The Other Side blog: Fantasy Fridays

Showing posts with label Fantasy Fridays. Show all posts

Friday, March 13, 2026

Fantasy Fridays: True20

One of my objectives with Fantasy Fridays is to introduce people to the wide variety of Fantasy RPGs that are available to them. While each is perfectly fine on its own, I do want to talk about them on how well they provide a "Dungeons & Dragons experience" to players. Not that this is the only yardstick to use, but it is an important one. Also, what can players use from these games in their own games?

Today I am going back to an old favorite, Green Ronin's True20. This system is a derivative of the d20 system from Wizards of the Coast, used in Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition and now used in many games. The system, which is mult-genre or universal, began life as the system used in the first edition of Blue Rose. The True20 version of Blue Rose is out of print now, but some of its DNA lives on in their new AGE system. But today is about True20.

True20

What is True20? It is a stripped-down version of the d20 system. Typically, there are only three classes: Adept, Expert, and Warrior. There are no hit points, but there is a damage tracker that works very well and very quickly. I think these are the key elements to its mult-genre use. I have played fantasy and modern horror with it, and neither felt like I was trying to cram a square peg into a round hole.

You have the same six abilities as d20, but instead of ability scores, you just have your bonuses. Something that D&D itself would not embrace until the current 5th edition.

All resolutions are done with a single d20. That's all you need. Attacks, skill checks, using powers, all of it is a d20 + mods and compared to a DC score. It is really that simple.

Because it is simple, you can build just about anything you want. There was (well is, you can still buy things) support for True20. So if you like horror, sci-fi, fantasy, or anything else, you could find it. Particular to today's conversation is their Fantasy Paths supplement that helps you build all sorts of fantasy classes like Assassins, Barbarians, Clerics, and so on. There are also NPC stat blocks for all these classes for levels 1 to 20. No witch, but with this system, you can reskin any adept into a witch with no issues. I did ues the Adept's Handbook a lot for this.

Speaking of fantasy, back when BlueRose was under the True20 system, I ran a game called Black Rose that combined Blue Rose and Ravenloft. You can read that here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. Needless to say, it worked rather well.

I also played a modern horror game called "Vacation in Vancouver" that worked amazingly well. They both showcased the system's power and flexibility and were really fun. It is a shame Green Ronin no longer supports it like they did. But I suppose that AGE, its successor, can do a lot of what True20 and some more. I'll have to revisit AGE for this series. Though I will say one thing.

It now dawns on me that a lot went into my "Ordinary World" Night World for NIGHT SHIFT was detailed in these True20 game sessions.

While this system is not actively supported, all the PDFs are still on DriveThruRPG, and you can get some of the books as hardcover Print-on-Demand. The books were originally only softcover so this is nice. Also, since the line is done, getting all the books you need to play is fairly inexpensive on DriveThru. Since it is d20-derived, you can use other d20 products with it to expand your options. It would take some work, but it can be done. What works best are adventures. They convert easier than, say, new classes, but even that is not very hard using the Fantasy Paths examples.

Can it Do D&D?

Well, the simple answer is yes. It can play a D&D-style game easily and has a lot in common with D&D 3rd edition. I also contend it can do a solid OSR-style game too, though there are two features that run counter to the OSR feel. First, there is no Vancian magics; Adepts/Wizards/Clerics can keep firing off their spells as long as they make their rolls. Also, there are no hit points, only a damage tracker. These aspects keep it from feeling like, say, AD&D 1st ed, and likely won't appeal to many old-school players. For new gamers, Players would have to build out their powers ala Fantasy Paths to cover whatever new class they want to play. Mechanically, there really is no difference between a Divine Soul Sorcerer and, say, a Cleric or Celestial Pact Warlock. The powers might all be the same, just role-played differently.

True20 has now slipped into the realm of "kitbashing RPGs" that is take what you want and build the game you want. I think this the one thing it does better than AGE right now. But I'll take on AGE at a later date.

Would I still play True20? Of course. I loved it then and look back on it now with extreme fondness. I also still love BlueRose, but I think I am content with the AGE version of that now.

Larina for True20

This one is easy since I already have a few True20 versions of her. There was my BlueRose version, my Modern True20 version, and a Fantasy True20 version. All ranging in levels and build types. This version sort of combines all of those versions.

In truth, her stats as they appear on paper are really not much different than a wizard or some other spellcaster. The key with True20 is the role-playing aspect. I mean, that is true everywhere, but this is even more important here, really.

Larina Nix

20th-level Human Witch (Adept)

Strength: +0
Dexterity: +1
Constitution: +1
Intelligence: +4
Wisdom: +4
Charisma: +4

Initiative: +1
BAB: +10, Melee Attack: +11, Ranged Attack: +11
Defence, Dodge: 21
Defence, Parry: 20

Size: Medium
Speed: 30ft

Toughness: +2
Fortitude: +9
Reflex: +7
Will: +18

Vice: Cynical
Virtue: Thoughtful

Larina art by Jerome Hrs

Skills
Bluff +15 (11), Climb +1 (1), Concentration +17 (13), Craft (Potions) +16 (12), Diplomacy +16 (12), Disable Device +5 (1), Disguise +4 (0), Escape Artist +1 (0), Gather Info. +14 (10), Handle Animal +14 (10), Intimidate +10 (6), Jump +1 (1), Knowledge (History) +10 (6), Knowledge (Arcane) +21 (17), Knowledge (Religion) +7 (3), Knowledge (Occult) +19 (15), Languages +14 (14), Medicine +10 (6), Notice +12 (8), Search +10 (6), Sense Motive +11 (7), Sleight of Hand +9 (8), Stealth +4 (3), Survival +11 (7), Swim +2 (2)

Feats and Talents
The Talent, Iron Will, Leadership, Attractive, Familiar (Cotton Ball), Contacts (x2), Great Fortitude

Powers (Save DC 24)
Blink, Cure, Fire Shaping, Ghost Touch, Mana Blast, Mana Shield, Mind Probe, Mind Reading, Mind Shaping, Mind Touch, Move Object, Object Reading, Psychic Blast, Purifying Light, Second Sight, Sense Minds, Sleep, Teleport, True Seeing

Again, I am pretty happy with this build. There is still some life in this system if you ask me.

Links

BlueRose True20 Edition

True20 Products on DriveThruRPG for Fantasy play

True20 Adventure Roleplaying, Revised Edition (Core rules)

Handbooks for classes, some fantasy with other genres

And an example of a complete fantasy campaign.

Legends of Excalibur: Arthurian Adventures (True20)

Friday, March 6, 2026

Fantasy Friday: DragonQuest 2nd Edition (2.19)

Back when I covered DragonQuest 1st Edition, I discussed my fascination with the DragonQuest rules, in particular the full volume, soft-cover 2nd edition. While I have not scored a copy of the 2nd edition, there is a fan project out there known as the 2.19 edition.

DragonQuest

My goal with my Fantasy Fridays is to present a fantasy game that could be a potential substitute for D&D at the game table, but what does a nearly 45-year-old have to offer? Well, before I get into that lets recap what DragonQuest is.

I have a bit of history with DragonQuest. Not a complicated one or even an interesting one, but history all the same. Back in 83 or 84 or so, I would head to Belobrajdic's Bookstore in my hometown every weekend. There, I would get a new edition of Dragon or whatever sci-fi novel piqued my interest and then check out all the new RPG materials. One I kept going back to time and time again was DragonQuest. This was the 2nd Edition softcover and looked really different than anything I had played so far. The barbarian on the cover proudly holding the severed head of a dragon convinced me it was a "Dragon hunting" game, and indeed, I learned that its original name was "DragonSlayer." But the Disney movie caused them to change this.

The game intrigued me so much. I flipped through it many times, and it even got to the point that I annoyed the owner, Paula Belobrajdic, who told me I should buy it. In retrospect, I wish I had.

Back in 2020, I managed to score a copy of the boxed set 1st edition. I am not 100% sure it lived up to my idea of what I thought it should be. Though while reading this 1st Edition boxed set, I could not help but think that maybe "DemonQuest" would be a fun game. That is, combine this with bits of the SPI game Demons. Consequently, the 2nd edition of DragonQuestion removed many of the connections with demons and demon summoning and even removed the School of Black Magic.

Also, around this time, I began to delve into the thriving online community that DragonQuest still has. It was here that I discovered the aforementioned 2.19 edition and even some details on the TSR-produced DragonQuest 3rd edition, which has been described by some as "unplayable."

So while I never got my own copy of DragonQuest 2nd edition, I do have a copy of the DragonQuest 2.19 edition in a three-ring binder, so that will have to do.

Rules-wise, they are similar enough to my review of the 1st edition that I don't feel the need to get into a lot of detail about it.

2.19 and the DragonQuest Player's Association

Now, I may not have all my details correct here, so I do apologize in advance. The 2.19 edition of DragonQuest was created in 2003. It seems to have been a group effort to restore the 2nd edition rules while bringing in material that had appeared elsewhere. I think, but am not sure, that some of the better rules from the 3rd edition were also included. Among other things, the College of Black Magic is back.

These are the de facto rules used by many in the DragonQuest Player's Association. The site looks like it is an artifact of the earliest internet days (because it is) and has not changed much of its look and feel since 1998. But it is home to an absolute ton of DragonQuest material, both new and old.

While I suppose the game is still copyrighted to SPI and then TSR and now Wizards/Hasbro, the trademark on the name went to the Japanese software company Square Enix. So while it is not really "abadonware" it is pretty close to that.

I will be 100% honest. DragonQuest is clunky and not always in a good way. It wears its war game roots right on its sleeve for all to see. And the active community keeps with that notion.

Its a great idea, in theory, but in practce I am back to where I was 42+ years ago; a neat game that no one around me plays. Maybe the next Con I go too I'll check out if they have a game running. The Facebook group is still active, so I know there are players out there.

The adventures and the schools of magic are still the biggest draws for me. I have to admit I just love how they look, and the art is like something out of a 1970s pulp fantasy book that I found in the 1980s. Raven Swordsmistress of Chaos would be a good character for this game. Maybe I'll give her a try later on.

I still like to think that with the right group, where I am maybe the youngest guy there, this would be great.

Larina Nix for DragonQuest 2.19

One of the best things about DragonQuest 1st edition was it allowed me to detail the life of a mage that had been important to my games but whom I never really knew a lot about. Phygor was an ancient mage in the May game, more rumor and half-whispered history than a character. I figured I could stat him up in DragonQuest and finally run with him. I did. And it was great. I immediately want to try my hand a recreating my witch Larina for the game as well, but knew I wanted to use the 2nd edition rules for her. Well...I never found one to buy that I liked, but then I found the 2.19 edition rules. I wanted her to have some power, so I awarded her an extra 40,000 experience points. Is that a lot? No idea, I know I wanted her to be skillful and magical, and experience points are used to buy everything.

Yes. There is a fan project on the School of Witchcraft, and it looks like a lot of fun, but I wanted to go Rules as Written for her.

Larina Nix
Human Female, 26 years old

Primary Characteristics
Physical Strength 12
Manual Dexterity 15
Agility 12
Magical Aptitude 22
Willpower 20
Endurance 12
Physical Beauty 20

Secondary Characteristics
Tactical Movement Rate 4
Defense 12
Fatigue 19
Perception 8
Initiative D+8

Aspect Moon
Social Status First born daughter of a merchant.
Right Handed

Skills
Climbing 0, Horsemanship 0, Hunting 0, Stealth 0
Alchemist 3 (analyze chemicals, mix standard chemicals), Astrologer 3 (beigns affected, change prediction), Beast Master 1 (creatures of the night and shadow), Courtesan 2 (seduction, sing, appear attractive), Healer 1 (empathy - tactile, cure infection, disease, headache)

Languages
Common (S/R&W): 8/8
Ancient, Draconic (S/R&W): 3/3
Farie (S/R&W): 3/3

Weapons
Dagger 20 40 D A 8 RMC
Quarterstaff 20 55 2 C P M

Gear
Dagger, Quaterstaff, blouse, belt (weapon), high boots, cloak, gloves, hat, pants, sleeping sack, rations (1 week), pouch, quills, ink, parchment (26.75 lbs).

260 silver pieces

School of Magic: Ensorcelments and Enchantments
Base Magic Resistance 20

Spells Rank %
Witchsight ee 6 32
Charming ee 3 31
Telekinesis ee 4 39
Enchanted Sleep ee 2 28
Speaking to Enchanted Creatures ee 2 53
Location ee 3 31
Invisibility ee 4 64
Evil Eye ee 5 42
Bolt of Energy ee 7 78

--
So I like this. If I had not been deadset on doing her rules-as-written, I would have tried out the school of witchcraft, but that is fine, really. Maybe this is a previous incarnation of Larina, one who lived a generation after the original Phygor. Much like the relationship of Phygora (named for the mythic wizard) and Larina in AD&D, teacher and student, respectively.

I know. I'll try out Elowen Hale using this system. Though it has honestly taken me months to write this much on this already. Still, I would love to see if I could do a respectable Raven and Elowen as well.

Am I done with this game? Not really. I am sure I'll keep coming back to it, if for no other reason than to satisfy the curiosity of a kid from the mids 80s looking at this book on the RPG shelves at my local bookstore.

Can I recommend this game? I doubt that many modern gamers have the patience for this style of rules anymore. Plus, "leveling up" can be slow, and players used to D&D 5 or even video games will have a hard time with it. This is an artifact of an age between ages; when the war gamer still ruled, and the RPG folks were the new kids on the block. Like I said with the 1st Edition, I have so many games that can do what this does. But I am happy I own copies, I am happy I can read them and enjoy them, and best of all, make some characters for them.

Links

Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DragonQuest
DragonQuest Wiki, https://www.dq-nz.org/dqwiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
DragonQuest Players Association, THE place to go for everything, https://www.dragonquest.org/
DragonQuest Fan Page by Snafaru, https://www.zimlab.com/dq/
DragonQuest Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1470175743293056/
My DragonQuest posts:

Friday, December 26, 2025

Fantasy Friday Boxing Day: Dragonbane

A special combined Fantasy Friday with Boxing Day. Today I am diving into the Dragonbane boxed set. I picked this up my local RPG auction, still in the shrink wrap. This is less a traditional review and more an overview, a brief dive into the history of the game, and my thoughts after spending some time with it.

Dragonbane

Dragonbane is Free League’s modern reworking of the Swedish Drakar och Demoner. I picked it up last fall, primarily out of curiosity about Drakar och Demoner and out of a long-standing appreciation for Free League’s production values. After reading and reflecting on it, my conclusion is fairly measured: this is not a D&D replacement for me, but it is a very credible alternative to games in the RuneQuest family and adjacent BRP-style designs.

That distinction matters. Well, at least to me.

A Brief History of Drakar och Demoner

To really understand Dragonbane, it helps to step back and look at its predecessor, Drakar och Demoner (often abbreviated DoD), one of the most influential tabletop roleplaying games in Scandinavia.

Drakar och Demoner first appeared in 1982, published by Äventyrsspel (known internationally as Target Games). Mechanically, it was based on Basic Role-Playing, the same rules engine that powered RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu. For many Swedish players, DoD was not just their first RPG, but the RPG, occupying the same cultural space that D&D held in the United States.

Over the 1980s and early 1990s, Drakar och Demoner went through multiple editions, gradually drifting away from strict BRP roots while retaining its skill-based core. These editions emphasized low fantasy, dangerous combat, and practical adventuring over heroic power escalation. Magic was present but restrained. Characters were competent but fragile. Survival mattered.

Importantly, DoD also helped shape a distinctly European approach to fantasy roleplaying. Its adventures often leaned toward folklore, exploration, and moral ambiguity rather than epic destiny. Humor existed, but it was dry and situational rather than cartoonish. The infamous duck-people, later echoed in Dragonbane’s mallards, originated here as a surprisingly durable example of the game’s tonal flexibility.

When Target Games ceased operations in the late 1990s, Drakar och Demoner passed through several publishers and revisions, including later editions that experimented with d20 mechanics and more modern design sensibilities. None of these fully displaced the affection players held for the earlier versions.

Dragonbane: Design Lineage and Intent

Dragonbane wears its DoD and BRP influences openly. It is a skill-based fantasy RPG with a roll-under d20 core mechanic, clear ancestry in early percentile systems, and a design philosophy that prioritizes table flow over mechanical density. Unlike modern D&D, it does not attempt to be a universal fantasy engine or a lifestyle game. Instead, it aims to be playable, approachable, and complete within a single boxed set.

From a game design perspective, this is one of Dragonbane’s strengths. It knows what it wants to be.

Rules Structure: Conservative but Clean

Mechanically, Dragonbane is restrained. Characters are defined by skills rather than classes and levels, advancement is incremental and use-based, and resolution is intentionally binary. Rolling under your skill succeeds; rolling a 1 or a 20 introduces structured extremes of success or failure. I am normally not a huge fan of d20 roll-under systems, but this one works surprisingly well.

This approach avoids both the escalating power curves of D&D and the granular complexity of RuneQuest. Combat is dangerous without being punishing, magic is flexible without being dominant, and the overall system encourages cautious decision-making. In play, the rules largely stay out of the way, which is not a small achievement.

If anything, the rules err on the side of being slightly under-explained in places. Veteran gamemasters will fill in the gaps easily, but newcomers may occasionally wish for more explicit guidance. This feels intentional. Dragonbane trusts the table.

Setting

The Misty Vale setting provides just enough context to anchor play without overwhelming it. It is functional rather than exhaustive, offering locations, factions, and adventure hooks rather than a dense metaplot. This makes Dragonbane especially suitable for referees who prefer to build outward from play rather than absorb a setting bible before starting.

Compared to D&D’s Forgotten Realms or RuneQuest’s Glorantha, this is a much lighter touch. That may disappoint lore-focused players, but from a usability standpoint it makes the game easier to adopt and adapt.

You could easily create your own setting for this game or drop it into an existing one. I think that flexibility is a key strength.

Tone and Aesthetics

Dragonbane’s art direction is worth noting, not because it is flashy, but because it is consistent. There is a slight fairy-tale quality to the visuals, softened by humor (yes, including the infamous mallards), but it never collapses into parody. The tone remains grounded enough to support serious play, even when the aesthetic leans whimsical.

From a design history perspective, this places Dragonbane closer to early European fantasy RPG traditions than to modern epic fantasy branding, which makes sense given its origins.

The result is a game that looks both new and old at the same time. It feels distinctly European in presentation and sensibility.

The result is a great-looking game that looks new and old at the same time. It looks European to me.

Where It Fits for Me

Dragonbane does not threaten D&D’s place in my gaming life. D&D occupies a different conceptual space: broader genre reach, stronger character archetypes, and decades of accumulated expectations. Dragonbane is not trying to compete there.

Where it does shine is as a cleaner, faster alternative to RuneQuest and similar systems. It delivers many of the same benefits—skills over classes, grounded combat, emergent narrative—without the overhead that sometimes makes those games harder to get to the table.

In that sense, Dragonbane succeeds not by innovation, but by refinement.

RuneQuest is wonderful. I love it. But Dragonbane does what I often want RuneQuest to do, with fewer rules and a lower bar for entry.

Dragonbane vs RuneQuest vs BRP

At a mechanical and philosophical level, Dragonbane, RuneQuest, and Basic Role-Playing all share a common DNA in skill-based resolution and grounded, consequence-driven play. Where they diverge is in density and expectation. BRP functions best as a toolkit, offering maximum flexibility at the cost of referee labor and system mastery. RuneQuest, particularly in its Glorantha-centric forms, layers that toolkit with extensive cultural, religious, and mythic structures, resulting in a rich but demanding play experience. Dragonbane deliberately strips this complexity back, favoring speed, clarity, and approachability while preserving the core logic of skill-based play.

Nearly Final Assessment

Dragonbane is a well-considered fantasy RPG with a clear design goal and the discipline to stick to it. It is accessible without being shallow, traditional without being dated, and complete without being bloated.

It may not become the center of my gaming ecosystem, but it has earned a permanent place on my shelf, and more importantly, at my table when I want something thoughtful, grounded, and efficient.

That alone makes it worth serious consideration.

As I mentioned when I first picked this up, I need to create a Mallard wizard. I just need to figure out who he is and what he is about. I like the idea of a wandering wizard; I have not done that since I was playing Phygor. For this character, I would probably borrow ideas from RuneQuest and maybe even port him over into my D&D games. And yes, he is a wizard, not a witch.

So yeah, I certainly want to play this some more.

Friday, December 12, 2025

Fantasy Fridays: Aventuras en español

I have been very remiss at keeping up with my Fantasy Fridays. My plan was to get through a lot more games than I did. But in my defense, I have a new job.

In terms of fantasy gaming, my AD&D game with my oldest is going quite well really. In fact, one of my witch characters is taking her Secret Journey, and it has been a fantastic experience. I am not 100% sure how I can convert this into something others can use, but the first step would be to make more "generic" so any character could do it. So far I have only tried it with clerics (the original version), wizards (later on), and now witches.

My other obsession of late has been playing D&D, BECMI and BX flavors, in Spanish.

"Playing" is too strong of a word. I have been doing a lot of (really slow) reading of materials translated by the Spanish-language D&D players online. And there is a lot.

I had put a request out a while back for materials I can buy, which was great, but I also got a lot of links for La Marca del Este. Who have a ton of free PDFs they release of new adventures. On the bad side, many of the Spanish-language, mostly Spain-based, webstores won't ship to the United States anymore due to our tariff policies. Which, honestly, I can't argue with them about.

My desire is to find a way to play some BECMI in Spanish. I live in the Chicago-burbs, it can't be that difficult really. Great way to learn and practice I think!

Friday, October 31, 2025

Urban Fantasy Fridays: WitchCraft RPG & Unisystem

It is Halloween! The best day of the year. For that, I want to share one of my all-time favorite Urban Fantasy Horror RPGs.

C. J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG

WitchCraft is, hands down, my favorite game. Period. Picking up a copy of this book back in 1999 was just like picking up a copy of the Monster Manual in 1979. Everything I ever wanted in a game was right there. Everything.

WitchCraft had such a profound effect on my gaming that I can draw a rather clean line between what came before and what came after it. Granted, a lot was going on in 1999/2000, both gaming-wise and personally, that may have added to this effect; it was an effect all the same.

Back in 1999, I was really burned out on AD&D. I was working on my own Witch netbook and reading various games when someone, I forget where, must have been the old RAVENLOFT-L that TSR/WotC used to run, told me I really needed to check out WitchCraft. At first, I balked. I had tried Vampire a couple of years ago and found I didn't like it (and I was very much out of my vampire phase then), but I was coming home from work and my FLGS was on the way, so I popped in and picked up a copy. This must have been the early spring of 2000.

I can recall sitting in my office reading this book over and over. Everything was so new again, so different. This was the world I had been trying, in vain, to create for D&D, but never could. The characters in this book were also all witches, something that pleased me to no end; it was more than just that. Plus, look at that fantastic cover art by George Vasilakos. That is one of my favorite, if not my most favorite, covers for a game book. I have it hanging in my game room now.

WitchCraft uses what is now called the "Classic" Unisystem system. So there are 6 basic attributes, some secondary attributes (derived), skills, qualities, and drawbacks. Skills and attributes can be mixed and matched to suit a particular need.

WitchCraft uses a Point-Buy Metaphysics magic system, unlike Ghosts of Albion's levels of magic and spells system. Think of each magical effect as a skill that must be learned, and you have to learn easier skills before the harder ones first. In D&D, for example, it is possible to learn Fireball without having previously learned Produce Flame. In WitchCraft, you could not do that. WitchCraft, though, is not about throwing around "vulgar magics". WitchCraft is a survival game where the Gifted protect humanity from all sorts of nasty things, from forgotten Pagan gods, to demons, fallen angels, and the Mad Gods; Cthulhoid-like horrors from beyond. WitchCraft takes nearly everything from horror and puts it all together, and makes it work.

C. J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG (Myrmidon Press)

The Eden Studios version was the Second Edition, I was later to find out. The first one was from Myrmidon Press. I manged to find a copy of that one too and it was like reading the same book, from an alternate universe. I prefer the Eden Edition far more for a number of reasons, but I am still happy to have both editions.

The first edition (from Myrmidon Press) is like an alternate-universe echo of the later Eden Studios release. I own both, but Eden’s version is definitive. It’s cleaner, more playable, and it feels like the book C. J. Carella meant to write.

The central idea behind WitchCraft is the same as most other Modern Supernatural Horror games. The world is like ours, but there are dark secrets, magic is real, and monsters are real. You know the drill. But WitchCraft is different. There is a Reckoning coming, everyone feels it, but no one knows what it is. Characters then assume the roles of various magic-using humans, supernatural beings, or even mundane individuals, and they fight against the threats. Another conceit of the game (and one I use a lot) is that supernatural occurrences are greater now than ever before. Something's coming... (dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria).

It is most often compared to World of Darkness, but there are aspects of WitchCraft that I prefer. Unlike (old) Mage there is no war between the (good) Mages and the (evil) Technocracy. There is a war certainly, but nothing so cut and dry. Unlike the new Mage, there are rarely clean divisions between the factions. Yes, yes Mage players, I am being overly simple, but that is the point, on the simple levels new Mage dives everything into 5 because that is how the designers want it. There are factions (Associations) and different metaphysics for each, but they also overlap, and sometimes no clear and defined lines are to be found or established. It feels very organic.

In my opinion, C. J. Carella may be one of the best game designers out there. WitchCraft is a magnum opus that few achieve. I took that game and I ran with it. For 2000 - 2003, it was my game of choice above and beyond anything. The Buffy RPG, built on the Cinematic Unisystem, took over till I wrote Ghosts of Albion, which also uses the Cinematic Unisystem. I mix and match the systems as I need, but WitchCraft is still my favorite.

WitchCraft, in fact, is what got me into professional game design.

Back in the Spring/Summer of 2001, I started up a new game. I had just purchased the WitchCraft RPG book about 16 months prior, and I was looking for something new. That something came to me in the guise of Willow and Tara. I had been watching Buffy for a bit, and I really enjoyed the character of Willow. When she got together with fellow witch Tara, I thought they were perfect. I had become very involved in the online Willow/Tara fandom, so I created a game, focusing on just them.

The game would focus on just these two, no one else from the show (which I would soon become an ex-fan of, but that is a different story). Plus it gave me something to try out in a modern setting, something I have not done since my early days with the Chill RPG.

The trickiest part of developing game stats of any fictional character that belongs to someone else is knowing how to strike a balance between the game's rules and the fictional portrayal. A lot of "artisitc" license needs to be used in order to get a good fit. For example, how do you determine what some one's strength is when there is little to no on screen evidence? What spells would the girls have?

In the end, I decided to play it a little loose, but I love where their stats ended up. In many ways, this is who Willow and Tara are to me, not the characters on TV or in comics, but the ones who were my characters since that day back in May 2001, when I decided they needed their own chance to shine.

After this, I worked on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. It should be no surprise then that the Willow and Tara stats that appear there are not that much different than my own. I can be pretty vocal in play tests. That got me the chance to write the Ghosts of Albion RPG. This also allowed me to meet, work with and remain friends with Christopher Golden and Amber Benson.

WitchCraft paved the way for so many other games for me, not just in terms of playing but in writing. If it were not for WitchCraft, then we would not have had Buffy, Angel, or Army of Darkness. Conspiracy X would have remained in its original system. There would be no Terra Primate or All Flesh Must Be Eaten, and certainly there would be no Ghosts of Albion. This game means that much to me.

But you don't have to take my word for it, Eden Studios will let you have it, sans some art, for free.

Download it. If you have never played anything else other than D&D then you OWE it yourself to try this game out.

My thing is I wish it was more popular than it is. I love the game. If I was told I could only play one game for the rest of my life then WitchCraft would be in my top 3 or 2 choices.

Larina Nichols for WitchCraftRPG

Like Willow and Tara, I consider the WitchCraft version of Larina to be the "main" or even "true" one. Not a shock. I was reading the WitchCraftRPG after completing my first publication, "Complete Netbook of Witches & Warlocks," which featured a six-year-old Larina learning she would become a witch.

Later on, I played her in an online game where she went to Scotland, got married, got divorced, and moved back. In fact, it was her "return to America" stage of her life that I tried to capture with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. It was here that her "modern age" counterpart had made contact with her "fantasy age", aka D&D counterpart.

Larina "Nix" Nichols

Wicce Seeker of Knowledge Gifted
Age: 30 (circa 2000/2001), Ht: 5'4", Hair: Red, Eyes: Blue

Attributes: Str 2 Dex 3 Con 3 Int 5 Per 5 Wil 6*

Life Points: 33
Endurance: 29 (27)
Speed: 12/6

Essence Pool: 76
Channeling Level: 10

Survival: 10
Lifting Capacity: 100 lbs

Qualities & Drawbacks

Gifted (+5), Attractive (+2), Essence Channeling (+5), Hard to Kill (+1), Increased Essence Pool (+8), Nerves of Steel, Old Soul* (+3), Resources (+1), Emotional Dependency: Fear of Rejection (-1), Honorable (-2), Recurring Nightmares (-1), Obsession Magic (-2)

Skills

Cooking (1), Craft, Simple Crafts (2), Driving, Car (2), Humanities, History (2), Humanities, Religion (2), Humanities, Wicce Theology (2), Humanities, Psychology (1), Language, Latin (4), Language, Greek (3), Language Italian (3), Language, Gaelic (2), Magic Bolt (3), Magic Theory (3), Myth and Legend, Celtic (2), Myth and Legend, Greek (2), Folk Magic (4), Occult Knowledge (2), Play Instrument, Clarinet (2), Research (3), Rituals, Wicce (2), Singing (1), Survival, Urban (3), Trance (2)

Metaphysics/Powers

Affect the Psyche (Influence Emotion, 2), Blessing (Good Luck, 2; Protection, 2), Create Ward (2), Flame (2), Insight, One with the Land (1), Perceive True Nature (2), Protection vs. Magic (3), Soul Projection (4), Soul Fire (3), Sending (1)

Weapons

Knife d4x2
Baseball bat d8x2 / d8x3 (two handed)

Possessions: Books on magic, spell components, crystal ball, laptop computer (Mac PowerBook G3 "Lombard"), 1998 Volkswagen Beetle.

As with Chill, this is not a starting character. I have said it already, but I consider this to be the "Prime" modern Larina, that is, until I wrote NIGHT SHIFT. I use the Old Soul quality not only to have her connect to past lives, but also to her "alternate lives." This would include her D&D and Mage versions. This is what allows her to exceed the human limit of 5 in Willpower.

Larina's Timeline

Since this is the last post in this particular series, I decided to look back on the lifespan development campaign idea.

There are certainly more games I could use to fill in some more. Even if I never play all these games, using them is a better solution than a huge backstory. It gives you the chance to build that backstory.

WitchCraft as a D&D Replacement

I have talked about this one as much this month, even if it is a central feature of my Fantasy Fridays. But the WitchCraftRPG can be used as a replacement for D&D. Eden even published a book for it, Dungeons & Zombies. Overtly for the All Flesh Must Be Eaten RPG.

It is no surprise then that Dungeons & Zombies comes from Jason Vey. Vey and I would later take all that we knew from WitchCraft, AFMBE, and Buffy and Ghosts, and design NIGHT SHIFT.

I even ran the Ravenloft I6 adventure using WitchCraft. It was fantastic.

Final Thoughts

Revisiting WitchCraft after Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition feels like returning to the root system after tracing the branches. Mage is about transcendence, belief shaping reality. WitchCraft is about endurance, belief surviving reality.

In Mage, Larina questions the structure of the cosmos; in WitchCraft, she defends it. Both games explore the same axis of power and consequence, but WitchCraft speaks to something older and more intimate: the soul’s stubborn refusal to go quietly.

Twenty-five years later, WitchCraft still reads like a love letter to the people who look at the dark and light a candle anyway. It’s hopeful without being naïve, mystical without losing its humanity.

When I flip through those pages now, I can still feel that same spark from 1999. The moment I realized that “urban fantasy” wasn’t just a genre; it was a worldview, and it was where I wanted to spend my gaming days and nights.

And Larina’s still there, at her desk, cup of tea beside a stack of grimoires, scrolling through student papers by day and summoning protective circles by night. The Reckoning may come, or it may not, but she’ll be ready either way.

Links

C. J. Carella’s WitchCraft RPG – Eden Studios (DriveThruRPG)

Eden Studios

Friday, October 24, 2025

Urban Fantasy Fridays: Mage The Ascension, 20th Anniversary Edition

I will admit, I love Mage. I love all versions of it, to be honest.

While I never really got into the original World of Darkness when it was all the rage, I did have Vampire: The Masquerade, and I recognized why and how it was good. Still, at the time, I had also just discovered WitchCraftRPG (next week!), so that was the game I had chosen to scratch my Modern-Supernatural itches.

I remember picking up a copy of Vampire the Masquerade back in the early 90s and thinking it looked interesting, but nothing I was going to play really. Though my thought did go to moving the whole thing over to Ravenloft. It wasn't until I had moved to Chicago to work on my Ph.D. that I found Mage.

The ground floor of the commuter train station had a bookstore in it. One of the pure joys of my daily commute. I picked up a copy of Mage: The Ascension (Revised) and thought that it was fantastic. While I would ultimately stick with WitchCraft, Mage continued to have a fascination for me. Moving back and forth between the systems, I ultimately landed on the idea that a "Mage" was an evolved form of a "Witch." I did some refinements, mostly after Mage the Awakening was released, so eventually came to the idea of an "Imbolc Mage," the term borrowed from a friend who wrote about "Ascended witches." IT worked for me. Even in my D&D 3.0 days, an Imbolc Mage was a witch prestige class. Even today I have a Mystic Class Starship kitbash called "The Imbolc Mage."

Though I did really like Mage. A lot. I really like Sorcerer's Crusade; it was a cool idea and much more interesting to me than Mage: The Ascension at first. That led me to Sorcerer: The Hedge Wizard's Handbook, which is not part of Sorcerer's Crusade, but part of modern Mage. But I am glad I made that mistake, since I really liked this book, and it made me look again at the World of Darkness.

While Mage: The Ascension grabbed my attention, it was Mage: The Awakening that I created more material for. I soon figured out why: it felt very similar to WitchCraft. I wanted to do something that took the best aspects, or more to the point my favorite aspects, of both games and use them together. I grabbed the Mage Translation Guide with great glee, but I never really did anything with it. With the release of Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition (and its nearly 700 pages), I just dropped all the work I was doing with Mage: The Awakening.

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition

The 20th Anniversary Edition of Mage: The Ascension is a massive, beautifully crafted tome that brings every prior vision of the game into focus. It’s not just a revision of the rules; it’s a celebration of what Mage has always been: the meeting of philosophy and passion, of science and sorcery, of power and the price of using it.

It’s also the most “complete” version of Mage ever written. M20 doesn’t erase the differences between editions; it embraces them. The Traditions feel ancient and mythic again, the Technocracy has teeth and ideology, and even the Marauders and Nephandi have more depth than ever before, a LOT more depth. The lore isn’t presented as dogma but as perspective, filtered through the unreliable narrators who populate the Ascension War. This is hit home time and time again. Reality is what you make it.

Reading it feels like walking through every era of the game’s evolution: the raw wonder of 1st Edition, the sleek paranoia of Revised (my previous favorite), the fiery metaphysics of Awakening, all of it bound together by the idea that belief shapes reality. If you’ve ever argued about whether magic is real, or what truth even means, M20 will make you feel like those questions matter again.

Plus the physical book is just so damn attractive.

Magic, Philosophy, and Price

What I’ve always loved about Mage, especially the 20th Anniversary Edition, is that it treats magic as both metaphor and mechanism. Every paradigm is true, and none of them are. The more you understand, the more dangerous it becomes to believe in only one truth.

That’s why Larina fits here so naturally. In earlier games, she learned that magic has limits. In Mage, she learns that those limits are hers.

The system itself still shines. M20’s rules strike a balance between the freeform wonder of 1st Edition and the structured precision of Revised. The magic system remains one of my favorites of any RPG ever written, not because it’s powerful but because it demands creativity and consequence. Every effect has a cost, every belief has friction, and paradox is always waiting for the arrogant.

This is where Mage transcends its own mechanics. It’s not just about bending the universe; it’s about how much of yourself you’re willing to give up to make that change. Every roll feels like a wager between your vision and the world’s resistance. It’s a game of philosophy disguised as spellcraft, where your paradigm defines not only your powers but your purpose.

In that way, it’s the most dangerous kind of fantasy: the kind that makes you ask, What if I’m the one who’s asleep?

The Mature Stage of the Lifespan Campaign

If Little Fears represents childhood beliefs, Monsterhearts embodies teenage Sturm und Drang, and Chill signifies early adulthood resilience, then Mage is mid-life transcendence.

By the time a character reaches Mage, the world has stopped being mysterious because they have seen too much of it. They’ve fought the Unknown, lost friends, made mistakes, and realized that survival is only the beginning. Mage is what happens when you stop reacting to horror and start defining reality for yourself.

For Larina, this is the phase where the witch becomes the magus. She’s no longer the frightened girl with ghosts in her room or the grad student who stumbled into S.A.V.E. She’s a woman in her mid-40s who has survived every shadow the multiverse could throw at her, and learned that power without wisdom is just another kind of curse.

Her story at this stage isn’t about discovery; it’s about integration. Every past incarnation, every spell, every trauma, they all thread together into something greater. The act of Ascension isn’t about escaping mortality; it’s about embracing it as sacred.

Like the rules, I want to integrate all the disparate threads of her life here.

Larina Nichols in Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition (2015)

By 2000 or so, Larina had returned to the States and lived quietly in Chicago. She teaches folklore and comparative mythology at a small liberal arts college, but that’s just the daylight cover. At night, she works as an independent consultant for the Traditions, specifically the Verbena, though she maintains uneasy friendships among the Dreamspeakers and Hollow Ones.

In the context of my Lifespan Campaign, this is Larina’s middle-age chapter, the reckoning after experience, when all her past choices catch up to her. The ghosts from Little Fears, the stress of Monsterhearts, the agents of S.A.V.E. from Chill, even fragments of her other lives like Lowis from Dark Ages, they all echo here.

Mage lets me weave those threads together into something coherent. Maybe those different incarnations were just past lives of the same soul, or echoes across parallel worlds. In Mage, that kind of metaphysical bleed makes sense. It’s one of the only games where her story could become mythic without losing its human edge.

At 45 (2015 in this build), Larina is a seasoned practitioner who has seen the price of awakening. She knows that every act of will leaves ripples in the world. She teaches her students that folklore endures because it speaks to something real, and when she’s alone, she can still hear the faint hum of the Tapestry, like a heartbeat under the world.

She’s part scholar, part witch, part weary survivor. The Ascension War has become quieter, now fought through memes, corporate sponsorships, and disinformation rather than fireballs and paradox spirits. Larina has learned that the Technocracy doesn’t always need to win; reality often fights their battles for them.

But she keeps the candle burning anyway.

Her focus remains rooted in belief: the Old Faith, the Goddess, the sacred cycles of life and death, but expanded now to the Universal and Multi-versal scale. She has studied Hermetic theory and understands the language of the Ethers, yet she still draws her strength from the soil, the stars, and the blood that ties them together. In M20 terms, she is a Verbena, a witch who believes in creation’s divinity but refuses to kneel to any monotheistic god.

She works minor wonders through old rites: candle flame, herbs, whispered prayers, moonlight on water, spreads of her well-worn tarot cards. Her paradigm has grown sophisticated; witchcraft, psychology, and spirit all merge into her personal practice. Where she once used spells, she now shapes Correspondences.

Her Avatar is older now, too, no longer the reckless maiden or disappointed wife, but a patient, keen-eyed woman who sometimes calls herself the Lady of Crossroads.

Larina "Nix" Nichols

Chronicle: The New Millennium

Nature: Questing
Demeanor: Traditionalist
Essence: Visionary

Affiliation: The Traditions
Sect: Verbena
Concept: Mystic

Attributes

Physical
Strength ••, Dexterity ••, Stamina •••

Social
Charisma •••, Manipulation ••, Appearance ••••

Mental
Perception ••••, Intelligence ••••, Wits •••

Abilities

Talents
Alertness ••, Art •, Awareness •••, Empathy ••, Expression •, Streetwise •

Skills
Crafts •, Drive ••, Etiquette •, Research •••, Survival •••, Technology •

Knowledges
Academics ••••, Cosmology ••, Enigmas ••, Esoterica •, Investigation •, Medicine •, Occult ••••, Science •

Spheres

Correspondence ••
Entropy 0
Forces •••

Life •••
Matter •
Mind ••••

Prime •
Spirit •••
Time ••

Advantages

Backgrounds
Allies ••
Avatar •••••
Dream •
Library ••••
Past Lives •••
Wonder •

Other Traits
High Ritual ••••
Seduction ••
Area Knowledge ••

Arete ••••• ••

Willpower ••••• ••

Quintessence xxxxx

Rotes
Talons (••• Life, • Prime or • Matter)
Far Speak (•• Mind, •• Spirit)
Astral Projection (••••Mind, • Spirit)
Past Life (•• Correspondence, •• Spirit)

Focus
Paradigm: Creation is Divine and Alive
Practices: Witchcraft
Instruments: Books, ritual tools, tarot

Wonder
Athame

Merits & Flaws
Languages (Celtic, Greek, Italian, Latin, Russian) 5, True Faith 2
Echoes -1

Age: 45, Apparent age: late 30s
Sex: Female
Ethnicity: White (Caucasian)
Hair: Red
Eye color: Blue
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 125 lbs
DOB: October 25, 1969

Equipment
2005 purple VW Beetle
2013 Macbook Pro (Core i7, 2.6 ghz, 13.3" screen, 256gb ssd, 8gb RAM), silver

Notes: One thing I have not decided yet is whether or not this Larina has a 3-year-old daughter "Taryn" as her WitchCraftRPG counterpart would have at this point (Taryn born Dec 21, 2012, when the Meso-American calendar ran out.) I would like to think so, but I have not played this particular character to that point.

This is obviously not a starting character. I figured she began as a Mage character when I first discovered Mage (circa 1999) and she has had 15 years of experience since then. Granted, maybe she would be more powerful, but she had a lot going on in her life that was not Mage-related.

I have always played my Mage and WitchCraft versions as similar, but separate universes. This Larina may be the Larina that keeps the others connected to the whole cabal/coven of them all. Actually, I really like this idea. Maybe I should reach out to Phil Brucato, "That Mage Guy," and ask him how he would craft such a character.

Final Thoughts

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition isn’t just a rulebook. It’s a philosophy text disguised as a game manual, a challenge to imagine what reality could be if you dared to believe differently. It captures everything I love about urban fantasy, the collision of magic and modernity, of belief and disbelief, of hope against entropy.

For me, Mage represents the mature stage of the horror-fantasy journey. It’s not about surviving the darkness anymore. It’s about illuminating it, understanding it, and, if you’re brave enough, even becoming it.

Larina has learned that the Ascension War was never about gods or Technocrats. It was always about the soul’s struggle to stay awake.

And after all these years, she’s still standing at the crossroads, candle in hand, whispering to the night: "So mote it be."

Links

Friday, October 17, 2025

Urban Fantasy Fridays: Chill

The depth of my love for Chill knows no bounds.

I am continuing to focus my Fantasy Fridays on Urban Fantasy and Horror. These will be more about accenting and supplementing your games with horror, and less on these games being a “D&D Replacement.”

And for me, no game sits more firmly in that sweet spot of horror and urban fantasy than Chill.

Chill was my first RPG after D&D, and it has stayed with me ever since. I still remember flipping through the Pacesetter box and realizing this game wasn’t about dungeons or dragons, it was about the dark places just outside your door. It’s a game about the things you whisper about, the shadows you hope never notice you, and the brave (or foolish) people who stand up to fight them.

The Core of Chill

Across its three editions, the spirit of the game has remained intact. The secret society of SAVE, the Societas Argenti Viae Eternitata, provides players with an immediate reason to join the fight against the supernatural. The Unknown itself is the real adversary, a collection of folklore and fear that resists easy definition. Unlike Call of Cthulhu, Chill does not end with despair. Unlike World of Darkness, it does not try to make the monsters alluring. Most importantly, it doesn’t require the “epic heroics” of D&D or Pathfinder. The Unknown is terrifying and often lethal, but it can be fought.

The tone of play always reminded me more of Kolchak: The Night Stalker than Lovecraft. Later, when shows like X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Supernatural came along, they felt like they could have been written as Chill campaigns. It is a game about mysteries and folklore, about investigating hauntings and cryptids, and about facing the terrors that slip into our world when no one else will. The monsters are not just stat blocks to be defeated; they are creatures that feel like they have stepped out of legend and into your story. More importantly, each monster was special. Even when it was just a "monster of the week" it still meant something. From vampires and Wendigos to Elizabeth Bathory herself, the creatures of Chill are more than just stat blocks. They feel like they crawled out of real-world legends and onto your gaming table.

What You Can Do With Chill

Chill is wonderfully adaptable. I have used it to run Buffy-style adventures before there was a Buffy RPG, Kolchak investigations, and even material that began in Ghosts of Albion. It thrives in the modern day, but it also works in Victorian gaslight, or the occult revival of the 1970s with its bell-bottoms and Ouija boards. The mechanics are approachable and lean toward story, so it is a natural fit for short Halloween one-shots as well as longer campaigns.

One of the joys of Chill for me has been bringing recurring characters into it. I have created versions of many of my characters for many systems, but Chill has always felt like one of the most natural homes for them. Characters in Chill are ordinary people thrust into extraordinary danger, and that is exactly the kind of story I have always enjoyed doing.

Why Chill Stands Out

What makes Chill endure is the way it carves out its own place among horror RPGs. Call of Cthulhu leans into inevitability and madness. World of Darkness often leans into seduction and corruption. Dungeons & Dragons calls for epic heroics and high fantasy. Chill stands apart. It is a game about people who could be your neighbors, co-workers, or friends, suddenly forced to confront the shadows that lurk behind familiar walls. Victories are rare, but when they come, they feel earned. That balance of fear and fight is what keeps me coming back.

It gives you ordinary people with extraordinary courage, standing in the dark with nothing but a flashlight, some folklore, and the hope they can survive until dawn.

Chill is available in both the 2nd Edition and 3rd Edition rules. The mechanical differences are minor. Chill 3rd Edition is a bit better organized and presented.

The Early-Middle Years Campaign

If Little Fears is a childhood belief made into rules, then Chill feels like the story of what happens when those childhood terrors never really go away. It is a game for the middle years of life, when you are old enough to understand that monsters should not be real, yet still young enough to feel the raw shock when you discover they are.

In this sense, Chill is the perfect start to a “middle chapter” of a larger horror Lifespan Campaign. Dark Places & Demogorgons can cover the later childhood and early teen years. Monsterhearts or Buffy can cover the chaos of all the teenage years, but Chill is where the players step into early adulthood. Bills need paying, jobs need doing, but there are still nights when something crawls out of the dark, and it is up to you to stop it. Adulthood in Chill is defined not by power or responsibility, but by resilience.

Characters are rarely specialists or superheroes; they are people in over their heads who choose to fight back anyway. That resilience is what makes victories against the Unknown so satisfying. Chill is about holding on to courage, even when everything around you insists you should not.

A starting Chill character is a fragile thing, but it is assumed they have what it takes to survive.

Larina Macalister, nee Nichols, for Chill

So we have been moving through the years. In this, I am opting for the Chill 2nd Edition timeline, circa 1992. Larina is 22 years old. She has been living in Scotland for a couple of years now. She was an exchange student from the University of Chicago to St. Andrews University. She graduated with a degree in library sciences and early medieval history. She is currently a GA at St. Andrews. While here, she met, fell in love with, and married Eric Macalister. An Irish ex-pat living in Scotland. She later learns he is on the run because he is a former IRA sharphooter. I had watched Patriot Games when I came up with all of this in the late 1990s. In fact, this setup is all based on a WitchCraftRPG game I played with her. At the time, I worked out conversions in Excel for Chill, WitchCraft, and AD&D. These Chill stats are some of the oldest I have shared.

While I am basing all this background on Chill 2nd Ed, I am going to present her newer Chill 3rd Edition stats below.

This Larina is fresh out of her undergrad days and working on her MA. She married, but life is not all marital bliss (she will be divorced and back in America by the time she is 25). She works with her friend Prof. Scot Elders and his wife, and her best friend Heather. At some point, Larina learns that Elders worked for S.A.V.E. She is brought in, but she isn't trusted since her training in "The Art" has been haphazard and largely self-taught since she was 13.

S.A.V.E. wants to evaluate her, but they had their own troubles in the early 1990s.

Larina Macalister
22 years old, American citizen (married to an Irish citizen) living in Scotland on a student visa.

Larina Macalister, nee Nichols for Chill 2nd Edition

Larina in 1992.

Attributes

Agility AGL: 60
Strength STR: 50 (Injury: __)
Stamina STA: 55

Focus FOC: 80
Personality PSY: 70
Willpower WRP: 75 (Trauma: __)

Dexterity DEX: 60
Perception PCN: 80
Reflexes REF: 70

Sensing the Unknown STU: 40

Skills (Specializations)

Movement 30
Prowess 25
Close Quarters Combat 25

Research 40, Academics (E+30), Occult (E+30)
Communication Empathy (E+30), Deception (B+15)
Interview 38 Academic (E+30), Counselor (B+15)

Fieldcraft 30
Investigation 40 Relics (B+15)
Ranged Weapons 35

The Art

Communicative (PSY)
Attunement: Follow the Strings
- Telepathic Empathy (B)

Incorporeal
Attunement: Eyes of the Dead

Kinetic (DEX)
Attunement: Schematic
- Hidden Hand (E)

Protective (FOC)
Attunement: Disrupt
- Blessing (B)
- Line of Defense (B)

Sensing
Attunement: Third Eye
- Clairvoyant (B)

Edges and Drawbacks

Attractive 1, Highly Attuned 1, Pet (cat) 2
Hunted (Shadow Girl) -2, Marked -1, Reluctant to Harm -2

Drive To understand The Art and The Unknown

History

1975: Visited by ghosts and other spirits (gains Incorporeal ART)
1983: Develops Kinetic and Sensing Arts
1989: Travels to Scotland
1990: Recruited by S.A.V.E., same year married Eric Macalister
1991: Begins MA program at St. Andrews.

New to 3rd Edition are Focus and Reflexes. Also, Luck is now gone.

Her stats are pretty high for a starting character, but not high if you consider the Lifespan Campaign. She was seeing ghosts at 5 or 6, had control of various Arts by age 13. Because of this, she is largely self-taught. Her magical aptitude is a mile wide, but only inches deep at this point.

I am bringing back the Shadow Girl, who, she had forgotten, from Little Fears. Maybe this creature is Larina's Never Was? And something happened in either DP&D or Monsterhearts that has caused her to decide she can use her Art to harm anyone. She hurt someone and has not gotten over it.

Herein lies the most significant issue surrounding the Lifespan Campaign: moving characters and their abilities/powers from one game to the next. It can be done, but it is a challenge. Or, more to the point, a challenge to do it and not break some of the fundamental tenets of the game. Larina above should almost be a threat to S.A.V.E., not a consultant. Part of this balance also influences the narrative structure. What is real for that game world? You have to strip all that out and build your own world where the games fit.

Final Thoughts

Chill is not just another horror RPG for me. It was my first real step beyond D&D, my second RPG ever, and the one that showed me roleplaying games could be more than fantasy adventures. They could be mysteries, ghost stories, and urban legends made real.

Whether I’m reading the battered Pacesetter books, the sleek Mayfair volumes, or the modern 3rd edition, the heart of Chill never changes: ordinary people, extraordinary courage, and the eternal struggle against the Unknown.

For all the years and all the editions, that is why Chill remains one of my all-time favorites.

Links