Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts

Monday, June 27, 2016

Monstrous Monday: Beasties from Night Owl Workshop

I like my Monstrous Mondays to be flexible.  Sometimes a monster, other times something monster related or in this case a review.

Now I have gone on the record, many, many times, talking about how much I love monster books. My first glimpse into D&D was way back in 1978-79 when I first saw and read the Monster Manual.  Very few books have come close to that feeling of unlimited potential.  So when a new monster book comes out, I have to take a look and usually grab it.

Beasties from Night Owl Workshop has something of a pedigree in my mind.  The art and text are from none other than +Thomas Denmark.  He is responsible for some of my favorite art during the d20 boom, in particular Citizen Games "Way of the Witch".

Beasties is an 84 page, digest sized, black and white interior book of new monsters.  According to the sales text on DriveThru the book contains:
27 Monsters
6 NPC's
37 Drawings!
5 Maps
1 "Megadungeon" sample.

It certainly punches above its weight class in terms of monsters and content.  All the art is by Denmark himself, as is the text with additional text by Terry Olsen.

The book is designed for "Original Fantasy Rules" but plenty of conversion notes are given for OSRIC and Basic Fantasy.  There are also some conversion notes for Nite Owl Workshop's other games Colonial Troopers, Guardians and Warriors of the Red Planet.

Monsters are typically presents with stats and description on one page and the art on the next.
Many of the monsters have a distinct "old school" or even pulpy feel about them.  Indeed, I certainly can see many of these working great with WotRP above.
There are a lot of new undead monsters to add some interesting challenges to your players too.

I love the "Flying Locust Citadel" to be honest. There are just not enough flying mega-dungeons in D&D as far as I am concerned.

Plus the entire work is released as "Open" under the OGL so that is a nice touch.

Bookmarks in the PDF would have been nice as well as a table of contents. All in all a good book for the price.

Sinderan Witches
Of course, these two caught my attention right away.  I'd love to hear more about "Sinder's ancient past" and how these two groups of witches came to be.  I'd also love to hear how the "Sinderan Light Witch" became the evil, youth stealing witch and the "Sinderean Shadow Witch" became the good protectors of the innocent.    I could build an entire tradition out of these two.



Don't forget to include the hashtag #MonsterMonday on Twitter or #MonsterMonday on Google+ when you post your own monsters!

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Review: Ravenloft 3.0

The 3.0 era was on us.  I had just come back to D&D from a long hiatus and to my surprise we were getting a new Ravenloft setting and it was going to be penned by Swords & Sorcery Studios/Arthaus/White Wolf.  Say what you like about WW, they do know vampires.

Ravenloft 3.0 was one of those books I bought in the new 3.x era and I loved how it looked.  I splurged and grabbed the limited edition version from my favorite local game store.

Ravenloft Core book 3.0

I thought the art was fantastic and loved how well it adapted itself to the 3.0 rules.  But I had already had some experiences with 3.0 and even had pictured up some Swords & Sorcery Studios books and enjoyed those as well. The races were a nice treat to be honest. For the first time I really felt like I could run a Ravenloft game with the likes of gnomes, halflings and especially half-orcs, now rebranded as Calibans and the new Giogoto.



I think though I was expecting more at the time.  SSS was part of White Wolf like I mentioned and I was hoping for some of what made Vampire: The Masquerade so good to be here.  In re-reading it now, so many years later, I find I had unrealistic expectations.  In truth this book is a much better organized and updated version of the 2e Domains of Dread book. The nice thing about Ravenloft (and many of the D&D worlds) is that the plot kept moving along despite edition changes.  Though there is also a nice timeline included so DMs can do what they want.

This book has a black and white interior when most others were going full color.  To me this is a feature, not a bug.  Ravenloft is world of shades of grey and the art here is helps convey this.   The book is a basic campaign guide including the people, the lands and most important for Ravenloft, the horrors of the lands.  There are some new feats and skills. No new spells, but suggestions on how magic will be altered by the Mists.  There is even a section on the Gods of  Ravenloft.

Since most of this book covers the lands, their inhabitants and the Cultural Level of each, there is not a lot of crunch.  Translation: You can use this with any other version of D&D you like.  Even the feats look like they would work well with 5e still.  Even the section on "Fear, Horror and Madness" would work well.

It lacks large foldout maps of the 2e days, but it is a surprisingly good resource to me these days.
Well worth picking up.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Review: Curse of Strahd (D&D 5e)

Quick question. Who played Dracula?

Your answer might depend on a lot of thing from when you first saw Dracula in a movie to your age to what your cultural background is.  I also bet that the choice of actor might also say something about your gaming choices, but I am not getting into that today.
Like Dracula, who keeps coming back from the grave to scare or charm a new generation, Strahd the Vampire and his home in Ravenloft keep coming back for each version of the D&D game.

You can easily buy a Ravenloft product to fit any version of D&D you like.  There have been subtle changes with each round of designers and editors.  To extend the Dracula movie metaphor more, I6 Ravenloft is "Hammer Horror" (Christopher Lee).  2e Ravenloft Domains of Dread (boxed sets and books) were "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (Gary Oldman).  3rd Edition was split between Wizards own Expedition to Castle Ravenloft ("Dracula 2000," Gerard Butler) and the Ravenloft setting from White Wolf/Arthaus (Lestat movies).  4e's board game, Undead books and Shadowfell books were different enough that these are more like the NBC TV series Dracula (Jonathan Rhys Meyers).
This new book is "Dracula Untold" (Luke Evans).

I have converted Strahd to a couple of different systems myself.  I have been playing in Ravenloft, the castle and the land, since the original module came out in 1983.  I played it when it first came out and it is one of maybe three adventures I have run under every version of D&D I have ever played.  Ravenloft has history both in game and in the real world.  It was my world of choice in the AD&D 2e years and the effect it has had on adventure design can't be overstated.   To call it a sea change is not hyperbole.

So the new 5e Ravenloft has a lot to live up too.

I mentioned here back in the Summer that I was going to run the original I6 Ravenloft adventure for my family at Gen Con 2015.  I spent most of July prepping for that, working out Strahd's 5e stats, converting the major magic items, filling in some details.  None of it was hard work really. Again I *know* this adventure like few others.  The hardest part was balancing out what has become the de rigueur method of handling a D&D 5 encounter with the more plot-driven nature of the Ravenloft adventure.   Having this new Curse of Strahd book then would have helped me out a lot.

The new book is a retelling of the same I6 Ravenloft adventure from 1983. On the down side there is not much about the "Demi-Plane of Dread" as we knew it back in 2e.  This is more 4e Shadowfell.  Including it as part of the Shadowfell actually gives the DM more flexibility to be honest.   So that is good.  I did not notice much from the disappointing 3e Expedition to Castle Ravenloft here. So that is also a plus.

The book itself is hardcover, full color, 256 pages. Suitable for levels 1 to 10 for D&D 5.  The "Castle Ravenloft" adventure itself has been upgraded to level 9.

The first 90 pages or so are some introductions, some background and the updates Castle Ravenloft adventure.   There is an introduction and forward here too. The subtle snark directed at the likes of Twilight in Tracy Hickman's forward can't be missed.  There is a page on how to run a horror-themed game. It's nice, but nothing new and by no means complete.   If you really want to run a horror game find a copy of +Kenneth Hite's "Nightmares of Mine" or Spooky: The Definitive Guide To Horror Gaming.

The book is basically a sandbox, with Castle Ravenloft (the place and the adventure) in the "middle".  It is designed for adventurers from 1st to 10th level.  There are a few really interesting "side treks" including the low level "Death House", the medium level "Argynostholt" and the high level "The Amber Temple".  Death House is available for free from WotC.  So I would grab that first if you are on the fence about this.

Souls vs. Shells
One of the new "features" of this book is the idea that not everyone in Barovia has a soul.  Now if you were playing this as a horror game then this would be a truly frightening concept. The scenarios that are implicit in this are numerous.  Hapless villagers moving through their lives in drudgery, unfeeling save for a pervasive dread.  Or worse yet the same said villagers coming to the PCs begging them to find their lost souls.  Or PCs born in Barovia discovering they are among the "Soulless Shells".   Sadly though as a D&D game I see this only working as an excuse for PCs to murder bystanders.

There are some interesting character options, like the new Haunted One character background.  The iconic magic items like the Sunsword and the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind are here too.  As well as the Tome of Strahd.   The Gothic Trinkets are a really nice touch to be honest.
There are some new monsters too.  The is a fantastic full color tear out map of Castle Ravenloft (roughly 32" by 24") on one side and Barovia on the next.

I think in the end I was hoping for more.  Maybe not so much as a repeat of the 2e Ravenloft Domains of Dread campaign world, but something...more.

There will be a Tarokka deck you can buy later.
http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/tarokka-deck
I think I still have my 2e one around somewhere, but I prefer to use Tarot cards myself.

You can read the table of contents here.
http://tribality.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/01_CoS_TableofContents_4s09.pdf
I got excited when I saw that "Barovian Witch" listed under NPCs and had hoped to see an update to the 2nd Ed "Witches of Hala" but sadly this was not the case.  But it has given me some ideas.

I know. This is Pathfinder, but this is what a witch in Ravenloft could look like.
Ok bottom line time.  Who should buy this and who should avoid it?

Buy this if...
You are a fan of Ravenloft and want to have a complete collection.
You are a fan D&D 5e and want to have a complete collection.
A fan of adventure design and want to see how a 1st ed to 5th ed conversion can be done.
If you are planning to ever run Ravenloft under 5e.
Like the idea of playing in the Barovian sandbox.  This is actually a big one to be honest.

Avoid if...
You are not planning on running the classic Ravenloft adventure.
You are not playing D&D 5e.
Want to do your own conversion of one of the many options out there for taking on Strahd in his castle.

There are no new classes or races.  Not even rules for playing a Vistani.
There are no new spells or rituals either.  This seems like a bigger miss to me.

In the end you have to decide for yourself.  I am certainly not someone that needs tips on playing horror game, nor am I going to run Ravenloft (the adventure) under 5e (already did it) and don't need help converting.  There isn't anything here I could not have done on my or haven;t already done on my own.  But I got it anyway.  Hopefully there will be a sequel for levels 11-20.

Just like Dracula, Strahd can (and will) come back.  There are even details in the book about how it happens.  So maybe a sequel is already in the works?

Now that would be fun!

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Review: The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston

I have been researching a bunch of witch books and winter witches in particular.  I found bunch of books so here is the first.  Paula Brackston was recomended to me as a fan of Harry Potter. In this book, The Winter Witch, I didn't quite see it, but I think other books of hers might be a closer fit.

There was a lot about this book that attracted me. Set in the early 19th Century, set in Wales and it dealt with a witch from a line of witches.  Interestingly enough her parent that was a witch was her father.

The story revolves around Morgana and her new husband Cai.  The characters are both likable and you really root for them throughout the book.  Morgana has a quiet...sorry no pun meant; she is a mute...sort of witchcraft.  She can move things with her mind, see far away places and other subtle powers.  I really like how her powers were protrayed and how they grew throughout the story.

The story of course is not without conflict. This arrives in both mundane issues such as the villiage getting used to Cai's strange new wife, a priest who is accusing her of witchcraft and a rival witch that wants Cai and his land.
The story built rather slowly and honestly I felt it dropped a bit in the middle, but near the end Brackston turns it all the way up and it becomes a magical adventure and battle worthy of it being mentioned in the same reviews as Harry Potter.

I listend to this book as an audiobook from Audible.  Marisa Calin was fantastic as all the characters and really did do a good job of giving Morgana a voice.  I am happy to see tht she has read other books from Paula Brackston, so that also makes her books more attractive to me.

In the end I am giving the book 3.5 out of 5 stars.

For gamers this is a good set piece to show how well you can involve low level character in epic battles.  I will have more to say about Winter Witches when I am done with the other "Winter Witch" book in my TBR pile.

This book qualifies for the following reading challenges.




Belle's Library New To You Square


No surprise it fit so many, I was joining all these while I was reading it!

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge: The Last Apprentice/The Spook series

I have been terrible at posting in the Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge since June.
Well...no time like the present I guess.

Instead of doing everything I have read since July I'll focus on the "Spook Series" also known as the Wardstone Chronicles or The Last Apprentice books by Joseph Delaney.   I reviewed the first book, The Last Apprentice, back in January.

Yes these are children's books or Young Adult. But my youngest son was reading them so I thought I would read along with him.  Sometime around book four I passed him up.
I remember seeing the first book, The Last Apprentice, when it first came out.  I flipped through it and got the idea then that Spooks were something like rangers, only focused on get rid of ghosts.
The inevitable comparison though is to Harry Potter.  Like Harry, Tom Ward starts out as a young boy and grows into his destiny.  Tom's backstory is not as tragic, but he has plenty of secrets about himself to learn.  I will be honest. These books are not as good as Harry Potter, but that is hardly a slight. Hardly anything is as good as Harry Potter.  But these books do have some charm and they are a really quick read. So here are my reviews, game information will follow.

The Spook's Curse (Published in the USA as The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane) - 2005
The second book in the series deals with the death of the Spook's brother and their journey to Priestown. Here Tom are the Spook reunited with Alice, but she is in the hands of the Quisitor.  To make matters worse, the monster imprisoned in the catacombs under Priestown is waking up and exerting more control over the priests to turn them evil.  The Spook, Tom and Alice have to work together to defeat the Bane.
What I liked the most about this one was the development of Alice as a character.  You get the idea that she will be or already is a very powerful witch in her own right.
Number of Witches: Only 1 confirmed

The Spook's Secret (Published in the USA as The Last Apprentice: Night of the Soul Stealer) - 2006
Winter has come to the County and the Spook, Tom and Alice travel to the Spook's winter home.  We learn a lot more about the Spook's background and he is not as "pure" as he claims to be.  We learn he has kept his "wife" and her sister locked up in his cellar because they are Lamia Witches.  We also meet Morgan, a failed apprentice Spook turned Necromancer and now an enemy of John Gregory the Spook.
This book sets up the formula that will appear in other books, Tom and Alice fighting multiple enemies at the same time.  In this case Lamia Witches and Morgan/Golgoth.  The tone in this book is also a bit darker than the first two.  Tom's dad dies and Morgan keeps the soul imprisoned.  Fairly dark. I liked that in his youth the Spook was not so principled.
Number of Witches: 3, plus 1 Necromancer

The Spook's Battle (Published in the USA as The Last Apprentice: Attack of the Fiend) - 2007
Ah, now we are getting into the meat of the series (so far).  Tom's mother "Mam" (I'll admit, I hate that name. She really should have had a proper name) has gone home to Greece to fight the Dark there.  But in the meantime Tom's brother Jack, with Jack's wife and daughter are all captured by Pendle Witches and his mother's trunks are taken.  Alice goes ahead to Pendle, where she still has witch relatives of her own, to find out what is going on.  When she does not return Tom and Spook go into the heart of town populate by three powerful clans of witches.
In addition to learning more about Tom's mother (she was likely a domestic Lamia witch) we learn more about Alice. She is the daughter of two witch clans for example and still has plenty of relatives left.  We also meet one of the coolest characters in the series, Grimalkin the Witch-Assassin.  But the Big Bad of the series is finally revealed; the Fiend or The actual honest to goodness Devil himself.  And he wants Tom.
Number of Witches: 100s

The Spook's Mistake (Published in the USA as The Last Apprentice: Wrath of the Bloodeye) - 2008
Tom has entered next phase of his apprenticeship where he will go train with a different Spook for 6 months.  This time with former apprentice Bill Arkwright.  Here Tom learns more about Water Witches and learns more about the plans the Fiend has in store for him.  He is afraid that Alice is getting closer and closer to the Dark.  He also makes an unlikely ally in the form of Grimalkin.  Here also Tom learns that Alice was not the daughter of two benign witches but the daughter of Bony Lizzy and the Fiend himself.  The Spook wants to put her in a pit but Tom and Bill intervene.  *Note to be fair we learn that Alice is Bony Lizzy's daughter in the "Seventh Son" Movie, I just thought at the time they were being lazy.
Number of Witches: half a dozen or so

The Spook's Sacrifice (Published in the USA as The Last Apprentice: Clash of the Demons) - 2009
Tom, Alice, his mother, Bill Arkwright and a reluctant Spook join forces with the Pendle Witches to travel to Greece to battle one of the Fiend's greatest allies, the Ordeen. We learn a lot more in this book.  Tom's mother is not just a lamia witch, she is Lamia herself and all Lamia witches are her offspring.  She has been fighting the Dark now for centuries.  We meet some Greek Spooks who have different ways of fighting the Dark and Grimalkin continues to be a bad ass.  Tom has to make a very choice between two equally bad options and ends up under the power of the Fiend.  Alice then uses more Dark magic to keep him out.
Number of Witches: 100s

The Spook's Nightmare (Published in the USA as The Last Apprentice: Rise of the Huntress) - 2010
Tom, Alice and the Spook return home to find the County ravaged by war and the Spook's home destroyed.  Tom and Alice have to step up and do more of the work as the Spook is in a funk.  They end up on the Ilse of Mona where they encounter fear and resistance from the people.  They also discover a shaman, a cache of black magic energy, a half-demon, a demonic monster and Alice's mother Bony Lizzy.  One of the things I liked about this one was how witches become more powerful when they turn 40.  As someone in my 40s I think that is a great idea! We are also introduced to a Bird Witch which can summon birds to do her bidding.
Number of Witches: 4 or 5

The Spook's Destiny (Published in the USA as The Last Apprentice: Rage of the Fallen) - 2011
"Never go to Ireland" is the warning given to Tom by the Morrigan.  But Tom has no choice and he follows Alice and the Spook to Ireland where they have to deal with a group of "Goat Mages" attempting to summon the old god Pan.  Here Tom spends a lot of time tied up, unconscious or away from the Spook.  Alice is actually captured by the Fiend at one point and taken to Hell.  Tom must battle The Morrigan and the twin sister of a witch he and Bill Arkwright once dealt with.
He meets the god Pan (who is not as bad as everyone makes him out to be) and he even has a chance to visit Cú Chulainn in a sidhe mound.
This one started out slow for me, but I was excited they were in Ireland.  The meeting of Cú Chulainn was great and gaining the Sword of Destiny was cool too.  But the best part was more interaction with Grimalkin.  I won't spoil the end for you, but it is cool.
<spoiler>Tom defeats the Fiend and gets Alice back from hell.</spoiler>

It has been a fun series to say the least.

Need to pick up the last few books...for my son of course.

Books read: 25
Current Level: Crone,  Read 16 – 20 Witchy Books

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Review: Crimson Dragon Slayer

Purple, now Crimson. +Venger Satanis could have had a whole color theme going here.

Continuing with my reviews of the products of Kortthalis Publishing. Today I want to look at Crimson Dragon Slayer.

I had pretty high hopes for this one. I am part of his target audience, I enjoyed the 80s, enjoy a gonzo edge to my games, and I don't mind mixing my genres a bit.  I also don't mind doses of humor in my games.   But....well maybe I just didn't "get it" in this one.

I want to start off with the things I liked. The book is gorgeous and I am happy to see that VS is spending his money on art than say orgies dedicated to Cthulhu.  No idea though he might be doing both.  But the art is great looking in this book.  It is basically three varieties, the "Lovecraftian" art found in earlier products (ex. on p. 23), the sword & sorcery (p. 11) and the humorous (p. 14).  My favorite though is on page 4. The layout is fantastic and the character sheet on page 41 is a gem.  Plus that cover art. Really, really excellent.  If the arrt was a problem for you in his other products then take heart here.  There is nothing here that isn't PG, and dare I even say it, G rated.  Even the scantily clad barbarian and maiden on page 11 are still covered more than a swimsuit issue.

While reading this I am struck with how this is the RPG version of the Heavy Metal story "Den". In the movie a kid from earth is transported to a sci-fi/S&S world where he become a might thewed (and bald) barbarian.  Not a bad idea really, and something I could do more with than say Carcossa. But it is also riff on the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.

The book itself is a bunch of house rules.  Again, this is what was advertised.  Many were hinted at in previous books. Some are good, many I have seen in one form or another elsewhere over the last 35 years.  A couple things jump out at me.
Infernal Elf: I have to admit I rather like this idea and it is something I have been toying with myself since listening to Kim Harrison's Hallows series.  In that book Elves and Demons are ancient enemies, but are a little closer than they would like.  This works right in with that.
Robots: Hmm. No. Not really my thing, but I get why it is here.

The chapter on magic is interesting and something I might adopt.  At this point I am imagining Thule as not some distant planet, but as a mystical island just south of Hyperborea.

There are some magic items, some notes on converting monsters and even a small cavern crawl.

All in all the book is fine, but nothing really extra special. Maybe I was expecting more or something different. I don't know.  I am not quite sure it lived up to my expectations of it.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Review: The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence

Continuing my week of +Venger Satanis posts here is his next big one.

The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence
Described as weird fantasy/sci-fi/gonzo, I also wondered if it was a subtle jab at "The Big Purple".
Let's start of with the easy stuff.  Yeah, some people are likely to get offended by this adventure.  That's not a bug, but a feature, as we say.  Typically anything done either to purely offend or go out of it's way to push an agenda is going to suck.  I get the feeling here that this is the sort of game he plays all the time.  The art is still more "Heavy Metal" than it is "Hustler" and there is a solid 80s vibe to reading it all.  Please keep in mind this aesthetic when reading; it is a guiding principle that fits the art and the game design.   I think in someone else's hand it would have come off as crass or even as complete shit, but VS owns this. There is an honesty here that can be respected.

This book is a campaign book/hexcrawl/sandbox.  The PDF is 110 pages and packed.  It would make for a gorgeous looking book and it would sit nicely on my shelf with my other books circa 1983.

VSd6: This is a new mechanic introduced for skill checks/ability checks.  He mentioned it has been influenced by 100s of other d6 based mechanics and you can see that here.   It is an interesting system and provides some nice dramatic elements to the game, but not something I am planning on using myself.

Darker Secrets: This book also brings over the "Dark Secrets" idea/tables from Demon Slayer.  So in some respects you can use this book as a means to "beef up" the Demon Slayer adventure, although you don't really need too.   Though adding in the changes to magic that this book does might be fun.

The Monk: This campaign guide also features a Monk class.  It is not too far from the AD&D1 standard, though not as much detail is given.

We get into the islands proper and are given some background; 20,000 years of background to be precise, but only in a couple of pages.  The interesting bits happened in the more recent past including turning the "Purple Islands" into a penal colony.  Yeah, no jabs here at all...

There is a lot going on with these islands and the worship of the Great Old ones is just a small part of it.  The wording of the monsters, settings and even location is basic or even vague enough to allow you to put this anywhere.  It feels kitchen-sinky enough to fit into places like Mystara (which has a little bit of everything anyway) but focused enough to give you hints that is part of a much larger world.   Though I do like the appearance of the Shiny Demon and a preview of "Alpha Blue".

There are pop-culture references galore here, and it is very obvious that VS pulled out every bit of fantasy, sci-fi, euro-sleaze horror and 70s metal he had at his disposal and threw it into a blender with plenty of purple dye.  It could have turned out to be a horrible mess, but it doesn't.  Instead we get a ton of options spread over three islands.

I have to point out, don't play this as a single adventure.  The purpose here really is not to clean out the island, but to explore it.  It's a great place to strand some PCs after an ocean-going adventure.

At the end of the book we are given new spells and new magic items.

In the Afterword VS mentions that this product should not be used in isolation.  I agree, again I think that this would make for a great semi-tropical island in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The mythos are similar enough, or at least enough to fit together.  The only thing that would make it more perfect is if this book could be printed in 7.0" x 8.5" format to fit in my AS&SH box.

Not sure where or how I want to use this yet, but I know I really want to.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Fantastic Heroes & Witchery Week!

This week I want to spend some quality time with Fantastic Heroes & Witchery and Dark Albion: The Rose War.

I have talked about Fantastic Heroes & Witchery a little in the past, but I have not put up a proper review.  With Dark Albion now out I figure it is a good time to look at both in detail.


I am rather looking forward to it.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Review: Leagues of Adventure

Leagues of Adventure is a Victorian Steampunk/Weird Science game from Triple Ace Games.  Though calling is "Steampunk/Weird Science" is selling it really short.  I actually have a lot to say about this game because I really, really like it.

Note: I am reviewing the hardcover and PDF versions of this game.  The hardcover is nice with a nice sturdy binding, full color cover with b&w pages and color inserts.  The PDF is the same and weighs in at 262 pages.

Leagues of Adventure (LoA hereafter) is the first Ubiquity game I ever purchased. I think what drew me to it was that it was very much a "Steampunk/Weird Science" game which was something new for me.  All my Victorian games tend to be Victorian/Magic/Gothic Horror games.  Ghosts of Albion, Cthulhu by Gaslight and even Victoriana are ones that spring to mind the quickest.  So this is a period I am intimately familiar with; one I really love and enjoy.

Maybe it is my read on it, or by design, but this game is more pulpy, two-fisted action than other Victorian games.  Sure it is not pulp to the level that Hollow Earth Expedition is, but the shared DNA is obvious.  Even a couple of the archetypes felt similar.  So if your idea of Victorian era fun is dark, smog soaked streets at night hunting a lone killer...well this game can do that, but it is also better suited to hunting down a rampaging elephant in the heart of the city let loose by a society with aim opposed to yours.   Or hunting down a secret cult planning on releasing a virus in the city.

Certainly one of the many inspirations for LoA is another League, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.   Indeed, the cover even invokes the movie a bit.  Hey. I know the movie sucked compared to the comic, but it was still big stupid fun and I enjoyed it.



If you are familiar with the Hollow Earth books then this is one is set up along a similar idea.  Though the chapter titles wonderfully worded and sound "Victorian".  A huge plus in my book.

The Introduction is the typical what is this game, what is roleplaying, what is that house, where does that highway lead to?  Sorry. That was the Talking Heads.  Not really needed by anyone reading my words here, but still nice to have.

Chapter the First: What Has Been & What is to Come, covers a history of events from 1890 to 1899.  Dates are listed, wars are discussed and various rulers of nations are listed.  Good background information for any Victorian game.  The best bit might be the "Who's Who" it includes a mix of real and fictional people of the Victorian age.  If you play any Victorian game or have a passing interest in this period then this list has a lot of familiar names.   Still, great to have.  My ONLY complaint about this chapter is that it would have been better served as an appendix.  It is just a collection of lists with no narrative or context.

Chapter the Second: Concerning the Nature of Character & Inherent Qualities.   I want to pause to really soak that title in.  I am a Victoriana geek. I love that, sounds like a scientific paper that would dabble into meta-physics.  But all that aside this is the chapter on character creation.  Moreso than HEX this game is focused on Nationality because, well surprise, the Victorians were.
Since LoA is a complete and contained game, the full character creation rules are present here. This is good since the archetypes and motivations are slightly different.  Primary and Secondary Attributes are the same with the same point spread. Skills are given the same point spread as HEX but the skills themselves are slightly altered. Talents are also present with more of a Victorian flair.  The focus here is very much the "everyman" adventurer.  Sure having money or connections help, but these are slef-made men and women. So no supernatural talents just yet.  Under Resources we get to real meat of this game.
Characters are expected to be part of a League.  It is a great way to get dissperate and often unimaginable types to real Victorians of people together to adventure.  Each League can even have a wealthy Patron to provide the gear and expenses.   There are a number of clubs and leagues presented.  All with different hooks, skills and motivations.  It really is a cool way to get beyond the "you meet in a pub/bar/inn".  My faves are the Fenian Society, The Hollow Earth Society and the Temporal Society.  There are lots more, but making a new one is a breeze.  Hellfire Club anyone?  Actually this looks like a good way to introduce one I have played around with in the past, The Order of Lincoln's Ghost.
What follows are the color insert pages of the stated archetypes.  We got another Big Game Hunter here too, but it is interesting to see the differences between the LoA and HEX versions.
One minor nitpick...There is a pioneering Aviatrix. Yeah I know in a Victorian game a woman would never be around a plane, well that doesn't concern me (watch the Hayao Miyazaki movie "Porco Rosso" and then we can all stat up spunky girl airplane pilots).  No my issue that the first plane flew two years after Victoria was dead.  Ok, Ok this game also has a "Temporal Scientist" in it.  So my nitpick will fall on deaf ears.  I fix this by just setting my game in 1901.

Chapter the Third: The Mechanisms of the Known & the Unknown.  AKA Game Rules.   Here are introduced (or reintroduced) to the Ubiquity game system and dice.   I appreciate simple mechanics in my games and Ubiquity really is about as simple as you can get it.  Check your dice pool, roll the number of dice and add up the successes.  This works great with the pulpy-style of HEX. In LoA you get a more action-adventure orientated Victorian game.

Chapter the Fourth: Fisticuffs, Firearms & Falling With Grace.  or Combat.  Again. Love these chapter titles.  This is our combat chapter.  Truthfully if you have read and understand Chapter 3, then this is the logical extension of that.  There are other issues, but really it reads smooth and easy to follow.

Chapter the Fifth: Trappings, Necessities, Weapons & Conveyances.  Equipment.  Like it's older cousin this chapter has huge list of equipment.   I am pleased to see that the prices are given in British Pounds, schillings and pence (as any proper Victorian age game should) but also there is a listing for cab fare.  Read Sherlock Holmes sometime; the many kept several cabbies in business all by himself.

Chapter the Sixth: Of Physics & Metaphysics.  Ah. The chapter on steam punk weird science.  We start with what is the most important for this game; Inventions.  The Victorian time is often seen as a time of wild inventors, well you can do that with this game. The invention creation rules are really fun and simple. We follow with gadgets (smaller items), weapons, vehicles and moving on to the "living creations" aka your Frankenstein's Monster.  There are plenty of sample inventions to give you ideas or at least an end goal.  I say as a GM don't make an Ornithopter available to characters just because you have the stats for it.  Make them invent it.

Chapter the Seventh: A Guide to Navigating the World of Adventure. or the setting.  We start by talking about the style of the game.  Will it be gritty, adventurous, pulpy or cinematic.  There are tips on how to do all of these.  Personally for this game I prefer the pulpy action.   This chapter also covers adventure ideas, goals and hooks. All of this against the backdrop of a world during the turn of the 19th Century to the 20th.  The "modern" world is coming.
This also includes guideline on creating a "Villainous" league.  Every Justice League needs a Legion of Doom.  A few detailed examples are given.

Chapter the Eighth: Of Travel & the Unseen Marvels of the World.  The is the world overview for LoA.  It is a pretty healthy chapter too.  Lots of places are covered from around the world, both known and mysterious.  As well as factual and fanciful. I found this to be fascinating reading to be honest and really it makes this book worth the price to any GM running any sort of Victorian game.  It may or may not be compatible with what other game you are using but the ideas are a gold mine.

Chapter the Ninth: Stalwart Friends & Fiendish Adversaries.  The chapter of Mooks, NPCs and some creatures.  We get some generic mooks, "Thug", "Cultist" and so on as well as some named NPCs. Notable, Col. Sebastian Moran and James Moriarty of the Holmesian Canon.  Lo Peng, Dr. Moreau, and The Mad Monk.   For monsters we get a nice collection; Intelligent Apes, Gill men, and some dinosaurs.  We round it off with some normal animals.

There is a list of Recommended Reference Materials.  A Character sheet and a good index.

What can I really say about this book.  I am inordinately fond of it.  There is no magic worth a damn in it (normally a deal breaker) but I still enjoy the hell out of it.  There is a feeling in this game I can only describe as the "Thrill of adventuring".  In Ghosts of Albion people adventure because there has been some terrible murder or other crime committed by magic. In Cthulhu by Gaslight it is because of some terrible, unknown horror lurking in the shadows. In Leagues of Adventure the conversation is more like this:
Scientist: I do believe there are dinosaurs in the Amazon.
Big Game Hunter: What's that you say? Geeves, pack my trunks and guns we are going to South America!
Aviatrix: No too much, I am still working the issues out of my airship.  Better just take the guns.
Big Game Hunter: I like the cut of your gib girl! Geeves, just the guns then!
Scientist: There is a chance that the Explorers Club might beat us to it.  Though their scientist was at University with me, he can barely read ancient cuneiform let alone a map.

This is a game about big adventure. Frankly I get excited every time I open the pages.

Later I want to talk about using this game along with other Victorian era games.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Reviews: Hollow Earth Expedition Supplements

Today I want to go through some of the supplements for Hollow Earth Expedition.  Each of these adds something I think necessary and needed to the game.

Secrets of the Surface World
I won't lie. I really, really like this book.  I am reviewing the PDF at 167 pages.
Secrets of the Surface World is the guide for all characters really.  There is a lot going on *on* the Earth without ever having to go *in* to it.
Chapter 1 covers Characters. Here we have a host of new archetypes, motivations and skills for your characters.  The big add here is the inclusion of Martial Arts and Brawling skills. So now you can make your own "Kwai Chang Caine" character.  Though for me the jewels are in the Talents.  Here we have Magical Aptitude and Psychic Ability.  Personally I think these should have been in the core book, BUT I do see why they are here.  HEX is really more about science, or more often SCIENCE!, and magical powers don't really help that.  But I am sorry I just love to see magic in my games.  Don't worry, fans of Weird Science have plenty to look at here as well.   There are more Resources as well.  Flaws are also covered, but so are Severe Flaws.  These are obviously worth much more.   We are also given Mental Flaws.  Plenty of Role-playing fun with these.
Chapter 2: Supernatural Powers is why I got this book to begin with!  Yeah, I like a certain kind of game and this chapter turns HEX into that kind of game for me.  The Supernatural powers are divided up into Psychic Abilities and Magic.  The system is pretty straight forward to be honest.  Psychic abilities are divided into various talents, each one must be purchased separately.   Magic is a single talent, though there are different Traditions, and a skill.   Spells and Rituals must be uncovered or found.  Not a lot of magical traditions and spells are given, but there is enough for me to take it and run with it.
Chapter 3 Secret Societies continues where the HEX core left off.  Everything from the Thule Society to the Mafia are covered here. Like the core some NPCs are also presented here. My favorites are Aleister Crowley and Edgar Cayce. It is a great contrast to see the two different supernatural styles together.
Chapter 4 The Surface World covers more parts of the world not touched on in the core book.
Chapter 5 T. F. Arkington's Lifestyle Emporium covers more gear.  A lot more gear.
Chapter 6 Weird Science.  I said there was going to be more for the fan of Weird Science and I meant it.  Want to send giant Nazi mechs against your characters? Ok. We can do that now.  Really.
Chapter 7 Vehicle Combat continues the material from the Core book. Though more detail is given. In truth you might not ever need this chapter since the core covers it so well, but it is nice to know it is here.
Finally we end with a sample adventure Prisoner of the Reich.
All in all a satisfying book.  I can't help but think that some of this should have gone into the core book, but the magic stuff is so different than the rest thematically I see why it wasn't.   I got this for the magic, so I am pleased with that.

I have so many plans for this book.

Mysteries of the Hollow Earth
Like Secrets of the Surface World is for well, the surface world, this book is all about the Hollow Earth.  Create native characters from all over (under) the Earth.
Chapter 1 again deals with Characters.  At this point you know how this all set up.  New Archetypes include Barbarians, Beastmen, Guardians, Healers, Mystics, Natives, Outcast and Warriors.  One thing should be pretty obvious now, not only can you use this for a Pellucidar-like game, but it sets up a Barsoom game nicely or even a Conan/Hyborean Age game.  A Pulp game in a Pulp setting, how nice is that!  There are some new motivations, and plenty of new talents. There are also some new flaws.  This book feels more like a true supplement rather than a book of "left-overs"; some thought and research went into this.  I was reading through it all and mentally substituting things I had read from Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard.  That's a good sign.  Plus you can mix and match talents to create Panthermen, Hawkmen, Reptile-people (always a plus in my book) and dozens of others.
The pre-gen Archetypes are great.  The Amazon Warrior makes me want to play a Xena like game now.
Chapter 2 takes us back to Supernatural Powers.  We start with more details on sorcery including more modifiers.  We also are given Shamanism and Alchemy which is really cool.   This chapter plus it's twin in Secrets of the Surface World gives me no end of ideas.
Chapter 3 covers Natives. This is a great and fun chapter to be honest.  If anyone asks me why run a game in the Hollow Earth I am directing them to this.  It is an odd mix of Pulp, post-Victorian occultism and fringe science.  I love it.  I have seen other games take the same elements, but the assembly here is fantastic.  Is it the only way to do this? No, the same elements appear in many other games (Amazons, Atlanteans, lost titans...) but here it works rather nice.
Chapter 4 Beastmen covers the others living in the Hollow Earth.  Natives are largely human, beast men are something else.  The usual suspects are here; Apemen, Gillmen, Lizardmen, Molemen (natch), and Panthermen (or at least a cat-like humanoid race) but there are some great newcomers like the not often seen Hawkmen (should be more Egyptian in my tastes but hey, happy to see them) and some insectmen and the new for this genre Green Men which are more plant like.
Chapter 5 covers the Hollow Earth.  It includes some basics (healing, getting out) but mostly devoted to various locations.  Atlantis for example is here, as is El Dorado (the City of Gold), Shangri-La,  and Blood-Bay where the Pirates hang out.  That is enough to keep you going for a while really.
Chapter 6 adds a more monsters to the Bestiary.   There are more dinosaurs here (always welcomed!).  There are prehistoric reptiles that are not dinosaurs, such as the Archelon and the Plesiosaurus among others. The science geek in me appreciates the separation.  We also get a great collection of prehistoric mammals.  Giant insects, giant apes, and other creatures fill this section.  There is even a guide for creating your own creatures. Which is good, because the one monster I wanted wasn't there.  The book has plenty of pictures of Dimetrodon, but no stats.  I might have to make my own now.
We end with a sample adventure, Fate of Atlantis and an Index.
There is so much here that any half-decent GM could find hours and hours worth of game materials for their own Hollow Earth games.

Perils of the Surface World
This is a collection of adventures that takes the characters around the world.  Adventures are harder to review than games in general since the real proof in both is the playing.  Adventures only more so.  This book contains four separate, but loosely connected adventures.
Each one also contains some added crunch or rules to the game.  We get Faith and Miracles, Horror, Infection and Sanity, New Sorcery Rituals, Artifacts and Vehicles and lastly (what might be the most fun) some Martial Arts powers.
No spoilers, but if you need some ready to go adventures then this is the book you want.










Monday, July 6, 2015

Review: Hollow Earth Expedition

The Hollow Earth has always been one of those fringe theories that always sounded like a lot of fun in a game.   I loved the Jules Verne tale "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and the movie based on it.  My exposure to the idea for a game came originally from the old Mystara campaign set, The Hollow World.  Later I discovered the "Shaver Mystery" and the Pellucidar series.
While I know there is no basis whatsoever in scientific fact for a Hollow Earth, it is a lot of fun.  I have even contributed to a Hollow Earth book myself.

So it was with much excitement that I picked up Hollow Earth Expedition.
Full Disclosure: I did write a Hollow Earth book for a different publisher.  I avoided looking at or reading this book till long after my own ms was sent in.
Full Disclosure 2: I am reviewing both the Hardcover and PDF versions of this game.

Let's begin.  What is Hollow Earth Expedition?
HEX, as it is known, is the first Ubiquity powered game on the market (as far as I know).  The setting is "Pulp-era" which I have always roughly translated as the time between the two world wars.  Others might have a more nuanced view on this, but this has served me well enough.  If gumshoes walk the streets, Indiana Jones is still working at the University and fighting Nazis and cults then this is the time.
HEX is two things to me.  It is a new game system (Ubiquity) and a new game setting (Hollow Earth).  I will deal with each in turn.

The HEX hardcover is a gorgeous book. It is 260 pages, mostly black & white (which I want to address) and some color inserts.  The PDF is set up in similar fashion.  Ok, so the interior is black & white.  You know what else is? King Kong, Bela Lugosi's Dracula, Tod Browning's Freaks.  All the movies I associate with this era are in black & white as well.  Save for Journey to the Center of the Earth and Raiders of the Lost Ark. To me, along with the fantastic art, it  really sets the stage for the story I want to tell.   So giving the book "the flip test" ie just flipping through it, it has passed well.

Chapter 1: Setting sets us up for the rest of the book.  We learn a bit about the Pulp Era, the time; it;s 1936, the obligatory "what is Role-playing" section and a brief overview on the book.  Then we get right into it with the setting.  We start off with an overview of the last 25 years or so from the character point of view.  In particular I rather like the section on what characters would know and the speed of information in 1936.  Case in point, one of the films mentioned in the game, Becky Sharp, was considered one of the highest tech films made at the time. I can look it up and learn it was a landmark of cinema. I can even watch it at my leisure.  But not everyone in 1936 saw it, and not everyone or indeed most people knew what a landmark it was.  A lot of people knew it was special. It was color after all, but that was it.
The chapter continues with some great overviews of the world post WWI with WWII looming large and frightening on the horizon.  There is enough here for a game it's own right and indeed there are many games, good games, out there that never go beyond this.  But for HEX this is stage dressing.  The real setting is yet to come.

Chapter 2: Characters covers what you expect. Character creation.  This is where we are introduced to the Ubiquity system for the first time.  Character creation is a point-buy affair like many games.  In this though they recommend you begin with an archetype in mind.   Not a bad place to start really.  To me Pulp is about two fisted action.  So, and I mean this in the best possible way there is, the characters are often well...stereotypes.  "Big Game Hunter", "Gumshoe", "Silver Screen Starlet" and so on.  This is Pulp and here it works.  Not to sound to cliched, but the difference between a character and caricature is the player.  So choose that archetype and embrace it.  We are doing more next.  Next step is choose your motivation.  This is your character's reason for adventure. Quite literally their raison d'être.  Next are your Primary Attributes.  There are the customary six and you have 15 points to spread between them.  These are very similar attributes you find in Unisystem. They are even on a similar scale. The names are different for a few, but the translation is one to one.  Ok, to be fair, there is not of a lot things you would call these and it could be said that they are the same as D&D too.  So it gets a pass, but I am watching you Ubiquity!   Secondary attributes, which are derived.  Skills, which are bought with another 15 points. The max is 5 skill levels at character creation.  Like d20 (but unlike Unisystem) skills are tied to a particular attribute. You can then choose a Talent or a Resource and then a Flaw. A Flaw gives you a Style point.  You are then given another 15 points to spend on Attributes, Skills, Talents or Resources.
I don't mean to do this much, but "point wise" this puts a starting Ubiquity character right around the same level as a starting Unisystem character.  This is good if you like to move from system to system like I do.  (NOTE: I ran a Ghosts of Albion adventure using Ubiquity characters and system and it worked great.)
What follows are archetypes and motivations.  There is a lot here really and it works well.
Attributes are next.  Attributes are scored 0-6 with 1-5 as the range of normal humans, 2 being average.
Skills are discussed at length.  Ubiquity has 30 skills with some having many specialities.
Talents are something special about your character, so aptitude in a particular skill, or a natural ability.  Resources are something you have.
The section ends with the color pages of various archetypes.  If you are short on time you can grab one of these as a your new character.  There are plenty of great choices to be honest.

Chapter 3: Rules does exactly what it says on the tin. Covers the rules.  This is where we are introduced to the Ubiquity dice.  Now normally I shy away from games that require me to buy a another set of special dice.  But these dice are the most part just d8s.  Some are numbered a little differently since they mimic the rolling of 2d8 or 3d8 on one die.  The mechanic is simple.  Roll a given number of dice (dice pool) and then each even number is a success.  So in this respect you can roll anything, d6s, d12s, flipping a coin.  The number of sides needs to be even.  The successes are added up and compare to a difficulty level.  "Easy" would be 1 success, "Average" is 2 and so on.  Impossible is anything higher than 9 successes.
How many dice do you roll?  The number of points in your Skill or Attributes + Skill.  So if I want to check the authenticity of a scroll I could use Academics.  I'll say I have a 5 in that. Let's say I am a nerdy academic type (yeah real stretch I know) and I have specialization in this, I add +1 so I can roll 6 dice.  But say my GM has set the difficulty at 4.  I would need to roll 4 or more successes in order to pass it.  If I didn't have this skill then I base it on my Intelligence and then -2.  There are other modifications to my dice pool. It's sounds difficult but it plays fast.  There are also situations where I can "Take the average"; if a situation will result in a success 50% of the time the character can take the average and succeed. There is no style or flair in this, but not everything is a deed of derring do.
Like many simple mechanic systems it does fade into the background with play.
There are also degrees of Success and Failure. So if you gain 3 successes over what is needed then that is a "Major Success".  These extra successes or failures are typically role-played.
Style Points are also gained and spent here.  Style Points can be added to pools. You gain style points in various ways.  My favorite is "bringing the treats".  Hey. Every little bit helps.

Chapter 4: Combat covers a very specific sort of ruling of the rules presented in Chapter 3.  The basic mechanic is the same, but there are other situations.   This chapter could have been folded into Chapter 3, but I see why it is seperate.

We take a brief intermission for an Example of Play.  This is rather handy to be honest to see how everything comes together.

Chapter 5: Equipment covers all the gear and weapons your character needs.  This is a pretty robust chapter to be honest.  If you never play HEX but play other Pulp games then it is worth having a look at this chapter anyway.  The costs of weapons alone is very helpful.

Chapter 6: Gamemastering details the setting.  Ah if the previous chapters were the meat then this is the...well...other meat with more gravy. Ubiquity is a fine, but a system without a setting is an experiment or an SRD.  This setting is what makes the system shine.  They could have cleanly split the book in half at this place.

Chapter 7: The Hollow Earth covers the setting in detail.  There is a great mix of all the myths, legends and stories of the Hollow Earth here.  Regardless of your familiarity with those myths there is enough here to get you going and get you playing.  Let's be honest, you have always want to hunt T-Rexes while running through the jungle with a shotgun. Suspend your logical 2015 mind and take on an adventurous 1936 mind and load up.

Chapter 8: Friends and Enemies details what is going on on the Surface World and the Hollow World.  This covers the world and presents some important NPCs and their organizations.  Yes. You get to kill evil Nazi cultists and Interior Sea pirates.  If you are lucky in the same adventure.

Chapter 9: Bestiary is our manual of monsters. We have dinosaurs (and a proper Brontosaurus, no Apatosaurus), Ice age mammals, giant versions of nearly everything, sea monsters, and killer plants.  There are no "magical" animals or monsters; no dragons, no centaurs and the like.   This is 1936 and magic has given away to reason and to science.

Another break for a Sample Adventure.

We spend the last few pages with an Appendix on Pulp Resources and Inspiration.
Lots of great resources here including books on the Pulp Adventure Era. Yes, Lovecraft is present here, but there is not much in this game that is "Lovecraftian" as it typically defined.  This is a good thing in my mind.   Books get the most treatment.  Comic Books, Movies and TV series get lists.

There is also a rather good Glossary and Index.  There is a character sheet for your use as well.

All in all a great game.  I have played it a few times and it is really, really fun.
The setting is gonzo but without the crazy.  I could have a lot of fun with this.

The game sits nicely between Unisystem and Savage Worlds in terms of playability for me.  Though I will say that HEX does everything I wanted from Savage Worlds, it just does it better in my mind.

Tomorrow I'll talk more about Ubiquity and Unisystem and how I convert between the two.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

July is Ubiquity Month

This July I want to spend some quality time with the Ubiquity system.  This is a "generic" system that goes after the same sort of games and crowd that Savage Worlds and Unisystem target.
I tend to like Ubiquity a bit more than Savage Worlds, but a little less than Unisystem.

The Ubiquity System was created by Exile Game Studios for their Hollow Earth Expedition game.  It has since been used in other games by other companies.

These are the games I am going to be looking at in detail:
Hollow Earth Expedition RPG (Exile Game Studios)
Hollow Earth Expedition: Secrets of the Surface World (Exile Game Studios)
Leagues of Adventure (Triple Ace Games)
Space: 1889 (Clockwork Publishing)
Revelations of Mars (Exile Game Studios)

I am also working on a couple of NPCs to help feature some of the game rules.  A few I really want to do are Dracula and Sherlock Holmes.



When I first was getting into Ubiquity I started with Leagues of Adventure, which is like an alternate universe "Ghosts of Albion".  While in GoA magic is supreme, in LoA it is weird science and steampunk.   I like to think that every character in GoA has an LoA counterpart and visa versa.
In fact I ran my Ghosts of Albion: Dinosauria adventure under Leagues of Adventure with no problems.  I had to fudge the magic a little, but now I think I could a much better job.

I will talk more about Leagues later in this week, but suffice to say I am rather fond of it.

Hollow Earth Expedition is a game I knew I was going to love, but one I did not buy till very recently.  I was working on a Hollow Earth book for Battlefield Press and I didn't want it to enfluence me.  I am happy to say that the HEX book I picked up was both similar and very different than what I did.  It was obvious we drew from the same sources but went in different ways.

Space 1889 and Revelations of Mars were both Kickstarters I gladly backed.  I am not getting the PDFs buy am missing the hardcover of Mars at the moment.

All of these games together have given me a lot of ideas on various games.  One is one I have mentioned before, "1901: An Æther Space Odyssey".  HEX is firmly Pulp Era but LoA and Space 1889 are Victorian science fantasy.  I am going to take the median here and go with the dawn of the Edwardian Age as one of Space Exploration.  Despite the implied settings in Space 1889 and Revelations of Mars, I am likely to go more Barsoom with my my Mars; though I am leaving War of the Worlds open.

Looking forward to it! Hope you are too.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Baba Yaga

Been doing a lot of research on Baba Yaga lately.  Not only is she part of this crazy idea I have for a bunch of linked witch adventures, she has been a key, if background, figure in my games for years.

S5 The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga
This is the official/unofficial continuation of the famous S series. I picked this one up because it was about Baba Yaga and my kids have gone through all the S modules now.
This module is for 2nd Ed AD&D and from the earlier days of that system.  I "feels" like a late 80s adventure instead of a mid 90s one (1995).  I think in part this has to do with it's origins and that the Roger Moore Dragon magazine (March 1984) article about Baba Yaga's hut was still on people's minds at the time.
This adventure is more plot driven than the other S series adventures.  Baba Yaga is more of a defined character than say Acererak or Drelnza.  In fact she is presented in much of the same manner as Strahd was in Castle Ravenloft.  Though there is the assumption that the PCs wont be so stupid as to attack her.  Could the right group do it? Sure, but that is not the fun of this adventure.  The fun here is investigating her magical hut and finding things that might be unique in your world.
The Hut itself is almost a mini-campaign world, complete with it's own rules of magic and control over the daylight and nighttime hours.
Each level of the hut is designed for different level of characters. It does recall some of the "funhouse" dungeons of the S series in terms of what is being offered but there is some logic applied to most of the rooms.  Others unfortunately feel like filler.
It is a fun adventure, but not one that really lives up to the S legacy or the potential of Baba Yaga herself.
4 out of 5 Stars

Folkloric - Baba Yaga, the First Setting in Rassiya
This 67 page book (minus covers, OGL and table of contents) is simply packed full of material for playing Baba Yaga.  First we have some background on the witch herself including stats. We are also treated to a number of NPCs that have entered the witch's stories over the years.  The book is written for D&D 3.0 edition, but the stats are so few that it could be easily used with any edition, or any game really.  And you will want too because there is a lot here.  This is book has guides to her hut, the lands that surround it, what happens to those lands and those that come into them.  There is even tips on role-playing the witch.
This really is an indispensable guide.
5 out of 5 Stars

Baba Yaga: Queen of the Wicked Fens
For 4th Edition D&D.  Good little Baba Yaga workup for any level/tier of play.
Lots of attention to the myths of Baba Yaga were paid attention to, but their could have been more.
The art is only ok, and I would have liked to have seen more of the magic items and stories surrounding her.
3 out of 5 Stars

LFNE Goodie Bags #2: Baba Yaga's Children
A supplement for the Little Fears Nightmare Edition game.  Little Fears has always been one of the games people talk about more than play in my opinion. Though that could just be my experience about not getting to play it as much as I like.  This book is 15 pages, but only about 9 of it is content.  Don't get me wrong, the art is great and really sets a good tone.  Baba Yaga's children are a "Creeper" or a child turned into a monster.  The monster in question of course is Baba Yaga.
I love the idea for LFNE, but I REALLY want to try this out in D&D and other games too.  The rules of Little Fears are easy enough that conversion is really a breeze.
4 out of 5 stars

Baba Yaga's Hut
This is not an adventure or a book but a papercraft model.  One of the first I have gotten from Fat Dragon.
This was an easy-ish little model to build and it really looks quite nice.  I love being able to display this with the minis while we are playing. When we are done with our Baba Yaga adventures then this is going on my shelf with my little witch minis.
5 out of 5 stars

Seven Leagues roleplaying game of Faerie
A lot of games take on faerie tales. A lot of games deal with the lands of faerie too. But this is one of the very, very few games that takes place in and about the land of faerie.  Seven Leagues is a simple game (mechanics wise) for playing in all sorts of faerie tale situations.  I say it is simple, only because the mechanics are. Roll a d12, add or minus appropriate modifiers and get a 13 or better for a success.
There are a few attributes, called Virtures (Hand, Heart and Head) and the rest are like qualities or Charms (in this game), "Strong as a horse", "Tough hide", "can't be hit" and so on.  You can play an ogre, a sprite, a magical tree or even a talking animal.  You also take a negative "Taboo".  Your high concept or class as it were is called an Aspect.
Browsing through this beautiful 126 page pdf I saw influences from Greek myth, Grimm Fairy Tales, folklore from all over Europe and elements they all have in common.
There is a heavy role-playing and story-telling element to this I really like.  You are encouraged, by way of your character creation, to get invested in your character.
Honestly this is a great game to teach kids or use it as a primer on how to run a Faerie-based game for any other system.
For the price it is a steal.
5 out of 5 stars

Lost Treasures: Curiosities from the Dancing Hut
This was written for the Fortune's Fool RPG, but is written in such a way that it can be easily adapted to any game.   This gave me some great ideas for using the D&D version of Baba Yaga's hut. Plus I also want to check out the Fortune's Fool game as well.
4 out of 5 Stars

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge: June Reviews

Here are the reviews for May for the Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge.

Lots of books this month!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
All things must end...I started my reread of the Harry Potter series with much enthusiasm and I was rewarded every step of the way. But I was dreading this one.  Not because of the deaths or the loss, but because this was the end, no more Harry, no more Hogwarts, no more of the world that enchanted me and millions of others.
J.K. Rolwing is a genius. Pure and simple. While I thought some of her later books could have had a deft hand at editing I find in the end I would not want one line changed.  The best thing about this book, and the last one, is you really, really get a feeling of how and why Ron and Hermione got together and why Harry and Ginny are together.  The movies, as fantastic as they are, glossed over this subtle storytelling.
Every fan of fantasy needs to read these books.
Witch Count: Hundreds

Witches with the Enemy: A Novel of the Mist-Torn Witches by Barb Hendee
Book 3 of the Mist-Torn Witches series sees Céline and Amelie Fawe heading back into the land of their birth, Shetâna, to do a job for Prince Damek who once tried to have them killed.
Like the previous two books this one involves a mysterious murder, but the murders keep happening and it is soon obvious that no one is what they appear to be at all.  This one grabs you from the beginning.
Hendee is great at character development and it was nice to see Céline get some much needed growth and the spotlight for a while.  The previous book featured a lot of growth for Amelie.   I also like that the witches may have made a terrible new enemy by the end of the book.
The potential for this series really is unlimited. I would like to see some new powers or new nuances to their powers for the sisters, but I also see no end of their troubles.
I think what I like the most about this series is that both the two main female characters and the two main male characters are allowed to be strong when they can.  That is, one character or gender does not show strength at the expense of the others. They all have the potential to work as a greater team but finding their roles is the trick.  In any case there is plenty of more room for future character growth and that is exactly what I want in my series reading.
While these books are set in a fantasy realm of magic, witches, ghosts and even vampires these are solidly murder mysteries.  Can't wait for Book 4!
Witch Count: 3-5 (including hedge witches)

Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
The classical Russian tale of Baba Yaga and the brave young girl Vasilisa.  I actually read a couple of different versions of this tale over the month, but since they only differed by a detail here or there I am counting this as one.
Witch Count: 1

The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston
This one has all the elements I like. Welsh countryside, ancient witchcraft, new you witch coming into her power.  It just didn't grab me like I thought it would.  Now by the end of the book things had gotten better.  I liked the character Morgana and I liked how her magic worked.  The author is quite good really, I just found the pace a bit slow for my liking.  I think if I had not just come down from my Harry Potter fueled high I might have enjoyed this one a lot more.
Witch Count: 3

Books read: 18
Current Level: Crone,  Read 16 – 20 Witchy Books