Urban Fantasy Fridays: Beyond the Supernatural (1988)

 Beyond the Supernatural was always one of those games I kind of liked from afar. I bought various Palladium RPGs over the years. I always enjoyed reading them and even working on a character or two, but these days the rules are a little too overwrought for my tastes. I owned Beyond the Supernatural, both the 1st and 2nd Editions. I picked up 2nd Ed a while back at a Gen Con, and I held on to it for years. I kept meaning to play it, picking it up and reading it, but eventually sold it back at an auction.

I picked up the PDFs at DriveThruRPG. Both are interesting games, but I never got the chance to play them. It's a pity, really. I love the idea of Rifts, and maybe, in an alternate universe, it would have been the game I played obsessively. I mean, I can really see it; everything is already there for me to enjoy. 

I would have left this game as an interesting curiosity I would have spent years picking at and maybe doing nothing with, but then Jonathan Becker over at B/X Blackrazor started talking about Heroes Unlimited, and that brought my attention back to it. 

So I guess. This is his fault.

This is less of a review of the game (it is nearly 40 years old) and more of an overview of how I am playing it/using it. That might not be very helpful to you if you are coming here looking to see if this is the game for you. But there are a lot of reviews for it online.

Beyond the Supernatural 1st Edition

by Randy McCall and Kevin Siembieda
1988 Palladium Books, 256 pages.

I have been reading over this, and I had forgotten how crunchy this game is. Actually, I am having a lot of fun with it.  Right away, I am happy with the vibe of this game; it was written largely in 1987 and published in 1988, so for my game set in 1987/88, it feels perfect.

If you are looking for a quick way to put it, Beyond the Supernatural is "Palladium does contemporary occult horror." But that doesn’t quite do it justice.

In truth, this is a game set in our world, or something akin to it (see: Rifts), where you have your ghosts and monsters and ley lines and psychic phenomena and strange cults and things from elsewhere lurking at the periphery. It is a free and easy mix of folklore, parapsychology, 1980s notions of the unexplained, and monster movies. You will find Stonehenge and the Bermuda Triangle in the same breath as vampires and the supernatural. The book makes no bones about putting all these elements in one pot to see what kind of horror results. 

I mean. Those are all my favorite things for a game, really. 

Not to mention I like that approach. There is an unmistakably late 1980s air to it, not only by virtue of its date but in reflecting the popular culture of the day: the Satanic panic, UFO weirdness, haunted houses, mysterious energy, and possession were all part of the zeitgeist. Beyond the Supernatural has no need to keep them apart. It asks, in effect, "What if it was all connected?" Which is fine by me for the type of games I run. 

OR better yet, "What if all these were real and I made no effort to figure out why they are real at the same time?" 

Yeah. Now we're talking!

The rules are Palladium through and through. You have your eight attributes, percentile skills, S.D.C., Hit Points, alignments, saving throws, and combat bonuses, along with enough modifiers to occupy your pencil. It is crunchy. Very. Yet I am more taken with the crunch here than I thought I would be; it suits the game. A character is not merely an "Occult Investigator +4." They have an education, they speak languages, they have picked up odd bits of knowledge, technical and academic skills, and perhaps some combat training. For an investigation game, I prefer my characters to have a good deal of actual know-how.

You can engage with the supernatural in any number of ways as an Arcanist or a psychic, or you can be a normal human who has been drawn into the fray. The latter is key. You don’t have to be anything special to play. One of the included adventures is made for the ordinary "Victim" type, the sort of person who is hopelessly outmatched and whose best course of action is to leg it. That says a lot for the game’s range.

Then there is the magic system, which I find the most useful. All the different traditions, be it witchcraft, druidism, voodoo, or thaumaturgy, may have their own philosophies and rituals, but they are tapping into the same Potential Psychic Energy. I might not want to make a habit of using that cosmology in my own games, but the premise is sound. People put together their own traditions and, being human, insist theirs is the right way to do it. Since it is Palladium, I can pull things from other books. As people often did for the 2nd edition of Beyond the Supernatural. 

What I really like is the notion that genuine magical knowledge is hard to come by. The world is awash in occult tomes, but most are either wrong, incomplete or confused with superstition. An Arcanist doesn’t just level up and get new spells; she has to research and reconstruct them, or learn from another magician or an old diary. Now that is how I want my occult magic to feel. Old, often contradictory, and a little dangerous.

There is also a sensible divide between spells and rituals. A spell is quicker and easier, but a ritual demands time, concentration and maybe a few other people, and it is much harder to put down. I can work with that. Granted, that is pretty common place today in RPGs, but in 1987 that was brand new.

You can have your psychic investigators with their telekinesis, or your occult scholars with their tomes, or you can put ordinary folk in front of the wrong door. I like a game that can accommodate all three. Not all magic is a matter of casting it across the room in the heat of combat.

Occasionally you want to put in an hour and a half with a circle, six candles, and three people who know their way around a ritual, all while hoping for no interruptions. To me that is good occult magic.

Then there are the psychics.

The game treats the psychic side of things with as much importance as it should. These aren’t just powers with a different label; they have their own I.S.P. pools and a distinct way of dealing with the supernatural. It makes for a nice distinction between Larina and Morgan.

Larina will tell you she has come face-to-face with a demon or a ghost. Morgan is more likely to say they were a persistent psychic imprint and that there is no evidence whatsoever of a demon. The beauty of Beyond the Supernatural is that it gives them both enough ground to stand on for the argument. I find that useful. I don’t always want my games to offer one authoritative take on the universe’s oddities; conflicting explanations can be far more compelling.

I don't want to write them that way, and I don't want to play them that way.

As for horror, there are your standard rules for fear, possession, and insanity, but the Horror Factor is a mechanic I have taken to. A creature will have a Horror Factor, and when you see one, you roll a d20. If you fail, you are left momentarily stunned by what is in front of you. You forfeit initiative and an action, leaving you open for a moment until you can compose yourself.

Again, not uncommon today, but this predates the Fear and Horror checks of AD&D 2nd edition Ravenloft. So yeah, it is fun to see it here.  Plus it is simple and effective, and it doesn’t mean your character is out of the game for twenty minutes because he saw something awful. The monster has its turn, then you make your move. Fear should be a factor at the table, not an impediment to playing.

What do I get out of this? A good deal.

Take the way it handles occult knowledge. Magic ought to be shrouded in bad information. An old journal might have half a ritual in it, or a 1974 paperback will cite a source you can’t find anywhere else. A folklore professor will put down something that proves to be of great import, but you need to find his original manuscript. For an investigative horror game, that is gold.

I also appreciate the divide between the psychic and the magical. I have no need for every character to be in agreement over what they are witnessing, nor for it all to spring from the same well.

This works extremely well for me. Magic and Psychic phenomena should feel and "be" different. 

And the emphasis on research, education, and the like is something this game did well. Your sheet says something about the person before the monster appeared tonight. Larina has an eye for archaeology because she studies it. Morgan is well-versed in psychology and mathematics because he cares about them. When the supernatural intrudes on their academic lives, I have more to go on than a flat "Occult +8."

There is a lesson in here for my own settings too. The world doesn’t require some vast hidden order to make sense of it. A haunted house is often just that. Or perhaps there is something living under the floorboards of an abandoned building. The one with the most insight into the situation could be a professor, a psychic, or the odd dude at the bookstore.

You do the investigating because no one else will. 

Beyond the Supernatural provides rules for the supernatural without making it safe. There are psychics who can feel what is out there, but feeling and understanding are worlds apart. Authentic knowledge of magic is hard to come by.

That suits Jackson. That suits my nascent "Chicago 92" setting (whatever that is going to be). It suits the kind of contemporary horror I am after. The world seems normal, and for the most part it is. But then you happen upon the wrong book or venture into an old tunnel, and you see how much of it was right in front of you all along.

My Jackson Kids: Larina Nichols and Roderick Morgan

Morgan: "There are some things man was not meant to know, Nichols."
Larina: "Oh, that's ok. I'm a girl."

For this game, I set it during Larina's Freshman year at the University of Chicago. Stephanie and Faye are both down at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but she gets an unwelcome surprise when she discovers that one of her fellow freshmen is Roderick Morgan.

Plus all month I have been watching some college-related horror movies, so this feels right.

Already, this tells you that this game has a different tone. High School Hijinks are one thing, but Larina and Morgan are at one of the most academically prestigious universities in the country. If nothing else, the stress is higher. This is also the pivot point of my campaign.

This works great for me since it gives me a chance to try out a "magical" character and a "psychic" character.

I am not 100% sure what sorts of adventures they will have at the U of C. I know one thing, though: they dislike each other too much to become anything other than casual friends. Not enemies, but they would never call each other friends. They do tend to end up in the same places a lot. 

Larina Stephanie Nichols
1st-Level Arcanist
Occupation: Student (University of Chicago)
Alignment: Scrupulous (Good)
Age 17 (September 1987)

Attributes
I.Q. 21
M.E. 19
M.A. 14
P.S. 9
P.P. 12
P.E. 13
P.B. 15
Spd. 19

Hit Points: 23
S.D.C.: 12
P.P.E.: 30
I.S.P.: None

Education: One-Year College
+10% to Scholastic Skills
Two Skill Programs
Eight Secondary Skills

Arcanist Abilities
Understanding the Principles of Magic: 82%
Read Magic: 89%
Practiced Use of Magic: Automatic
Sense Magic: Automatic, 120-foot range, but she cannot pinpoint the source
Recognize Magic Enchantment: 65%

Scholastic Skills
Automatic
English: 98%
Mathematics: Basic: 98%

Lore and Research
Lore: Demons & Monsters: 87%
Lore: Ghosts & Faeries: 87%
Lore: Geomancy & Lines of Power: 82%
Lore: Religion: 82%
Research: 98%

Science
Anthropology: 77%
Archaeology: 82%
Psychology: 82%

Technical
History: 87%
Writing: 73%

Languages
Latin: 97%
Ancient Greek: 97%
French: 97%
German: 97%
Irish Gaelic: 97%
Hebrew: 97%
Sanskrit: 97%

Skill Programs
Language Program: three additional languages.

Physical Program: Prowl, Swimming, Climbing, Running. 

Prowl: 97%
Swimming: 98%
Climbing: 98%
Running: no percentile roll

Secondary Skills
First Aid: 77%
Automobile: 98%
Cook: 80%
Dance: 70%
Sing: 67%
Photography: 77%
Mathematics: Advanced: 88%
Astronomy: 77%
Basic Mechanics: 64%

W.P. Knife
Hand-to-Hand: Martial Arts (Judo) (gained at 3rd level)

Combat
Attacks per Melee: 2
Automatic Parry: Yes
Pull/Roll with Punch, Fall or Impact: +2
Strike: +0 normally
Parry: +0 normally
Dodge: +0 normally
Damage Bonus: None

Saving Throws
Psychic Attack: +3 total (12+)
Insanity: +2 (10+)
Possession: +4
Horror Factor: +4
Magic: +4
   Spell cast by levels 1-3: 8+
   Spell cast by levels 4-7: 9+
   Spell cast by levels 8-11: 10+
   Spell cast by levels 12+: 11+
   Ritual/Ceremonial Magic: 12+
Lethal Poison: 14+
Non-lethal Poison: 16+
Harmful Drugs: 15+
Acids: No saving throw, dodge the attack.

Known Magic
Level One: See Aura*, Sense Magic*
Level Two: Detect Concealment, Extinguish Fire, Levitation, Mystic Alarm*, Turn Dead*
Level Three: Breathe Without Air, Impression*, Invisibility: Simple, Telekinesis
Level Four: Astral Projection, Energy Field*, Seal*
Level Five: Eyes of Thoth, Heal Wounds*
Level Six: Enhanced Memory, Tongues*, Words of Truth
Level Seven: Second Sight
Level Eight: Commune with Spirits*, Exorcism (ritual)
Level Nine: Familiar Link (ritual), Metamorphosis: Insect, Protection Circle: Simple*

* means Larina knows both the spell and ritual versions.

In this version of Larina, I have decided that the poor girl is tired of being knocked on her ass all the time. So, in her Freshman year, she joins the Judo club. She likes judo; it allows her to get out of her mind for a bit, but she isn't very good at it. Nor is see likely to be good, but at least it gives her something. 

Roderick Morgan II
4th-Level Psychic Sensitive
Occupation: Student (University of Chicago)
Alignment: Principled (Good)
Age 18 (September 1987)

I.Q. 24
M.E. 20
M.A. 19
P.S. 14
P.P. 14
P.E. 10
P.B. 16
Spd. 12

Hit Points: 23
S.D.C.: 19
P.P.E.: 13
I.S.P.: 88 (recovery: 2 points per hour of complete relaxation or sleep.)

Education: One-Year College
+10% to Scholastic Skills
Two Skill Programs
Eight Secondary Skills

Savings: $10,000
Trustfund: $100,000

Psychic Powers
Sense Supernatural Evil
Opening to the Supernatural
Recognize Possession: 65%
Recognize Magic Enchantment: 50%

Scholastic Skills
Automatic
English: 98%
Mathematics: Basic: 98%

Computer Program
Computer Operation: 98%
Computer Programming: 80%

Journalist/Investigation Program
Computer Operation: 98% (same as above, might give him an outside-the-rules bonus)
Intelligence: 78%
Photography: 90%
Research: 90%
Writing, Journalistic Style: 70%

Secondary Skills
Basic Electronics: 70%
Pick Locks: 65%
Wilderness Survival: 70%
Climbing: 92%
Rappelling: 60%
Automobile: 98%
Art: 66%
Mathematics: Advanced: 90%
History: 75%

W.P. Knife
W.P. Sword (Sword Cane)

Combat
Attacks/Actions per Melee: 2
Automatic Parry: No
Strike: +0 normally
Parry: +0 normally
Dodge: +0 normally
Damage Bonus: None

Saving Throws
Psychic Attack, Closed: +3 from M.E.; needs 7+
Psychic Attack, Open/Using Powers: 15+, no bonuses
Insanity: +3, needs 9+
Possession: +3
Horror Factor: +3
Magic: +1
   Spell cast by levels 1-3: 11+
   Spell cast by levels 4-7: 12+
   Spell cast by levels 8-11: 13+
   Spell cast by levels 12+: 14+
   Ritual/Ceremonial Magic: 15+
Mind-Altering Drugs: +3
Lethal Poison: 14+
Non-lethal Poison: 16+
Harmful Drugs: 15+ normally
Acids: No saving throw, dodge the attack.

Psychic Powers

Sense Supernatural Evil
Automatic class ability
I.S.P.: None
Range: 300 feet

Clairvoyance
I.S.P.: 4
Base Skill: 66%
Friend or Loved One: 71%
Duration: 6d6 melees
Maximum Attempts: Twice per day

Divination (arithmancy)
I.S.P.: 3
Base Skill: 48%
Divining His Own Future: 38%
Duration: 2d4 minutes

Morgan feels that what he does is just calculating probabilities.

Mind Block
I.S.P.: 4
Duration: 40 minutes
Bonus: +1 vs. psychic and mental attacks

See Aura
I.S.P.: 6
Range: 60 feet
Duration: 30 seconds

Sixth Sense
I.S.P.: 2
Range: 90 feet
Trigger: Unexpected imminent life-threatening danger

For the initial melee when triggered: +6 Initiative, +2 Parry, +3 Dodge. Cannot be surprised by a sneak attack from behind

Speed Reading
I.S.P.: 2
Duration: 12 minutes
Reading Speed: 30 pages per minute
Highly Technical Material: 15 pages per minute

--

Wow, that was a lot.  That took me a couple of days to get right to be honest. I remembered why I picked up this game, got all fascinated with it, and then put it back down. 

And I have barely scratched the surface of what this game can do to be honest.

While I have talked about it in other posts for this Urban Fantasy Friday, some ideas began here. 

This is where I got the idea that Larina should pick up Judo so at least she can last a little longer in a fight where she can't use magic. 

Both here and in NightLife Larina has a "pistol" rating. Again, the idea is she picked it up for a little self-defense. I can't recall if Illinois required a FOID card back then like they do now, but I figure she, along with Fiona and Morgan, joined a shooting club. I am going to say it was Morgan's idea, saying something like, "You can't rely on magic all the time, Nichols," and Larina saying under her breath, "the fuck I can't." But while I have never considered her a "gun person" at all, she can appreciate the skill and sportsmanship of shooting as a hobby or sport. In my mind, it is Fiona who takes to it and is surprisingly good at it. 

Both Beyond the Supernatural and later on NightLife are wonderfully crunchy. They grab that time when AD&D 1st ed was in it's last days, but before AD&D 2nd ed or Vampire hit the shelves and tables. It seemed, to me at least, that any game had a chance to be the top RPG of the time. I felt the same way about ShadowRun when it first came out. 

I am not likely to run either game to be honest. Again, NIGHT SHIFT does everything I want. But they do have a quality that is hard to replicate because it has to do with the time they were developed and written. It is part and parcel with the crunch.

One thing I do know is that if (and that is a big if) I ever get my Chicago game going, these will be some of the books I look to for inspiration.

Links

• Palladium Books
• Beyond the Supernatural, 2nd edition
• Character Sheets
• Palladium on DriveThruRPG
• Palladium Horror on DriveThruRPG
• Beyond the Supernatural RPG - 1st Edition Rules
• Beyond the Supernatural RPG - 2nd Edition Rules

Urban Fantasy Fridays: Occult Detective (2026)

 Occult Detective is a newer game to me. In fact, I didn't even know about it until the author posted about it in his #RPGaDAY2026 posts on Bluesky. Sadly, you will not find the game on DriveThruRPG, and I got my copy via Amazon. 

Doing a bit of research on the game before I bought it, I saw it had been in development for while, with some evidence of an early version going back nearly 10 years.  They took their time to get exactly the way they wanted it and I can respect that.

The Occult Detective

by Bob Freeman and Connor Freeman.
2026. Bordermen Games. 352 pages (6" x 9" format).

There are two central themes/ideas baked into this game. The first is that magic, the supernatural, and all that is real but hidden (the Occult part), and the characters play the part of investigators of the occult (the Detective part). It is a very solid premise. But as long-time readers of my blog already know, we have no end to games that do this. What does Occult Detective do that is different?

The feel of the game is very Noir. IT could take place in the 1930s, 1990s, or last week. The timeline is not as important, I think, as the stories it is trying to tell. Stories is a good word for it, too. The game master is called "The Author," and the player characters are "The Protagonists." So already you get the feel that is a detective novel you will try to bring to life. There is some merit to this, but I have been watching a lot of Masterpiece Mystery on PBS. Sure, many of these began as books, but maybe the feel I want is more "The Director" and "The Characters."  Yes, Occult Detective can do this, and that's how I'd play it.

The World Building chapter supports the idea of any sort of world/time. The equipment chapter, though, is more focused on 21st-century items and prices (as expected).

The intended audience for this book/game seems to be people who only have a passing familiarity with role-playing games. But maybe more than a starting interest in the Occult. That is fine. Any game can be someone's first game. I certainly get the feeling that author Bob Freeman has played a few games of his own, so he is familiar with how different games work.

Resolution is a d20 vs. target; roll high; 20s and 1s are criticals. But it is not a d20-as-in-D&D game. There are places where the DNA of D&D comes through, but that is true of every game.

Character Creation is fun and pretty easy. I did have to go back and forth just a little. But I kinda expect that with a new game. I do have to say I rather like the character sheets. 

All characters have a Trope, or what amounts to an archetype. Not a class really, but it does let you know how your character will respond in certain situations and might give you a bonus to your rolls in other situations. For example, I gave Larina the Trope of Scholar, which will help her in her research tasks.

After that, you choose your Kith. This is similar to other games' species or even races. Think of it this way: Trope is what you Do; Kith is what you Are. They are Natural (your normal Humans), Preternatural (your magic users), and Supernatural (vampires, ghosts, and the like). There are rules for moving up. A Natural can learn some magic to become a Preternatural or become a werewolf (Supernatural). They are handled well enough and work well for this game. 

All characters get a score in Fire, Air, Earth, Water, and Spirit. Each of these has different applications. For example, a high Spirit score gives a bonus to magick checks and other supernatural abilities, while Earth adds to your health. I have to admit it is my favorite part of the system. 

Everyone starts at Level 1, and you level up after a successful case. Sometimes, for longer cases, you could level up in between. It is essentially a "milestone" style experience, and it works well here. Different Kith get different things at different even levels, and everyone gets something at different odd levels. (Or that might be the other way around; I'll have to check.

There are no long list of spells or psychic effects, but there are some to give you a start. The idea here is that each and every character might do things a little differently. I also like that. 

Characters can also have curiosities. Like a Book of Shadows or a pentagram necklace.

If you are getting a "Dresden Files" vibe from this game so far, you are not wrong. I would say that the world of Occult Detective is a little more rain-swept and both darker and not as dangerous as Harry Dresden's Chicago. For example, the focus is on the "Protagonists," so the world bends around them. That doesn't mean they are "safer"; it is just that the mysteries they are going to solve will be ones that they can potentially solve. Also not saying they *will* solve them, but that they *could* solve them. This isn't Call of Cthulhu. Nor is it the sweeping universe that built up in the Dresden Files or even Antia Blake or Rachel Morgan. This is Harry, Anita, and Rachel in their first three books or so. The world of Occult Detective is dangerous, but it is also one the Protagonists can relate to. 

The strength of this game comes from the notion that many occult traditions are true, even the contradictory ones. Use what you want and ignore the rest. The World Building chapter is the most flexible, but if you squint, you can see the "intended setting." That's fine, really, nothing at all wrong with that. There is enough here to make it your own. 

Which is what I did.

My Jackson Kids

I mentioned last week that one of the takeaways from these playtests was the shocking revelation that Vera "Raven" Rook is a lot of fun. The game I played with her and my family was back in August. We only did one game of this before we came down with a cold. No. I don't blame the game. But Vera really started to become someone fun to have around.

Given the book is filled with various bits of occult symbolism and ideas, I am going to stick with my witches.

The first character took me a little bit, but after that the rest went extremely fast.

Larina Stephanie Nichols

2nd Level Preternatural (Magician)
Trope: Scholar
Tradition: Folk Magic

Earth +1
Air +5
Fire +0
Water +2
Spirit +3

Wellness 12
Defense 12

Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Weaknesses: None

Resources: Upper Middle Class

Spells (Folk Magic)
Warding, Wild Speech, Scrying

Her Air is higher, reflecting her intellect.

Faye Thorne

2nd Level Preternatural (Magician)
Primary Tradition: Chaos Magick
Trope: Ghost Hunter

Earth +2
Air +2
Fire +1
Water +3
Spirit +3

Wellness: 13
Defense: 13

Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Weaknesses: None

Resources: Lower Middle Class

Spells (Chaos Magick)
Pyromancy, Dwimmering, Summon (Chaos)

Faye is a Chaos Magician to reflect her upbringing.

Stephanie Wren Vale

2nd Level Preternatural (Magician)
Primary Tradition: Ceremonial Magic
Trope: Investigator

Earth +2
Air +2
Fire +1
Water +4
Spirit +2

Wellness: 13
Defense: 14

Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Weaknesses: None

Resources: Upper Class

Spells (Ceremonial Magick)
Compel, Magic Circle, Mesmerize

Investigator works really well for the later game Stephanie. She wants to know what is going on. Not to understand it like Larina, but to stop it.

Vera Diane Rook 

2nd Level Preternatural (Magician)
Primary Tradition: Mysticism
Trope: Thrill Seeker

Earth +1
Air +4
Fire +0
Water +2
Spirit +4

Wellness: 12
Defense: 12

Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Weaknesses: None

Resources: Upper Middle Class

Spells (Mysticism)
Mesmerize, Mind Reading, Scrying

This is where Vera began to shine for me. She is a "Thrill Seeker" because she likes the idea of these adventures. She also likes to hang out with Faye and annoy Larina and Stephanie. 

Larina (reading): "Hic locus mortuorum est."
Vera: "Is that some Christian thing I don't get because I am Jewish?"
Larina: "No, it's Latin. And I am not Christian either; I'm Wiccan."
Vera: "There is hope for you yet, Nichols."
Laria: "It says, 'This place belongs to the dead.'"
Vera: "Less hopeful now."

Faye, Vera, Stephanie, and Larina investigate.

Links

• Bordermen Games
• Occult Detective RPG on Amazon
• Wordpress
• BlueSky
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter/X
• YouTube

Urban Fantasy Fridays: The Unexplained (2009)

 AH! It is October again. My favorite time of the year. Last year, on my Fantasy Fridays, I spent some time with urban fantasy games and, in particular, with the idea of using games as a sort of life-path development for my various characters. I actually did a few characters, but I only posted one, my witch, Larina. 

Something very interesting happened while I was doing that. I grabbed a couple of Pathfinder characters and was doing the same experiment on them. I remember sitting in my car one night, waiting for my oldest to get off work, and I began writing a bit on what those two characters would have been like as teens. Then I took it a step (ok, a big step) further and thought: what would they have been like as teens in high school, not in a fantasy world, but in an American high school, specifically in the Midwest.

Those two Pathfinder characters became Stephanie and Faye. I resurrected a bunch of other ideas, and by December of 2025, I had a very good idea about what my town of Jackson, IL, was starting to look like. It has been my obsession ever since, and here I am nearly a year and several thousand words later. If you go through those posts, you can see the ideas that eventually took shape as the Jackson I am talking about now. 

With this collection of Urban Fantasy Fridays, I want to explore other games in my collection that do similar, but not quite the same, things as NIGHT SHIFT does for my Jackson setting/Night World. I am committed to Jackson as a NIGHT SHIFT Night World, no other game fits it quite so well. But, I do want to see what these other experiences give me. I want to make sure I am capturing not only what makes NIGHT SHIFT special, but what makes Jackson so special to me.  For the Fridays in October I am going to pull some Urban Fantasy/Horror RPGs from my shelves and see how they work for me. Some are older games, others are newer but obscure, but all approach the "modern magical world" from different points of view, and all can teach me something.

Last year I went in order, more or less, of life span development. This year I am generally going in order of involvement with the supernatural. From least to most. For example, today's game, The Unexplained, largely deals with normal people dealing with abnormal things. In the last game, Night Life, the characters are the "abnormal things."

So lets get to it!

The Unexplained

by Bradford Younie, 
2009 Carnivore Games, 298 pages.

I talked about the FUDGE game, The Unexplained, way back in 2010. Or, more to the point, I talked about its sister game, Now Playing. Back then, I described it like this: if The Unexplained is the reality, then Now Playing is the TV series based on it. Both are FUDGE games and use FUDGE dice. They are 100% compatible with each other and both top my list as my favorite FUDGE games to date.

While I am looking at this game for possible ideas, I do want to point out that it is, by itself, a perfectly wonderful game. I have not looked at it in detail for over 15 years, and I am surprised at how playable it still is. 

Character creation is easy using a simple point-buy system. I was able to generate NINE characters in under an hour. Likely, I would have been faster, but I was trying to maximize the differences in my characters. 

The Unexplained posits that the characters are part of an organization dedicated to hunting supernatural monsters. Now, the nature of my Jackson kids kinda precludes this. That is fine; it is not a requirement of this game, merely a feature they are adding. 

The Foundation for Paranormal Investigation

The FPI is an in-game conceit that allows the players to get their characters together. It is part "You characters meet in a tavern" and part "You have been recruited by S.A.V.E. or A.R.T.E.M.I.S. or the FBI or SCP or whatever alphabet organization the characters need to join. 

That said, there are some really good ideas for putting together an organization like this and using it in a game. Maybe I'll revisit them someday, but right now I don't need them. My characters meet because they are all in the same school. 

But if this is your thing, then The Unexplained is worth picking up for these ideas. The underlying system is FUDGE, but really, as I showed already, replace the words with numbers, and you can play this almost as if it were Unisystem.

My Jackson Kids

Character creation was so fast and easy that, instead of doing one or two of my Jackson kids. I stated them all. Well. Most of them.  Plus the Character Concept Questionnaire I used from Now Playing was also a huge help. 

I won't add all of them here, but I will give two examples. My witch, Larina, and the reluctant ally, Vera. Why? Vera Rook is becoming a LOT of fun over here. She is just a great frenemy who adds some tension to the group. Plus, she irritates Stephanie and Larina, and that is always fun.

Larina Stephanie Nichols

Profession: The Scholar* (I am using the Professions more like archetypes)
Paranormal Society: Jackson Public High School
RankAge: 16 
Income: Good
Luck: 3
Size: Medium/0

Attributes
Brawn: Mediocre
Agility: Fair
Stamina: Fair
Reasoning: Superb
Perception: Good
Will: Fair

Gifts
Attractive
Single Minded (Magic)

Faults
Curious
Obsession: Magic
Quick-Tempered

Psychic Abilities
Mental Psi: Psychometry (Fair), Telepathy (Fair)
Physical Psi: Telekinesis (Fair)

Skills
Astrology (Fair), Athletics (Mediocre), Concentrate (Good), Computers (Fair), Decipher Script (Fair), Drive (Mediocre), Gather Information (Good), Language, Greek (Poor), Language, Latin (Poor), Mythology (Good), Occult (Great), Parapsychology (Fair), Research (Good), Ritual, Wicca (Fair), Search (Good)

Vera Diane Rook

Profession: The Reluctant Ally* (I am using the Professions more like archetypes)
Paranormal Society: Jackson Public High School
RankAge: 16 
Income: Great
Luck: 3
Size: Medium/0

Attributes
Brawn: Fair
Agility: Fair
Stamina: Fair
Reasoning: Good
Perception: Great
Will: Fair

Gifts
Attractive
Increased Income
Patron: Rook Family

Faults
Blunt and Tactless

Psychic Abilities
Mental Psi: Psychometry (Good)

Skills
Astrology (Good), Bluff (Fair), Cryptozoology (Fair), Drive (Good), Gather Information (Fair), Ghost Hunting (Fair), Intimidate (Good), Occult (Fair), Persuade (Good), Religions (Good), Research (Fair), Ritual, Wicca (Fair), Sense Motive (Good)

This run is where we learn that Vera's family is Jewish. She is a witch yes, but her religion is Jewish. Much like Larina's religion is Wicca. Vera is a bit of a lapsed Jew, but I think I want to work more of it into her character later on. 

The images, as it turns out, are from the day after Larina's 16th birthday. Her birthday was on a Friday, and this would have been the next Saturday. 

Remember, with all these "Poors" and "Fairs," they are still just kids.

Though looking at the art of these two, they seem to be less Larina "Nix" and Vera "Raven" of Jackson and more Larina "Creepy" and Vera "Shadow" of Carbon Vale. 

-- 

The Unexplained is a lot of fun. I have never really connected with FUDGE, but this game makes me want to try it again.

Links

• PDF from DriveThruRPG
• Carnivore Games
• Sheets
• Facebook
• Willow & Tara stats

Mail Call Tuesday: Larina Nix KibiFig

A little bit ago, I was approached by KibiFig after they saw my review here about the figures I had ordered. I had also spoken out online about how pleased I was with the figures in general.

They offered me an upgraded figure, 6" or 15 cm. There was no expectation of a review afterward so I dug through some images and found one I liked.

Last Friday, the figure came in the mail. 

I already knew what it looked like because Kibifig had been using my little Larina in their most recent ads. I have to admit, it is always kind of fun to see her out and about.

The ordering process was simple, and I opted to spend the extra five or so dollars to get the custom box. In retrospect, the box is better for giving these figures as a gift than, say, a collector's box.  Besides, she is going to sit on my desk.

I had considered this an older version of my Jackson Larina, say circa 1995. But this Larna isn't wearing glasses, and she has a red cell phone that was not in the original image. That's fine. They got her necklace and her T-shirt right, so this very easily could be my WitchCraft RPG or Chill RPG version. In the end, though, it doesn't matter; she looks fantastic.

I went ahead and stuck her to her base. She stands well enough without it, but I tend to knock over figures on my desk all the time, and the base will keep her from falling over.

The online ads. These showed up online around September 7. I got my figure notification the day before and delivery on September 18. Considering it was shipped from China and it went through the Chicago mail system, I call that pretty good.

Yeah. I am pretty happy with her.

Star Trek at 60: Fine, I’ll Do My Own Crossover

I love Star Trek.

I say that without any irony at all, I love all Star Trek. 

This week marks the 60th Anniversary of Star Trek. The show premiered on September 8, 1966, and television, science fiction, and honestly, my own imagination have never really been the same since.

I have talked about Star Trek a lot here over the years. My various USS Protector, Mercy, and Challenger projects, my affection for old FASA Trek, my recent dive into Star Trek Adventures, and, of course, my love for the mythology and storytelling Star Trek has always given me. 

But. And let's be honest. Paramount has kind of dropped the ball on Trek over the last couple of years. There are no new Trek series in production right now, and the current series are wrapping up, ending prematurely. Not to mention, there is almost nothing on TV to celebrate 60 years of the show.

Sound familiar? 

Yeah, the exact same thing that was going on with Doctor Who. For two shows that have defined what science fiction television can be, both anniversaries felt like they should have been bigger. 

Now, maybe that is unfair. Maybe no celebration could have matched what these shows mean to me.

Or maybe, just maybe, the answer is obvious.

So, if I can't rely on the creators of my two favorite sci-fi shows to do things right, I'll do my own 60th Anniversary celebration and have that Star Trek and Doctor Who crossover I have been promised.

Crossovers

One of the very, very first zines I ever bought was a Doctor Who zine that was being sold as local sci-fi convention. It featured a Star Trek (TOS) and Doctor Who (Tom Baker) crossover. I honestly could not tell you what the story was about, except that it required Spock to mind-meld with the Doctor. But it stuck with me.  It must have stuck with others too, but later on in the Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation² comic featuring the 11th Doctor and the TNG crew, a previous encounter featuring Kirk, Spock, and the 4th Doctor was alluded to. Granted, that is a very obvious choice.  I also recall reading an actually rather good fan-fic on one of the Star Trek Usenet groups featuring the TNG crew and the 7th Doctor. Wesley and Ace even went on a date. I also recall the 8th Doctor tapping the replicator with his question-mark umbrella to order a sandwich. 

Crossovers are baked into the wider fandom of both shows, and the possibilities are nearly endless. So many Trek shows and stories. So many incarnations of the Doctor. 

The real question becomes, what mix do I want? AND what system to play it in.

If I were going to do Star Trek TOS with the Fourth Doctor then answer, to me, is obvious. I have to use FASA rules. Likely some brain-numbing combination of both the FASA Trek and FASA Doctor Who. Part of me wants to do that just for nostalgia's sake. And maybe one day I will. A one-shot would be great. Have the Doctor with Sarah Jane Smith. I loved Sarah Jane.

But if I am going to do this one properly, I want something longer. Something more episodic.

The Blue Box Directive

If I am going to do this, I want Trek and Who at its newest. I considered Strange New Worlds for about a minute or two. But it is still running, and they have come close on their own many times. A real crossover is not likely to happen now, but I suppose I have not given up hope. 

So, I am setting it after Season 5 of Star Trek: Discovery, in 3192-93 CE. The Doctor is the Fifteenth Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, with Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson. A temporal anomaly appears, Discovery investigates, and the TARDIS arrives.

I like this idea because both runs were cut short, and both pissed off some of the worst fans of the shows on the internet. So if I am doing a crossover to spite people, I am going all the way.  BUT, that is not 100% the reason either.

The Doctor and Ruby would LOVE Discovery. It is exactly the sort of humanity the Doctor loves. A Federation that survived disaster. A ship thrown impossibly far from home and still doing the right thing. Scientists, explorers, found family, and people who keep choosing hope even when hope is wildly inconvenient. I mean, that is the heart of both shows, really. 

Not all the details have been worked out. I know there is an anomaly (there always is), and after the Flux (Doctor Who) and the Burn (Discovery), there have to be weak points in the multiverse for things to go through. The Doctor and Ruby show up, materialize in the cargo bay. I would say that some crewman tells the bridge that a "Blue box just appeared out of nowhere" which would trigger an alert to Starfleet HQ, still several hours away on subspace.

Also, I DO want Tilly to be there, maybe with a group of cadets on a training exercise. Hell. If I plan it right, they could be Cadets from Starfleet Academy, and they could be the PCs. Have not worked it all out just yet. Why? Tilly would be the ultimate Doctor fan-girl. And I adore Tilly.

The adventure begins when another temporal signal is discovered. The Doctor comes to the bridge with Ruby, yes, he convinces Burnham that a civilian should be there. They track the signal and get there via conventional warp drive. There is a lot of <insert really cool technobabble here> interference. Burnham tells Bryce to clean it up and put it on audio. Burnham is about give her "we are here to help" speech when the audio breaks in.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

The Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver and activates the spore drive, sending the entire ship into panic.

Before Burnham can question the Doctor or Stamets can ask who is messing with his spore drive, Admiral Vance breaks in via hologram, ordering Burnham to invoke "the Blue Box directive."

Because, of course, Starfleet has protocols for dealing with the Doctor.  

The idea is to follow the Discovery premise of a chase across space. The bad guys are the Daleks since the 15th Doctor never got a chance to encounter them. AND I was thinking of using the New Paradigm Daleks, since we haven't seen them in a bit. The Daleks would be a natural enemy of the Federation. The Federation brings all these different species together to work together, celebrating their differences. This is an abomination to the central Dalek creed. These Daleks are here to destroy the Federation in a universe without their greatest enemy. And now they have set their sights on Discovery's spore drive.

I have an idea for Discovery's crew to capture a Dalek and interrogate it to discover what their plan is. The Doctor thinks this is a terrible idea, and it is, because this isn't a repeat of the Ninth Doctor episode "Dalek"; it is more "Silence of the Lambs" with the Dalek in the Lecter role. The Dalek wants Discovery's crew not to trust the Doctor by talking about all the deaths that can be laid at the feet of "The Oncoming Storm."

Ultimately, the crew (aka the PCs) defeat the Daleks, and the Doctor and Ruby get back to their own universe. I just have not figured out how that all happens yet! But isn't that also part of the fun? 

The System

This is important because is tells me the tone of the game. If I use Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition, that means I am expecting Star Trek logic. If I choose Doctor Who 2nd Edition, that means I am expecting less fighting and more talking. 

I have considered going back and forth between the two. My players would not mind, but it would mean a lot of extra work for me. 

Given Mōdiphiüs' support for Trek, and the 32nd Century Trek in particular, I am likely to go with this game. Though, as an exercise, I might have everyone generate their characters in both systems. 

I am nothing if not a glutton for punishment.

If I am going to make my players do it, then I should as well. And there is an obvious choice for a test run. The person who likely wrote the Blue Box Directive in the first place. The immortal Valerie Beaumont.

Valerie would come aboard the Discovery as a Specialist because she knows the most about the Doctor. I have already set her up for Doctor Who Second Edition, so let's see how she fares as a Star Trek Character.

Agent Valerie Regina Beaumont

Species: Human (Immortal) 
Career Path: Starfleet (Intelligence)
Role: Intelligence Agent
Department: Security
Intelligence Grade: Commodore-equivalent
Assignment: Starfleet Intelligence, Special Operations
Era: 32nd Century

CONTROL 11
DARING 9
FITNESS 8
INSIGHT 9
PRESENCE 9
REASON 10

COMMAND 4
CONN 2
ENGINEERING 1
SECURITY 5
MEDICINE 1
SCIENCE 3

Stress 10
Reputation 5

Focuses: Blade Weapons, Espionage, Infiltration, Earth History, Survival, Anomalous Phenomena

Talents: Cautious (Security), Close Protection, Tough, Veteran

Species Ability: Faith of the Heart

Role Benefit: Intelligence Agent

Grade: Commodore-equivalent

Values

"I am immortal. Everyone else is not."
"History is memory, and memory carries obligations."
"Sometimes a secret saves more lives than the truth."
"The mission matters. People matter more."

Attacks

Unarmed Strike (Melee), Stun 2, Size 1H
Shadow-Steel Sword (Melee), Deadly 3, Size 1H
Phaser Type-2 (Ranged), Stun/Deadly 4, Size 1H, Charge

Gotta admit, she looks pretty good at 1,623 years old.

And because I can.

Specialist Larina Stephanie Nichols

Species: Human (Psychic)
Career Path: Civilian (Official)
Professional Trait: Civilian Specialist, Xenolinguistics & Behavioral Sciences
Role: Xenotranslator
Starfleet Status: Civilian specialist attached to Starfleet
Administrative Rate: Crewman First Class
Division: Sciences
Actual Function: Psychic intelligence, reconnaissance, and subterfuge
Era: 32nd Century

CONTROL 10
DARING 9
FITNESS 8
INSIGHT 11
PRESENCE 9
REASON 9

COMMAND 3
CONN 2
ENGINEERING 1
SECURITY 5
MEDICINE 1
SCIENCE 4

Stress 8
Reputation 4

Focuses: Linguistics, Psychology, Espionage, Infiltration, Survival, Martial Arts

Talents: Extrasensory Perception, Telepathy, Psychokinesis, Martial Artist

Species Ability: Faith of the Heart

Role Benefit: Translator

Grade: Crewman First Class

Values

"Every mind has a language."
"Never ignore the feeling that something is wrong."
"People matter more than procedure."
"Underestimating me makes my job easier."

Attacks

Unarmed Strike (Melee), Stun/Deadly 2, Size 1H
Psychokinetic Strike (Ranged), Stun/Deadly 3
Phaser Type-1(Ranged), Stun/Deadly 3, Size 1H, Charge, Hidden 1 (a gift from Valerie)

To be clear, this is not Larina from Jackson, IL. That girl had a nice long life and likely passed away sometime in the late-21st century. That is, if this is the same universe at all. This Larina could be a reincarnation of that Larina. 

This Larina grew up on Earth, and Valerie found her and noticed Larina's talents for both language and her psychic powers. She serves as an aide to Agent Beaumont, where her cover is that of a xenolinguist, but in truth she is an expert in psychic espionage. 

There is a Jackson connection here. Jackson Larina once saw this Larina in her mirror. She didn't know what she saw, and I described it as a "psychic storm wearing her face." 

I also opted to teach her martial arts, thinking she had something like a psychic punch. 

Maybe Valerie and Larina served aboard the USS Jackson. Exactly the sort of strangeness I expect to see in the multiverse. 

One thing is certain. I want to do a lot more with this game. I barely left the character generation chapter, and I REALLY wanted to build some starships.

Well. I have the Protector, the Mercy, the Challenger, and more to still build.

Happy Birthday, Star Trek! Here is to many, many more.

Fantasy Fridays: The Dying Earth

 Today marks the 110th anniversary of Jack Vance's birth. Back in May, I covered his Dying Earth books for my Witches of Appendix N. Today I want to look at the RPGs of the Dying Earth. There are essentially two published ones, Pelgrane Press' and Goodman Games for Dungeon Crawl Classics. I will consider both today.

Games at The End of the World

I have been spending quite a lot of time lately thinking about dying worlds.

Not post-apocalyptic worlds necessarily. That is something different. I mean worlds that are simply old. Very old. Ancient. Worlds where civilizations have risen, fallen, been forgotten, and had new civilizations built on top of their ruins. And those have fallen and been forgotten as well. Worlds where the sun itself is old, and everyone knows, at least somewhere in the back of their minds, that eventually it is going to go out.

Such is the world of Jack Vance's The Dying Earth.

Vance began the series with The Dying Earth in 1950, followed by The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel's Saga, and Rhialto the Marvellous. These stories helped give a name to the entire "Dying Earth" genre, although Clark Ashton Smith had already been exploring similar territory with his tales of Zothique in the pages of Weird Tales. (I'll get back to this...)

For gamers, though, Vance is particularly important because his fingerprints are all over Dungeons & Dragons.

The most obvious is magic.

The classic D&D Magic-User studies spells, holds a limited number of them in memory, casts one, and then loses it from memory. That system comes directly from Vance. Gary Gygax openly acknowledged the influence, and The Dying Earth and The Eyes of the Overworld appeared in the famous Appendix N of the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide. Even things such as the Prismatic Spray and Ioun Stones have Vancian ancestors.

But reducing Vance's influence to "Vancian magic" misses a lot.

The Dying Earth is full of dangerous ruins, forgotten technologies that might as well be magic, bizarre monsters, petty magicians, decadent city-states, amoral adventurers, strange customs, ancient artifacts, and people willing to undertake extraordinarily dangerous journeys because someone told them there might be something valuable at the other end.

Sound familiar? It should. 

Plus, there is the feeling of overwhelming dread that the sun could go out tomorrow or next week or in a thousand or a million years. The people, though, are not letting that stop them. Party like it is 1,999,999,999. 

That mixture of wonder, decadence, fatalism, absurdity, and danger makes the Dying Earth a fantastic place for gaming. It also makes it surprisingly difficult to get right.

There are currently two major licensed attempts to bring Vance's world directly to the gaming table. One comes from Pelgrane Press. The other comes from Goodman Games.  Both have their merits and take remarkably different approaches.

And I think both approaches tell us something useful about the Dying Earth.

Pelgrane Press - The Dying Earth

When Pelgrane Press put out The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game in 2001, they were putting the first officially sanctioned version of Vance’s world into print. And this one is nearly as legendary as the stories it is based on. Robin D. Laws was the chief designer on the 192-page core book, with John Snead and Peter Freeman.

Laws was quick to see that a straightforward adaptation of D&D would not do for his game. There is no denying the debt D&D has to Vance, but for all that, a D&D character does not act like one of Vance’s creations. That was the problem Laws intended to put right.

Combat is there, of course, but so are Persuade and Rebuff, and they are just as vital. An argument is made into a mechanical contest; with the right style of persuasion or resistance, you can be as effective at talking an opponent into some folly as you would be with a sword. It has the right feel.

The mechanics are built around a d6 and point-rated abilities, which can be spent to tip the odds, giving the narrative play a light touch of resource management. One should not confuse this with GUMSHOE, even if Pelgrane has become synonymous with that system in later years. The Dying Earth RPG has its own rules and predates GUMSHOE entirely.

Then there is the matter of power levels, perhaps the most interesting thing about the design. A campaign is broken down into three tiers. You have the Cugel level, where you are an adventurer or a rogue, and survival is as much about a well-told lie as it is about your fighting prowess. Move up to Turjan, and the characters are magicians of note, delving into ancient places and wielding serious spells. At the Rhialto level, you are dealing with the likes of the sandestins and commanding extraordinary power.

It is a fine way to handle the source material. Cugel and Rhialto may share a world, but they are hardly of the same genre or power level, and Pelgrane makes no pretense that one evolves into the other by the ordinary process of advancement. They are simply different ways to play.

Pelgrane has also been thorough in their treatment of Vance’s world, from the oddities of Kaiin to lost civilizations and the more eccentric corners of the Dying Earth. They have backed the game with a good number of supplements and The Excellent Prismatic Spray magazine over the years.

There is an obvious weakness to it all, however. This is a game keen on staying true to Vancian behavior, and the player has to come to terms with that. The long list of abilities is a telltale sign of the late 90s/early 2000s design school, and even some adherents of the game wish it were shorter (the Revivification Folio has since put some order to the rules).

But the basic aim is met. If the players start quibbling over armor class and marching order when a monster turns up, they are missing the point. But when one player declares that character must go in first by virtue of his education, and the player is hard put to make the case for another’s superior qualifications, then we are on to something.

Pelgrane is not after D&D’s take on Vance. They are after Vance himself. There is a difference. Understanding that is the key to playing this game.

Dungeon Crawl Classics - Dying Earth

Then there is Goodman Games, which takes almost the opposite approach.

With Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth, you are not put to the task of learning some new game built for the express purpose of emulating Vance or a Vancian world. The question posed here is far more intriguing: what if we were to take Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC), with its Appendix N pedigree, and shove it headlong into one of its own source materials?

As it happens, quite a bit comes of it, and the results are quite fun.

The 2023 release from Goodman is a substantial boxed set for the DCC RPG. You will find a 64-page Player’s Libram, the 104-page Primer of Practical Magic, a bestiary, and other resources in the set. It is an expansion and a setting, not a stand-in for the core game; the regular rules are still required.

Four new classes make up the bulk of the mechanical changes: the Magician, Wayfarer, Witch, and Vat-Thing. You already know this has my attention.

Take the Wayfarer. He is your Cugel type, a rogue and opportunist, a confidence man who is as much a survivor as a traveler. Since Luck is already a defining feature of DCC, Goodman has made much of it. A Wayfarer’s Luck can be wonderfully volatile, and the class has the rhetorical tools for the verbal manipulation a Vancian scoundrel requires. In a way it is a clever solution to the problem Pelgrane noted, that Cugel is apt to talk someone else into having his problems for him. Only here it is done in DCC fashion.

The Magician is another matter. DCC wizards have always been something of a risk; spell checks are unpredictable and dabbling in the supernatural leaves its mark. The Dying Earth version of the class goes further. The designers have made for an exceptional offensive caster where spells are not so much a curriculum as fragments of lost knowledge handed down by some eccentric sorcerer. Very Vancian.

Then you have the Witch and the Vat-Thing, which move things away from standard DCC fantasy. The latter, in particular, is well suited to a world where magicians will putter about making life in vats with little more than a vague notion of what they are at. It underlines the fine line between magic, old science, and monstrosity.

New rules, patrons, and creatures are in order, as well as grudge tokens, which I like. There are rules for grudges because this is Jack Vance. The petty feuds and betrayals get some mechanical heft. And with fresh treatments of rhetoric and Luck, the DCC mechanics acquire a Dying Earth edge.

You could make a case for criticism. After all, it is still DCC.

Someone on the RPG subreddit put it well: with Pelgrane, you have the Cugel stories where everyone is out to swindle each other, whereas DCC is more like the early Dying Earth where the world wants to eat or deceive you. Another felt Goodman was simply forcing the setting into DCC rather than making a system for Vance. That is certainly the mission statement of the original Dying Earth RPG.

I would say both are fair points. But I don’t see the second as a flaw. DCC is already in the neighborhood with its desperate tomb robbers, its inexplicable artifacts, and its wizards playing with forces they do not comprehend. There is no need to force the fit. DCC was already halfway there on its own. It is largely one of tone and personal choices.  

Pelgrane has you playing Vancian characters. Goodman provides the Vancian adventure. They are not the same, but they are close enough that I could see myself drawing on either for a campaign.

In fact, the best Dying Earth experience likely lies somewhere where these two games intersect. Either is fine on its own, really, but together they provide a truer picture.

No. I am not going to attempt conversion notes. 

The Ash Witch

Since I first read Clark Ashton Smith's "Zothique," I have had this image of a witch walking out of the desert where no one should have survived. She has a staff with a skull on top and covered in ash. I'll also admit the idea of her walking out of the desert and into a city-state was largely influenced by Black Sabbath's "The Wizard."

Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" has done nothing to dissuade me from this vision.

Eventually, the Ash Witch became someone important in my Yog setting, even if just as a tale or legend, but that legend starts somewhere. So here she is, for the DCC Dying Earth (fits her the best).

This is very much a "Dying Earth" version of this character; I even have The Murthe, the Sorceress Llorio, as her Patron. 

Larina, the Ash Witch

Larina Eschata, the Ash Witch
10th-level Neutral Witch
Pact Entity: The Murthe, Llorio the Sorceress
Occupation: Scholar of forgotten religions
Alignment: Neutral

Str 10 (+0)
Agi 15 (+1)
Sta 14 (+1)
Per 18 (+3)
Int 17 (+2)
Luck 16 (+2)

HP: 38
AC: 13

Init: +1
Speed: 30'
Attack: +5
Action Dice: 1d20 + 1d20
Crit: 1d20/II

Saves: Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +7

Spell Check: +13
Maximum Spell Level: 5

Ritual Weapon: Dagger
Birth Augur: Survived beneath the Dying Sun.
Birth Gift: Second Sight.
Known Squalms: 14.
Demonic Taint: 3

Starting Animus: Syncretic Heretic

Larina has publicly denied the divine authority of the Priest-Kings and incorporated forbidden rites, dead gods, and the teachings of Llorio the Murthe into her witchcraft. Priests, inquisitors, and agents of the Priest-Kings regard her as a particularly dangerous heretic.

Ensqualm: Curse

First level: Charm person*, comprehend languages, detect magic, demon summoning, magic missile, ropework, sleep, ward portal.
Second level: Detect invisible, ESP*, forget*, invisibility, levitate, scorching ray.
Third level: Consult spirit, dispel magic, fireball, paralysis*, write magic.
Fourth level: Control fire, polymorph, wizard sense.
Fifth level: Magic bulwark.

* The Murthe's Favor

Transfer Vitality: d20 + Personality modifier + class level check.