blood. So he became known as the Red king. Now King Leland lies dead and his grief continues to be felt across the land. Crops fail, livestock dies, and the people are driven into madness by a sorrow that was never theirs. At the heart of this dolorous malaise stands the Tomb of Grief, the last resting place of King Leland. Can the curse be lifted? Which riches were buried with the Red King?

This is the set-up for The Tomb of Grief. This is an adventure written for use with ‘5E+’, so Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and Dungeons & Dragons 2024. It is a playtest adventure, the second, in an anthology of scenarios published by No Short Rests! called One Room One Shots. The first was Temple of the Forgotten Depths. Each entry in the collection is a short adventure themed around a single room or structure and intended to be slotted readily into a campaign or more readily, played in a single session with either no preparation or preparation required beforehand. This might be because some of a group’s players are unable to attend; because they want to play, but not want to commit to a longer scenario or campaign; or because a group wants to introduce new players to the roleplaying game. The Tomb of Grief is written for a group of Player Characters of First Level. The scenario has no other requirements beyond this and its setting, but both a Cleric and a Rogue will be useful, and a character of Noble background may have a minor advantage.

The scenario proper begins with the Player Characters at the entrance of the Tomb of Grief itself. Here amidst the rubbish-strewn floor and the broken, battered, and vandalised statues, the Player Characters can begin to search for hints and clues as to what lies in the burial chamber beyond. This search involves a variety of different skills, not just Investigation and Perception, so multiple Player Characters can be involved in the process. There is the challenge of how the Player Characters actually get past the heavy gate between the entrance and the tomb, but again, multiple means to get through are given and even when it feels like they are being punished, the scenario makes clear it is only temporary.

Inside, the tomb is embraced in darkness, resting over an abyss. The first challenge that the Player Characters face will be King Leland’s ‘Knight Protectors’, serving him in unlife. Thematically, each of the four is associated with the four stages of grief and this is applied not just in their special attacks, but also in their memories. For example, when a combatant hits or is hit by Sir Ben the Negotiator, there is a chance that they will be convinced that the ‘Knight Protectors’ are no longer a threat and that the everyone in the party should lay down their arms. This only lasts for a turn, but each effect of the different ‘Knight Protectors’ has a different attack.

The second part of the scenario focuses upon roleplaying. It consists of four, dedicated encounters consisting of memories of the ‘Knight Protectors’ who swore to serve the king and who the Player Characters have just defeated. Some are the significant memories that some of the ‘Knight Protectors’ have of the king they served, others are memories of significant events during his reign. All together, they chart the reign of King Leland. In each one, the Player Character will experience an event in a Knight Protector’s life and be tested in how the Knight Protector responded to it. There are three different responses per memory, each involving a different skill and each memory is also tied to several different Backgrounds. What this means is that the Dungeon Master can help tailor each roleplaying encounter to specific Player Character and test their skill accordingly. Of course, none of this will affect the outcome of scenario, or indeed, its set-up, since King Leland was sent mad with grief and took that grief out upon the land. What it will do though, is reveal the history of what brought about the fall of both King Leland and the land. This is a grim tale that gets ever grimmer, and what it will do ultimately, is influence how the players and their characters feel about King Leland and his actions.

The third and final part of the scenario is divided into two parts. In the first, the Player Characters face the real villain of the story and a giant of a knight hinted at the memories, whilst in the second they will confront the former king. How they decide that, ideally based upon the memories that revealed his history and characters, will determine the nature of the scenario’s conclusion. One last touch here is that the material reward that the Player Characters can earn, King Leland’s Sword of the Red King, will actually have different effects depending upon the outcome.

Physically, The Tomb of Grief is reasonably well presented. It is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is excellent. It does need an edit and the map is rather too dark to read with ease, but simple enough that it should impede the Game Master too much. If there is an issue with The Tomb of Grief, as with the earlier Temple of the Forgotten Depths, it is that the text is small, making it a challenge to read!

The Temple of Grief delivers a solid, enjoyably thematic scenario for a good session’s worth of play. It is presented as a playtest adventure, but in truth, it is ready to play, whether that is as a one-shot for an evening or an encounter for a campaign, and ready to play with a minimum of effort. The Tomb of Grief sets out to tell a story and it is an epic story, such that it is surprising that the scenario manages to pack all of that story in a single session. Ultimately, it is a tragedy, one reminiscent of A Game of Thrones that if The Tomb of Grief is played as part of campaign, the Player Characters will be able to tell the truth of what happened during the reign of King Leland and so reveal that tragedy.

—oOo—

One Room One Shots: Epic D&D Adventures in a Single Session! is currently on Kickstarter.

Caution & Chicanery

Rogues, thieves, con artists, burglars, pirates, fences, pickpockets, plunders, muggers, thugs, spies, ninja, let alone scouts and rangers. All use guile, deception, and chicanery to achieve their aims in one fashion or another, and they, along with cunning and stealth, are the subject of HARP Subterfuge. As the title suggests, this is a supplement for High Adventure Role Playing Fantasy or HARP Fantasy, the roleplaying game descended from 1980’s Rolemaster. It is designed as the definitive guide to the classic fantasy roleplaying figure, the thief, and just about anyone who might use subterfuge or stealth to achieve his aims. This includes not just the aforementioned thief—and the many variations upon that role—but also those that use such skills as part their role, yet are not thieves or rogues. The classic Ranger is foremost amongst them, but there are several others that use such skills and who are not wanted by the city watch as a consequence of their use. HARP Subterfuge gives new Professions and spells, a guide to creating the perfect thief, advice on using the right skill for the right job, ways in handle stealth and subterfuge goes wrong (and a Player Character winds up in the hands of the law), suggestions on setting up a suitable underworld for any would be thief Player Character, and more. Although it is a supplement for HARP Fantasy, what HARP Subterfuge really does is move away from the ‘high adventure’ of HARP Fantasy and into a legally and morally grey area, inspired as it is Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories as well as The Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequels by Scott Lynch. What this means is that its contents may not be suitable for a high fantasy campaign, but if the Game Master wanted to set her campaign on the mean streets of some city decried as a den of iniquity, then HARP Subterfuge would be the supplement to help her do that.

HARP Subterfuge primarily requires HARP Fantasy, being built around its Ranger, Rogue, and Thief Professions, but it also needs HARP Folkways for the Hunter, the Scoundrel, and Seeker. It typecasts these and the new Professions into three categories—physical, dextrous, and intellectual, and suggests not just ways in which to build them, including skills to prioritise and talents are useful, but also why you might play them. These include Assassin, burglar, Con Artist, Fence, Pickpocket, Pirate, Plunderer (or archaeologist), Ruffian, Spy, Ranger, Scout/Guide, and Wayfarer (or explorer). The new Professions are the Ninja, Nightblade, and Beguiler. The Ninja is obvious in what it does, but the Nightblade is a spy that specialises in movement, distraction, disguise, and poison, whilst the Beguiler is spell user that specialises in mental misdirection, manipulation, and deception, particularly the Sphere of Beguilement. This is coupled with the Racial and Cultural perspectives for all of the Races and Cultures given in both HARP Fantasy and HARP Folkways, as well as adding the Dark Warrens Culture. This represents growing up in a culture with a reputation for crime, sin, and evil. Social class is not ignored, though that does require access to HARP Martial Law.

Similarly, there is advice and a review of skills and Talents useful to thieves and rogues, as well as the new skills, Intimidation and Crafts: Trap Making and Setting, and numerous new Talents, including ‘Backstabbing’, ‘Master Negotiator’, Opportunistic Attacking’, and ‘Thieves’ Insight’. It then shows the Game Master how to apply these skills and Talents as Manoeuvres. Under ‘Tricks of the Trade’ it examines everything from stalking, hiding, and camouflage, perception, and pickpocketing to disguises and infiltration, streetwise, and trickery—and it does so in exhaustive detail. For example, for crafting and setting traps, it looks at the possible difficulties crafting and setting traps, trap components, purchasing readymade traps, improvising traps, snares and lures (or non-lethal traps), and even magical traps. It backs this up with examples of play and interestingly, draws parallels between magical traps and chemical warfare in that they can be particularly deadly, and their use can escalate. However, a similar ethical approach is not applied to the discussion on seduction under its otherwise well done treatment of Influence, which covers rumours, propaganda, bribery, blackmail, and reputation. Each of the ‘Tricks of the Trade’ is treated in similar, detailed fashion, as the ‘Tools of the Trade’, which covers climbing, picking locks, making a getaway, and more.

For poisons, HARP Subterfuge does consider their implications and effects upon culture and society. This includes their use as medicines (depending upon dosage), in mysticism and cults to instil trance, euphoric, or hallucinatory states, in hunting and war—the latter typically held as dishonourable, and in general, their use being regarded as taboo. Of course, this is not going stop the Player Characters or NPCs from using poison, so sources of poison are examined, rules for harvesting and cultivating sources, preparing, and using them are all provided. The later includes applying poisons to weapons, adding them to food, or blowing them as a dust. There is a guide too to ‘Mithridatism’, the immunisation against a certain poison through application or ingestion of tiny doses, as well as tables for the Game Master to create poisons for her own campaign.

The point of ‘Deceptive Combat’ in HARP Subterfuge is that it does not involve what more martial types would call a ‘fair’ fight. Instead of meeting on the battlefield, a deceptive combatant uses every advantage he can—attacking first, ambushes, higher ground, knocking opponents down or stunning them, and so on. Scaling these up and what you have is guerrilla warfare, but either allows weaker or poorly equipped individuals or forces to fight the larger or better equipped. HARP Fantasy Professions which fall under this include the Ranger, Rogue, and Thief, as do the Hunter and Seeker from HARP Folkways, whilst HARP Subterfuge most notably adds the Ninja. ‘Deceptive Combat’ examines various ways in which a combatant will fight less than fair, including dodging, parrying, knocking prone and fighting from prone, taunting, flanking, and more. Then when things get ugly, it also looks at dirty fighting and brawling. Of course, much of this can apply to normal combat too, but it particularly applies to the new Profession of Ninja, which is given a chapter of its own covering Ninja tools, weapons, and martial arts.

Since all Professions in HARP Fantasy can have access to magic, HARP Subterfuge explores several paths via which the stealthy or the cunning can add a touch of magic to their arsenal. These scale up from not actually learning to use spells, but to better use the stored magic in charms, potions, and magical items to actually combining a spell-casting Profession with a Subterfuge Profession, with the new spell-casting Professions in HARP Subterfuge of Beguiler and Nightblade somewhere in between. The supplement examines these in turn, also adding lists of spells from other Spheres that will be useful to subterfuge Professions (some of which come from HARP College of Magics). There are useful lists too, of spells granted by their deity, such as a god of trickery or god of secrecy, for the Cleric/Thief Profession combination, and lastly, the ‘Sphere of Shadows’. This is for the Nightblade Profession and includes spells from the Spheres of Necromancy and Elementialism from the HARP College of Magics, as well as new spells particular to the Nightblade, such as Acute Senses, Phantasmal Duplicates, and Nightblade’s Focus, the latter enabling the Nightblade to enter into a trance state with his weapon to enhance his skill.

The last part of HARP Subterfuge looks at subterfuge and society. This includes its criminal elements or underworld, described here more as an overlay (or as it alternatively suggests, an ‘underlay’) which may or may not dominate a bad part of town. The Streetwise skill is what needs to know in order to get around either and who he might know such as informants, fixers, and fences, plus of course, who is in charge at any one time and who wants to be. This includes organisations too, from the classic fantasy thieves’ guild and rural to heist teams and spy agencies. Amongst these are nomadic groups, suggesting that not all members of a nomadic group engage in subterfuge and gypsies as an example. This is problematic as it veers towards stereotyping, and whilst ultimately that may come down to their portrayal by the Game Master, this could have been addressed in the book. ‘Robin Hood and his Merry Men’ are given as example of a rural organisation, complete with gaol and purpose, membership requirements, group structure, means and methods, which is a pleasing counterpart to the more generic treatment of a thieves’ guild that follows. It is more structured though, as you would expect in a classic fantasy roleplaying sense, and it provides a template that the Game Master can use or adjust as is her wont. There are sections too on loot that a thief might steal, the amount or type depending upon the wealth of the society he is preying on. It includes some new magical items like the Dagger of Silent Screams that five times a day dulls all sound with a foot, including screams and the Gloves of Finnius ‘Four-Thumbs’ (a nice gaming reference there) which an extra thumb, taken from the dead body of a master thief, sown into a finger outside the little finger! The gloves need time to adjust to, but give a bonus to pickpocketing and picking locks, but reducing the wearer’s chance of fumbling in combat!

Of course, the downside to carrying out acts of subterfuge is that a Player Character can get caught. HARP Subterfuge does not simply look at the ways in which a thief might be caught, treated by the legal system—if any, and if found guilty, punished, it asks what constitutes a crime taking into consideration a society’s norms, customs, and laws, and how that can affect a Player Character. It looks at these from point of view of the different Races from both HARP Fantasy and HARP Folkways, as well as what each generally thinks of capital punishment (important, because historically in the medieval-style cultures that fantasy roleplaying games are based, capital punishment was the punishment de jour). Although there is a decision tree that the Game Master can follow to make a quick and dirty ruling—based on the offender’s relation to a group, the justice he faces, the offender’s criminal history, object of the crime and the means, and more—there is no one size fits all system here and ultimately, the Game Master will need to design a justice system to fit her campaign, and possibly more than one, if the campaign focuses on thievery and subterfuge. In response to thieves, there are some suggestions as to possible countermeasures that the law-abiding and/or the rich can take to prevent the theft of their valuables.

Penultimately, and surprisingly, HARP Subterfuge steps away from the mechanics of playing a Thief or subterfuge-type character to look at the ethics—the principles behind right and wrong behaviour, and the morals—the attitude and behaviour of the individual. Backed up by examples, this examines how some actions and outlooks of certain Player Character types can be perceived as negative and ultimately affect both the other players and the other characters. This stems from that the fact that the character type in HARP Subterfuge is stealing or being underhanded, which in today’s society is regarded as immoral in the first case and at least frowned upon in the second. After all, the character type that is likely to be the most selfish is the Thief and if that extends to theft from the rest of the party, that can have consequences in and out of the game. Really, what the section is doing is suggesting that the Game Master and her players consider the personal versus group dynamics of the party and set boundaries in terms of what their characters will and will not do. Of course, not every group of players is going to want to address this or even feel the need to do so, but it is there if they do. Certainly, for some groups, it is definitely something to think about.

Lastly, HARP Subterfuge includes an appendix that outlines the long con, which like earlier chapters, looks at different applicable Professions and skills and Talents, how the different Races and Cultures regard them, how to handle the Manoeuvres necessary to carry one off, all the way down to the ethics and morals involved. This is a great addition to the rest of the book, since it sets up the possibility of a mini-campaign focused on a single job in which the Player Characters prey upon the trust and/or greed of others, but emphasising verbal interaction as much as physical action, if not more.

Physically, HARP Subterfuge is neat and tidy. The artwork varies in quality, and in the main, this is a text-heavy book with a lot of detail. This does not mean that it is hard to read by any means. Notably, each chapter is headed by a suitable quote and their sources are listed at the front, so the reader can use them as a bibliography.

How much use a playing group will get out of HARP Subterfuge will depend upon how much it focuses on the activities of the Thief Profession and other subterfuge-based Player Characters. There is content here that will always be of use to the Thief of the classic fantasy roleplaying, whether that is the ‘Backstabbing’ Talent or the use of various Manoeuvres like climbing, laying traps, and picking locks, all of which are described in detailed fashion. Beyond this, there is plenty here that will really benefit a Thief- or subterfuge-focused campaign, perhaps providing almost too much for the Game Master to work through and take into consideration when setting up such a campaign. Ultimately, HARP Subterfuge is the definitively exhaustive sourcebook for thieves and other ne’er-do-wells for HARP Fantasy, with plenty of ways to add variations upon the classic thief- or rogue-type character to an ongoing campaign or focus upon them for the entirety of the campaign.

Jonstown Jottings #102: Talismans of Glorantha

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford's mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—

What is it?
Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha is a short supplement for for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. It is by the same author of GLORANTHA: Trinkets from Dragon Pass.

It is a five page, full colour, 1.23 MB PDF.

Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha is reasonably presented, but it could have been better organised. It needs a slight edit.

Where is it set?
Dragon Pass.

Who do you play?
Adventurers of all types who could come across these rare items.

What do you need?
RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. It can also be run using the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – QuickStart Rules and Adventure.

What do you get?
Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha is a description of seven talismans, or rather pendants which might be found in the world of Glorantha. However, it begins by noting that such talismans are rare in Glorantha, but it contradicts itself because in a couple of examples, the items are obviously much more common than being simply rare. For example, Farmer’s Help is given by Barntar’s God-talkers to farmers to help them defend their farms against bandits, wolves, and monsters, whilst the Pelorian Firmament is described as a traditional Pelorian amulet.

All seven talismans in this supplement come with publicly sourced image and two short paragraphs, one giving its description and the other its effects when worn. The entries vary in their effects, the best being quite low key. For example, the aforementioned Farmer’s Help has the very straightforward effect of increasing the distance that the wearer can throw rocks and stones. Whereas the very alien Alien Fear, come from another world where Chaos has won, grants the wearer who is wielding a spear or a sword and strikes a target to inflict a point of extra damage from acid and temporarily lower the Power attribute of the target. Any creature or person with the Chaos rune affinity is immune, which makes sense. What does not make sense is the wearer suffers no drawback for wearing a magical device linked to Chaos and if the wearer does have an affinity for Chaos, surely there should be an extra effect?

The talismans detailed in Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha vary in quality and usefulness, as well as development. More description of their histories and their legends would have been welcome, especially since they are meant to be rare. At least one is too powerful, and another, The Lady, which grants the ability to use and train others in the Courtesan skill as if wearer was a member of Uleria’s cult, begs the question, what does the cult of Uleria think of it?

Is it worth your time?
Yes—Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha is an inexpensive way of adding more magic to give Player Characters or NPCs minor powers that will enhance their legends.
No—Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha is simply too expensive for what you get and the entries too underdeveloped in terms of the setting. Plus, the Game Master could create her own with a little bit of research which are just as good.
Maybe—Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha is expensive for what you get, but the Game Master might want to add a little variety to the treasure found or perhaps take inspiration from the treasures presented here and either develop more of their legend or create new ones of her own.

Friday Fantasy: Life-Paths

Character creation is not always as easy as you might want it to be. Not necessarily because of the rules or the mechanics, but because it can be challenging to create interesting characters—both for the player creating and roleplaying the character and the other players and their characters. This is not a criticism per se of any particular rules system or roleplaying game, as they invariably provide the solid, mechanical basis for a character. Of course, background and key elements of a character’s personality can come about during play, but initially, it can be difficult to differentiate between one fighter and another, one cleric and another, one wizard and another. It all comes down to inspiration and sometimes, that can be lacking. Some roleplaying games provide the means of creating further background details for a character, many do not, and some are somewhere in between. For example, ShadowDark, the retroclone inspired by both the Old School Renaissance and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition from The Arcane Library, is somewhere in between. It has a Background Table, providing a simple, one-line description of who or what your characters is, but what if you want to go further and want a bit more detail? One option might be Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement.

Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement is from Burning Light Press, which though written for use with ShadowDark would work with a lot of other retroclones from the Old School Renaissance. Published a successful Kickstarter campaign, this supplement presents potential backgrounds and lifepaths for Wizards, Fighters, Priests, Thieves, Bard, Rangers, Witches, Warlocks, Knights, Shamans, and Heroes, for a total of eleven basic options. Obviously, it covers the four Classes from ShadowDark—Fighter, Priest, Thief, and Wizard, but goes further. None of the four core Classes are restricted to the four associated lifepaths in Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement, so a player could create a Wizard and then select the Witch or Warlock Lifepath instead of the Wizard and similarly a Fighter could be combined with Bard, Ranger, or Knight Lifepaths. So, there is plenty of flexibility here. There is even more however, if Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement with the Player Companion for ShadowDark. This add more Backgrounds to the standard Background Table, but details some thirty-six new Classes for ShadowDark, including Archer, Assassin, Beastmaster, Berserker, Brigand, Buccaneer, Burglar, Charlatan, Conjurer, Druid, Elementalist, Enchanter, Explorer, Gladiator, Mage, Mariner, Monk, Mystic, Necromancer, Noble, Oracle, Pugilist, Ranger, Rogue, Savage, Scholar, Scout, Shaman, Soldier, Sorcerer, Spy, Squire, Thug, Urchin, Valkyrie, and Witch. All of which could easily be combined with a Lifepath from Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement.

A standard First Level Player Character looks like this:

Name: Baergurn Boulderkin
Class: Fighter Level: 1
Ancestry: Dwarf Background: Soldier
Alignment: Lawful
Armour Class: 13 Hit Points: 9

Strength 12 (+1) Dexterity 07 (-2) Constitution 16 (+3)
Intelligence 13 (+1) Wisdom 11 (+0) Charisma 08 (-1)

Abilities: Weapon Mastery (Axe), Grit (Strength)
Equipment: Chainmail, Shield, Greataxe (1d8)

Each Path offers a route from Childhood through Adolescence to Adulthood, as well as an optional Bonus Path. At stage, the supplement gives a player a mix of choices and random outcomes. There are events that can end in success or misfortune. In general, the spellcasting Classes have two paths during the Childhood step rather than three and some of them have to make more choices than other Lifepaths. For example, the Ranger also needs to have his preferred terrain rolled for, the Warlock his Patron, the visions for the Shaman. So, for example, the Witch’s Path begins with her either being ‘Taken’ as a child or ‘Born’ into a coven. If ‘Taken’, the connected event might be because of a blood debt or the witch was stolen, but if ‘Born’, the witch followed her mother into the life, or her connection occurred all of a sudden. This is followed by a roll. On a success, the Witch was prepared for this if ‘Taken’, but exchanged a poor home for a better one if stolen, but on a failure, the ties with the new family are a curse if ‘Taken’ or to have suffered a childhood dominated by memories of loss ‘Born’. This format is followed throughout, but beyond Childhood, the Player Character gains a bane or a boon at each stage depending upon the roll. For example, the Witch can a bonus to the Hit Points for her familiar or lose more Hit Points herself when restoring her familiar to life; improve or worse her spellcasting Difficulty Class; know more or fewer spells; and so on. The combination of events and a boons and banes create not just the basics of a Player Character’s background and life story, but also what he learned from the experience.

A First Level Player Character with the benefit of the tables from the Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement looks like the following and has the following background. Baergurn Boulderkin is of common stock, following his parents into service as guards and (Misfortune) they drilled a strong sense of duty to him, but too much some say for his own good, instilling in him an intolerance of criminals and a staunch stubbornness. As a young Dwarf, he was mugged by thugs, but readily raised his fists and fought them until his friends joined him. His stockiness stood him stead he withstood a beating (Success/Maximum Hit Points). His Young Adulthood was spent as a Mercenary, signed up to company to defend a realm and fight off evil. Yet the numbers of the enemy were too great, and innocents began to die at the hands of the Goblin hordes and even to this day Baergurn Boulderkin’s morale will break if he sees innocents die (Misfortune). What followed was a period of ‘Endless Slaughter’ when he went after the gang of goblins that plagued the area and tried to end their madness. Baergurn Boulderkin found them drunk and squabbling over dice and he took his axe to them, staining him in their blood from head to foot. To this day, he always acts first when outnumbered (Success).

Name: Baergurn Boulderkin
Class: Fighter Level: 1
Ancestry: Dwarf Background: Soldier
Alignment: Lawful
Armour Class: 13 Hit Points: 13

Strength 12 (+1) Dexterity 07 (-2) Constitution 16 (+3)
Intelligence 13 (+1) Wisdom 11 (+0) Charisma 08 (-1)

Abilities: Weapon Mastery (Axe), Grit (Strength)
Equipment: Chainmail, Shield, Greataxe (1d8)

Every Lifepath is accompanied by an alterative trilogy of tables with simple results, one each again for Childhood, Adolescence, and Young Adult. These are faster and easier to use, but not as much fun or full of flavour.

Physically, Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement is well presented and decently written. It is lightly illustrated, the best pieces prefacing each Lifepath.

Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement adds a lot of detail and flavour to every Player Character and will help to bring them to life and give a player hooks and details that will help him roleplay the character. Plus, the uncertainty of a character’s life to date is always fun to roll up and create. On the downside, although every player can use it, it does add a further degree of randomness and imbalance, so that not every character is going to be equal in terms of boons and banes. Thus, the use of Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement should be agreed upon by everyone. Nevertheless, for the group that wants to add more colour and detail to their Player Characters, Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement more than supports that, giving them a history and making them interesting.

1985: Conan Role-Playing Game

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

—oOo—

In 1984, TSR, Inc. published CB1 Conan Unchained!, the first appearance of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian in roleplaying. It would be followed the same year by CB2 Conan Against Darkness! And then in 1986 by RS1 Red Sonja Unconquered. All were written for use with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition—though with some adjustments to accommodate the specific style of Robert E. Howard’s pulp fantasy and all were inspired by, but not based upon the films which had been released in the previous two or three years. Of the back of the strength of CB1 Conan Unchained! and CB2 Conan Against Darkness!, TSR, Inc. would develop the Conan Role-Playing Game. Like CB1 Conan Unchained!, it was written by David ‘Zeb’ Cook, an avowed fan of Conan, and that showed in much of the detail and flavour of the roleplaying game. That said, mechanically, it was a radical departure from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition of CB1 Conan Unchained! and CB2 Conan Against Darkness!, owing more to TSR, Inc.’s other licensed roleplaying games from the previous year—Marvel Super Heroes and The Adventuresof Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game.

Like those other roleplaying games, the Conan Role-Playing Game came as a boxed set, and it is one that nicely appointed. Behind the striking cover, can be found a thirty-two-page ‘Rule Book’, a sixteen-page ‘Reference Guide’, a four-page ‘Master Reference Sheet’, a forty-eight-page ‘The World of Hyboria – A Collection of the Hyborian Studies by Professor Ervin H. Roberts’, a four-page ‘Character Folio’, and a large poster map of Hyboria, plus two ten-sided dice and a crayon to fill the numbers in. The ‘Rule Book’ dives straight into explaining what a roleplaying game is, oddly using ‘cops & robbers’ as an example, when you really wish that Conan was being used instead, and then into Player Character creation.

A Player Character in the Conan Role-Playing Game is defined by Talents, representing his physical abilities, skills, and knowledge. These are divided into six Talent Pools—Prowess, Fighting, Endurance, Knowledge, Perception, and Insight. A tenth of the total value of the Talents in a Talent Pool will define the General Talent value for the Talent Pool, covering every other skill within a Talent Pool that the Player Character does not have. A Player Character can also have one or more Weakness, but will definitely have a Story. This is his background which starts with his Country and his Parents, and the following form that the player has to fill in:

“____________ (Character name), the ____________ (Sex) of ____________ (Father) and ____________ (Mother), was born in the land of ____________ (Homeland). ____________ (Character name) grew ____________ (Appearance). As a youth, ____________ (Character name) learned ____________ (Talents) and ____________.”

The character creation process is simple. A player decides on his character’s name, as well as those of his parents, chooses a Homeland from the given list, and then assigns thirty-five points to his Talents. No more than five points can be assigned to any one Talent, the Player Character must have one Talent from each of the six Talent Pools, and one point must be assigned to his father’s Talent. He can gain another five points to assign for each Weakness he selects.

“Thellius, the Son of Gaenus and Hygira, was born in the land of Iranisatan. Thellius grew up lithe and wiry, but with a broad smile. As a youth, Thellius learned the songs his father taught him and to perform, but fell into what his mother called wicked ways.”

Prowess – 1
Acrobatic – 3, Climbing – 4, Movement – 1
Fighting – 1
Brawling – 3, Sword – 3
Endurance – 1
Damage – 4, Stamina – 3, Will – 3
Knowledge – 1
Lockpicking – 4
Perception – 1
Observation – 3, Minstrel – 4, Pocket Picking – 3,
Insight – 1
Danger Sense – 3, Personal Magnetism – 4

Weaknesses
Gambler, Weakness for women

The Player Character creation process is simple, but underwhelming. There is no example of the creation process, and whilst a sample character is provided, it is in the ‘Character Folio’ and not the ‘Rule Book’, and is of Conan himself and not a starting character. Similarly, the NPCs named and given stats in ‘The World of Hyboria – A Collection of the Hyborian Studies by Professor Ervin H. Roberts’ are extremely experienced NPCs. The primary problem though, is there is no guidance on how to create a character that fits either the setting or any kind of a role. So, no guidance on creating a warrior or a thief or a guide or a healer… In fact, when it comes to the thief, let alone Conan himself, there is no Stealth skill. At this point in the roleplaying game this leaves a fundamental question unanswered and that is, “How do I create Conan in the Conan Role-Playing Game?”

Mechanically, the Conan Role-Playing Game is a percentile system used in combination with a ‘Resolution Table’. A ‘Resolution Table’ that looks more like a graph. The vertical axis of the ‘Resolution Table’ runs from one to one hundred and represents a player’s dice roll. The horizontal axis is the ‘Talent/Differential’ row and runs from thirty to minus thirty. The results are banded from top to bottom, White, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red, each band representing a complexity. A result in the White band is a failure, Green is easy complexity, Yellow is moderate complexity, Orange is hard complexity, and Red is difficult complexity. To have his character undertake an action a player rolls the dice and compares the result of the roll on the vertical axis of the ‘Resolution Table’ versus the value of the Talent his character is using on the ‘Talent/Differential’ axis. If the rest is in the right band, his character succeeds.

The colour band into which the result of a test falls can also be used to be determine the quality of the outcome. Examples suggested include NPC reactions, degree of a language understood, damage inflicted in combat, advantage gained in combat, damage blocked in combat, falling damage, the effects of poison, and more. Although the ‘Resolution Table’ looks complex and more like a mathematical exercise, in combination with the various modifiers for the different situations and just a single roll for all of them, it is actually surprisingly flexible in its application.

For example, Thellius is performing in a tavern and wants to impress the daughter of a merchant. This will use his Personal Magnetism Talent. His player has already made a Talent Test using Thellius’ Minstrel Talent. The result was Orange, so the Referee grants a +2 bonus to his Personal Magnetism Talent. This will shift it along on the ‘Talent/Differential’ axis of the ‘Resolution Table’ from four to six. The Referee has already decided that the situation is ‘Friendly’ on the ‘NPC Reaction Result Table’ as it is in a tavern. Thellius’ player rolls the dice and gets a result of eight which is in the Red band! This is a very good result. This is a Red result and on the ‘NPC Reaction Result Table’ indicates a ‘Generous’ rection. The merchant’s daughter definitely catches his eye and raises a glass to him.

Combat also uses the ‘Resolution Table’. Before it begins, the participants roll to determine if anyone is caught off-guard using either their Animal Reflexes Talents or General Prowess rating. The better the roll, the more Advantages a player generates, either one, two, three, or four. These are compared against their opponents and the combatant who has the most left over afterwards gets a free combat action for each one. Combat takes place in five-second combat rounds and initiative is determined by rolling a single ten-sided die and adding the highest of either the Animal Reflexes or Movement Talents or the General Prowess value. It is possible for a Player Character to take multiple actions in a round, but this requires a test against his Animal Reflexes Talent or General Prowess value and a Red result. Otherwise, he cannot take multiple actions and is at a penalty to his actions for this round and the next! So, in general, a combatant will either attack, defend, move, cast a spell, or wait, at least until either Animal Reflexes Talent or General Prowess value increases. When his character makes a mêlée attack, the player declares an Aiming Point on the body of his character’s opponent. Combat modifiers shift the ‘Talent/Differential’ up and down, and then the Fighting Talent of the defender is deducted from that of the attacker. The subsequent roll will determine not only if the attacker successfully strikes, but if he does, how much base damage is inflicted. This can be modified by the weapon used, for example, a javelin or tiger claw has a ‘-1’ penalty, whilst a flail has a ‘+1’ bonus. In most cases, weapons that inflict more damage have a penalty to Initiative.

Damage inflicted then, is roughly on a scale of between one and seven points, is deducted directly from a Player Character’s Damage Talent. If the Damage Talent is reduced to zero or less, each time the character takes damage after this, his player must test his character’s Damage Talent using its current value. If the result is Red, the Player Character remains conscious, but falls unconscious if the result is Orange, Yellow, or Green. If the result is White, a failure, then the Player Character dies. However, armour does stop damage, the amount depending upon what is being worn on each location and whether a shield is being carried. In addition to inflicting a base four points of damage, a Red result on the attack also inflicts a specific wound to the location targeted, typically a stun effect against which the player will need to make a General Prowess Test.

The Conan Role-Playing Game does allow Player Characters to use magic, whether that is as a sorcerer, witch, wizard, or shaman. However, it is not recommended as it takes a great deal of time and effort to learn and it can have deleterious effects upon the practitioner. Simply have a magic-related Talent, whether that is Alchemy, Information (actually being a seer of some sort), Mind Control, Natural Magic, Physical laws, Summoning, or Transformation, only indicates an aptitude. The would-be practitioner has to spend months of game time in study. Then, there is a cost to pay, but the cost is not necessarily financial, it can be personal. Every time a Player Character magician gains a magical Talent or a Spell, he gains one or two continuing effects. One is a magical Weakness, including Animal Aversion, Disfigurement, Endurance Loss, Madness, and Nocturnal. The other is Obsession, a Weakness that is treated like a Talent which when the practitioner is tempted by even greater magic, is forced to test and if the result is Red, he must do everything in his power to obtain the new magic. The Conan Role-Playing Game does not include any spells by design, intending the Referee and her players to create them and define their effects and where they can be learned. For experienced roleplayers, this is unlikely to be an issue, but new players will find this unhelpful. On the whole, much like the source material, magic is intended to be used by the antagonists rather than the protagonists.

In addition to the rules for magic, the ‘Rulebook’ also covers movement, hazards such as falling, fire, and drowning, gives details of what life is like in Hyboria, interaction with NPCs, and rewards for the Player Characters. The latter includes Fame Points, which can be earned for heroic and savage deeds, annoying a major NPC, improving a Talent above twenty, and so on, but can be lost through acts of cowardice, stupidity, betrayal, and so on. Successful Talent use during an adventure will earn a Player Character up to ten Talent points to assign, and for originality and good roleplaying, the Referee can award Luck Points. These can be used to reroll a dice roll, to reduce the damage taken from an attack, and as means to perform incredible feats of luck. This works by the player expending as many of his character’s Luck Points as he wants, the number determining the column on the ‘Talent/Differential’ axis of the ‘Resolution Table’, and then rolling. If the result is Red, he succeeds. There is no mention of Luck Points before this.

The advice for the Referee on creating and running adventures in Hyboria is decent and there is also an adventure included at the back of the ‘Rulebook’. This is ‘The Tower of the Elephant’, based on the short story by Robert E. Howard. As in the story, it starts in a tavern where there is chance for some revelry and a fight before sneaking into the nearby tower to steal the ‘Heart of the Elephant’, a fabulous jewel in the possession of the evil sorcerer, Yara. It is a short affair, offering only a single session’s worth of play and its set-up is completely wrong for the Conan Role-Playing Game. The first problem with it is that it follows the plot of the short story fairly tightly and does not give a lot of options in terms of what the Player Character can do. The second problem is  that it is not designed to be played using any Player Character created using the rules in the game and it is not designed to be played by a group. Instead, it is designed to be played using the stats for Conan himself given on one of the character folios, who is a more experienced character. As a one-on-one, short scenario, it is adequate, but given that there is no scenario included for a group of new created Player Characters, it is anything other than fine.

Of the other items in the box for the Conan Role-Playing Game, the ‘The World of Hyboria – A Collection of the Hyborian Studies by Professor Ervin H. Roberts’ is a good gazetteer, introducing Robert E. Howard and Hyboria, the latter as if it was written down in an academic’s notebook, complete with annotations. It includes quite detailed descriptions of the various lands, their peoples, towns, and cities, and there is a decent bestiary too. Several NPCs are also detailed as are various gods, cults, magical items, and ruins and their lore. This is all solid background material that the Referee can develop for her game. The map is good too.

The ‘Reference Guide’ gives explanations for all of the roleplaying game’s Talents and Weaknesses before providing some of its charts and tables, including the ‘Randon Hit Location Table’, the ‘Combat Modifiers Chart’, the ‘Resolution Table’ a second time—the primary one is on the back of ‘Rulebook’ where it is in colour, an ‘Equipment List’, a ‘Specific Wound Chart’, a ‘Jewel Table’, a list of the ‘Principal Hyborian Languages’, and a ‘Talent List’. The tables are all useful, but they seem placed in a random order which makes their use not as easy as they should be. There are more tables on the ‘Master Reference Sheet’, which covers everything else, including NPC Reactions, a synopsis of the possible results, the combat sequence, and more, including a quick guide to being a Referee.

There is a neat, even decent set of mechanics at the heart of the Conan Role-Playing Game, good enough that they were later redeveloped as the ZeFRSRules—short for ‘Zeb's Fantasy Roleplaying System’, as the author is known as David ‘Zeb’ Cook. Yet the Conan Role-Playing Game almost goes out of its way to make the learning and using of the rules as awkward as possible. This begins almost immediately in the ‘Rulebook’ where there is no explanation of the core rules and how they work, the ‘Rulebook’ going from character creation to combat, leaving the reader none the wiser. Instead, there is an explanation of rules, roughly two paragraphs long under ‘Action Succes’ on the third page of the four-page ‘Master Reference Sheet’. What this means is that the Conan Role-Playing Game, which is designed for ages ten and over, an introductory roleplaying game that is effectively hiding its rules. Add to this, the lack of an example of play, no example of character generation, no example beginning characters, and no beginning scenario for beginning characters or even multiple characters, and it is clear that the Conan Role-Playing Game is not giving proper support to either the Referee or the player.

Yet on the plus side, in addition to the very serviceable rules, the means of creating a Player Character using the form on the character sheet is a neat touch as it asks each player to think about his character in terms of his story and tying him into the world of Hyboria. The background description of the world is not bad either and to be fair, the adventure, ‘The Tower of the Elephant’, is actually reasonable enough for a one-one-one, single session’s worth of play. The problem with it is that is either not suitable for the roleplaying game on its own or it is simply not enough.

Physically, the Conan Role-Playing Game is well presented. Everything is of good quality, the layout is tidy, and the internal illustrations, all by Jeff Easley, are excellent.

—oOo—

The Conan Role-Playing Game was reviewed by Mike Dean in ‘Game Reviews’ in Imagine Adventure Games Magazine No. 29 (August, 1985). He began by saying that, “With the recent influx of RPGs based on specific books, films and TV series, it is not all that surprising that we should eventually be presented with the CONAN® RPG. Along with the trend for this type of RPG has also come the unfortunate tendency for such games to be written in very simple English. CONAN RPG is no exception, and although it can be argued that the style encourages younger players and enables them to grasp the concept of the game more easily, one cannot help but feel that one is being talked down to by the authors.” He was also critical of the magic system in the Conan Role-Playing Game and the effort required both in game and out, adding, “…[I]t is almost as if by making magic difficult to pursue the authors are hoping that no-one will want to.” He concluded, “In conclusion, this game has some interesting concepts but is lacking in certain respects, notably the magic system and the slant towards the younger gamer.

Pete Tamelyn reviewed the Conan Role-Playing Game in ‘Open Box’ in White Dwarf Issue 69 (September, 1985). He was critical of the layout and organisation, saying that, “I get the impression that there were quite a few bugs in the systems as well because there is a 4 page ‘Reference Sheet’ included which makes several significant changes to the rules. ‘Last minute errata sheet’ might have been more appropriate.” Despite this, he awarded it an overall score out of seven out of ten and finishing with, “It's a great shame. With a bit of care it could have been a very good product. Most of the errors are essentially cosmetic and even with them I still prefer it to AD&D. Hopefully TSR will produce a second edition – after they’ve tightened up on their quality control.”

It was reviewed in ‘Game Reviews’ in Different Worlds Issue 45 (March/April, 1987) by Edwin King, whose initial description was that, “The Conan RolePlaying Game is a great piece of hack & slash fun that can reawaken the enthusiasm of the most jaded role-player.” Although critical of the limitations of the scenario, he was positive in his conclusion. “Essentially, it is worth the effort to overlook the organizational problems and occasional lapses in clarity in the rules. If you can enjoy the freedom of using an easily-learned rules set that leaves plenty of options, Conan is great. It makes a pleasant break from more detailed fantasy campaigning and it is certain to have its players rereading the Conan stories in search of inspiration.” He awarded it three stars out of five.

—oOo—

The Conan Role-Playing Game has an experimental quality to it in combining a very simple system that gives the players a lot of freedom in terms of what they can create and play with a resolution mechanic that is surprisingly elegant and flexible and can cover most situations. It is unlike any other roleplaying game from TSR, Inc. of its era and as a development of the earlier Marvel Super Heroes and The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game, it could have been the basis of a system suitable for a variety of genres. Yet despite its production values, the Conan Role-Playing Game hides this mechanical simplicity behind a ragged organisation, poor explanations of the rules, and a lack of support for the player in terms of examples and advice. There are moments where the author’s love of Robert E. Howard and Conan the Barbarian does shine through even its poor organisation, primarily in the sourcebook and the rules for magic, but even this cannot stop the Conan Role-Playing Game from failing to live up to its potential.

Friday Fantasy: Adventure Anthology 2

Since it first appeared in 2019, Old School Essentials has proven to be a very popular choice of roleplaying game when it comes to the Old School Renaissance. Published by Necrotic Gnome Productions, it is based on the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh, and presents a very accessible, very well designed, and superbly presented reimplementation of the rules. There is plenty of support for Old School Essentials from third-party publishers, but Necrotic Gnome also publishes its own support, including scenarios such as Halls of the Blood King, The Isle of the Plangent Mage, The Incandescent Grottoes, and The Hole in the Oak. These are full length, detailed adventures and dungeons, but for the Game Master looking for shorter scenarios from the publisher, there are two options. These are Old-School Essentials Adventure Anthology 1 and Old-School Essentials Adventure Anthology 2. Each contains four adventures of varying difficulty and Level, with many of them being very easy for the Game Master to insert into her own campaign, and working well with Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy and Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy.

Old-School Essentials Adventure Anthology 2 contains—just as Old-School Essentials Adventure Anthology 1 did before it—four adventures by noted contributors to the Old School Renaissance. The first two consist of dungeons designed for Player Characters ranging from First to Third Level, whilst the third is an adventure for Fourth to Sixth Level Player Characters and the fourth is an uncommon inclusion, a mid to high-Level adventure for Old School Essentials, in this case, Sixth to Eighth Levels. All four are dungeon-style adventures and relatively short, with only one of them possessing more than twenty locations. They are all self-contained, so easy to run as one-shots or add to a campaign. Either way, none of should should take longer than two or three sessions to complete at the very most.

All four dungeons are neatly organised with an overview and explanation of the adventure at the start along with a ‘Random Happenings’ table rather than a random encounters table, followed by details of the main denizens and some general notes. The ‘Area Descriptions’ come after this and each adventure is accompanied by a very nice map from Glynn Seal.

The anthology opens with ‘Barrow of the Bone Blaggards’ by Chance Dudinack. It is designed for Player Characters of First to Third Level and opens with a simple set-up. In recent weeks caravans have been attacked by skeletal brigands on the road near a single barrow in the woods, built one hundred years ago to inter the dead from a historic battle which took place nearby. Nobody has had any reason to go near the barrow in living memory, but now its circular stone entrance is open and ghostly, lively music emanates from inside. In classic Dungeons & Dragons-style play, the Player Characters would enter the dungeon, discover lots of undead and that the villain behind it all was a Necromancer. So it is with ‘Barrow of the Bone Blaggards’, but the scenario gives a classic roleplaying situation a twist or two. One twist is that the Necromancer is both a villain and an idiot and the other is that the undead raised by his efforts are not in his thrall, but instead freewheeled. They eat and they drink—despite the food and drink falling and running out of their bodies, and they want to be alive again, which why they have taken prisoners. Add in some undead NPCs and an angry Pixie and the Game Master has some fun NPCs to portray, though some of the general Undead could also have been named too. Of course, the skeleton and zombie warriors are Chaotic in Alignment, but giving a horde of them motivation is a delightful touch. There are other elements which are just as good that the players really will enjoy discovering and overall, this really is a really well done dungeon with lots of detail and flavour.

Nate Treme’s ‘Shrine of the Oozing Serpent’ is also for Player Characters of First to Third Level and also has a similar set-up. The local duke offers a reward to whomever can slay the creature that is attacking travellers on the King’s Road. The local people claim to have seen a black blob slithering through the marsh to a Gnome Shrine of Mulvis that a decade ago was destroyed by Sootmurk, a legendary grease dragon. The dungeon combines religious fanatism of Deep One-like creatures called Gloops with Gnomish mechanical inventiveness and a Gnomish shrine to a demon and their dead and a temple to an emollient serpent! Despite being designed for low Level Player Characters this is a tougher adventure than the previous ‘Barrow of the Bone Blaggards’, not least because Sootmurk is a six Hit Dice beast! The dungeon has an interesting combination of themes, but they feel constrained within the limited space of just twelve locations as if it should be a much bigger dungeon.

‘Cathedral of the Crimson Death’ by Diogo Nogueira is designed for Player Characters of Fourth to Sixth Level. The Purifying Church of the Crimson Flame—which venerates the deity Bahal, the Flame of Purification—has for a decade, stood as a refuge and a place of hope for the lands around it that have been ravaged by the Deathless Plague. Sufferers are inflicted with incurable, rotting wounds that ultimately turn them into the Undead. The priests and acolytes of the church could not truly heal the sick and as they laid more and more of the Undead to rest, they lost their way and instead of offering succour to the sick, imprisoned and tortured them, before putting them to the flame to purge them of the plague. When the sick stopped coming, the Church’s newly founded, but soon reviled Crimson Knights went out looking for them. Perhaps the Player Characters have been sent to put an end to the cruel reign of the Church or come simply to plunder it in the last days of civilisation or are fleeing the hordes of undead that wander the land…

A Cleric is an absolute must in this horror mini-dungeon, which is effectively, a quite straightforward strike mission. Go in, rescue what prisoners survive and slaughter everything and everyone else. Since everything else is evil and tainted by demons, this is perfectly acceptable in what is a serviceable, combat focused dungeon.

Lastly, ‘The Ravener’s Ghat’ is a dungeon for Player Characters of Sixth to Eighth Level designed by Brian Yaksha. Unlike the other adventures, this one comes with two maps, one a standard two-dimensional affair, the other one done in three dimensions which very nicely gives depth and detail to the location where it is set. This location is a temple in a flooded valley where a scholarly Rakshasa, known as the Ravener, was worshipped as the herald of monsoons and a divine servant of the Monsoon God. Like all Rakshasa, the Raverner was demonised and turned into a man-eater by changes in fickle divine dynasties and in his newfound evil, stole the offerings to the Monsoon God and enveloped the lands in permanent monsoon rains. The Ravener’s priests trapped him inside, shackling to the waters of the floods, and only recently, after time uncounted, has the veil lifted on the Ravener’s Ghat. Perhaps a holy order wishes to prevent the Ravener from being woken, perhaps wisdom may be learned from one of the priests, or simply, the party wants to plunder the ancient temple before someone else does.

This is an engaging dungeon with multiple factions, including elevated Baboons and Crocodiles as well as treasure hunters and rival servants of the Raverner, and a design inspired by the folklore and architecture of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The Player Characters are free to approach the temple in whatever way they want and listen to whichever faction they want, many of them are sympathetic and do not necessarily wish them ill. Ideally, the Player Characters will end up facing the Raverner himself, a monster despite what he once was. Depending upon the faction that the Player Characters have allied themselves with will likely determine if that confrontation is challenging or even more challenging. Its probable location and cultural theming do make it more difficult to add to a campaign than other adventures in the anthology, but this does not stop it from being a very nicely done dungeon. It packs in plenty of detail and flavour and factions so that it is not all about combat, but also exploration and interaction. If the Game Master has a suitable setting for this adventure, one inspired by Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, then she should definitely add this dungeon to her campaign.

Physically, the Old-School Essentials Adventure Anthology 2 is very cleanly and tidily laid out and organised as you would expect for a title for Old-School Essentials. Notably, the content is split between columns of content and almost sidebars where the monster and NPC stats are highlighted in coloured boxes. Colour is used to spot effect throughout, whilst the maps are excellent. The full colour artwork is also good. One issue is that the adventures do not use map excerpts for each location description, so the Game Master will need to refer back and forth to the maps.

The Old-School Essentials Adventure Anthology 2 is not as good as Old-School Essentials Adventure Anthology 1. This is not to say that its dungeons and adventures are bad, but only two of them stand out being either interesting or inventive. Of the four, ‘Barrow of the Bone Blaggards’ is the most fun and the easiest to use and the one that the players are likely to enjoy, whilst ‘The Ravener’s Ghat’ is well written and packs in a lot of theme and flavour.