Cthulhu Construction Kit

A little knowledge is dangerous thing. You and your friends have been reading things that no man should. Now, armed with a family friendly copy of Das Necronomicon, you want to be the first to have your own Elder God, even if that means doing it in your own backyard. As a devoted cultist of unnameable things, you want to prove that devotion by being the first to build said Elder God. If that means taking your trusty Remington Autoloading Model 11-87™ shotgun, sneaking into their yards, and blasting a hole in the tentacles of their Elder Gods, well surely that is a sign of your true devotion, right?

This is the set-up for Building an Elder God – A Game of Lovecraftian Construction, the first game from Signal Fire Studios. Designed for play by two to five players, aged six and up, it is a casual card game can be played in about twenty minutes or so. The aim of the game is the first to build an Elder God of a certain length, this length varying according to the number of players. The play of the game means that a reasonably sized table is required.

The game consists of one-hundred-and-twenty full colour cards and a large, four-page rules leaflet. The cards consist of Monster, Damage, Immune, Elder Sign, and Necronomicon cards, with the Monster cards further divided in Body, Mouth, Tentacle, Split, Eyestalk, and Mouth cards. The Monster cards are what you use to build your Elder God; the Damage cards to blast holes in your rivals’ Elder Gods; the Immune cards to protect against Damage cards; and the Necronomicon cards are used to heal your Elder God when it takes damage. The Elder Sign cards are used in a variant to banish parts of both a rival’s Elder God and your Elder God. All of the cards are done in full colour, with the Monster cards depicting tentacular body parts in Mythosy green and the Damage cards being spattered with deep burgundy ichor.

Each player starts the game with a Body, a Mouth, and two Necronomicon cards, as well as a hand of five cards. The Body card is placed down on the table with the open end facing away from him. On a turn, a player draws a fresh card and then plays one card. This can be to grow his Elder God by adding a Tentacle, a Split, or an Eyestalk card. Any card played in this fashion must be played vertically, which means that each player’s Elder God will grow towards the centre of the table. If a player manages to lay down the number of Monster cards required to win, he can top off his Elder God with its Mouth after laying the last Monster card and can thus win the game.

Alternatively, a player can attack a rival’s Elder God by blasting a hole in it with a Damage card, or if a player’s Elder God is damaged, he can heal it. This can be done with either one of his Necronomicon cards or with a Body card that matches the damaged one.

And that is about that. Physically, Building an Elder God is an attractive game, although given its intended age range, it is a pity that the cards could not have been done on a glossy stock better able to handle sticky fingers. The rules are clearly written, though it would have been nice if they had been done in colour.

If there is an issue with Building an Elder God it is the intended age range. Whilst the game is simple enough, its subject matter might not be suitable to players as young as six years old. Unless of course, they have already been inducted into the worship of the Elder Gods. At the other end of the scale, Building an Elder God might be too casual a game and too light a treatment of its subject – even for what is a filler game. Otherwise, Building an Elder God – A Game of Lovecraftian Construction is something quick and simple, not to say undemanding, to play between or before other games.

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Pulp Cthulhu

It should be remembered that for twenty years, the only way to play Lovecraftian investigative horror was Chaosium Inc.’s Call of Cthulhu. In 2002, Wizards of the Coast’s d20 Cthulhu

 offered another option, and in the last decade we have been offered PelgranePress’ clue orientated Trail of Cthulhu; Reality Deviant Publications’ more structured Shadows of Cthulhuusing the d20 System distilled True20; CthulhuTech, a combination of science-fiction and horror roleplaying from Wildfire LLC; Cubicle Seven Entertainment’s bureaucratic approach to fighting the Mythos with The Laundry; as well as Reality Blurs’ Realms of Cthulhu, which in being written for use with Pinnacle Entertainment Group’s Savage Worlds, actually pre-empted the arrival of Pulp Cthulhu, a supplement that is yet to arrive for Call of Cthulhu. That supplement promises a new approach to playing Call of Cthulhu, one that is more action orientated, more cinematic, more adventurous… In the absence of that supplement, Realms of Cthulhu is quite possibly the pretender to its throne.

First published in 2003, Savage Worlds is a light, fast playing RPG that sets out to do two things – cinematic action and mass combat as well as handle roleplaying. In the past ten years, it has been used to power an array of settings and campaigns, the best known being Fifty Fathoms and Deadlands Reloaded, both also from Pinnacle Entertainment Group. For much of that time, Savage Worlds has been available in an Explorer Edition, a handy sized, inexpensive rulebook that provided the basics of the rules. The rules have since been republished in a new ThirdEdition, which saw some changes that do mean that Realms of Cthulhu is slightly incompatible with the new version of the rules, since Realms of Cthulhu was published in 2009. That said, the differences are slight.

The changes to Savage Worlds in order to make it one of Lovecraftian investigative horror start with character generation. The process in Savage Worlds involves assigning points to improve the die types for a character’s five traits and then more points to purchase skills, which are again measured by die type. Thus a skill of Shooting d8 is better than a Shooting of d6. In addition characters can have Edges and Hindrances – the equivalent of Advantages and Disadvantages in other RPGs – that set them apart from ordinary men and women. Apart from the addition of the skill, Knowledge (Mythos) – the equivalent of the Cthulhu Mythos skill in Call of Cthulhu, the major addition to character creation in Realms of Cthulhuis that of “Defining Interests.” In Savage Worlds a character usually speaks a number of languages equal to half of his Smarts die type, so three languages for Smarts d6 and so on, but in Realms of Cthulhu a character has a number of “Defining Interests,” hobbies, knowledges, crafts, and so on, again also equal to half of his Smarts die type. This factor also has to take a character’s languages as well, and for each Defining Interest, for example, Archaeology, City Knowledge (Boston), Electrical Repair, Oratory, and so on, he gains a bonus to his Common Knowledge rolls (this being the equivalent of a character’s Know roll in Call of Cthulhu). Now a character’s Defining Interests also encompass what languages that he knows, which does mean that a character has to choose between focusing on one or the other. That said, the addition of these Defining Interests takes into account the fact that Lovecraftian investigative horror is primarily about what you know, rather than what you can do. In contrast, Savage Worlds tends to be more about what you can do than what you know, which is the case with Call of Cthulhu.

The sample character is Henry Brinded, one of my signature characters that I have used several times over the last decade or so. Indeed, he will be appearing as one of the starting pre-generated investigators in the forthcoming Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion for Call of Cthulhu. Of Boston Brahmin stock, Henry Brinded is a former Classics scholar at Yale who served as an artillery officer in the Great War. He returned partially deaf and with an aversion to loud noises, and unable to withstand the stress of continuing his studies, used his inheritance to open a small, antiquarian bookshop in his native Boston. He enjoys painting and sailing where he used to enjoy hunting, and employs one member of staff, Mrs. Rutherford, to help source and restore rare books.

Henry Brinded

Agility d6 Smarts d8 Spirit d6 Strength d4 Vigor d6

Edges:Linguist, Noble, Scholar

Hindrances:Curious (Major), Hard of Hearing (Minor), Pacifist (Minor)

Skills:Boating d4, Guts d6, Investigation d4, Knowledge (Ancient Greek) d6, Knowledge (History) d8, Knowledge (Latin) d8, Notice d4, Persuasion d4, Shooting d4

Defining Interests:Archaeology, Book Restoration, Etiquette, Painting

Languages:Arabic, French, German, Hebrew

Pace 6

Parry: 4 Charisma+2 Toughness 5

Sanity 5 Corruption0

The second addition is the Sanity factor, which works much like Toughness. When inflicted physical damage exceeds a character’s Toughness, he can be “Shaken.” If the damage exceeds a character’s Toughness by a large amount, then he can be Wounded. When faced with a shocking incident or entity, a character will often be asked to make a Guts skill check. This is modified by the Terror or Fear strength of the situation or entity faced (Terror is actually explained on p.117 of Realms of Cthulhu, a fact that should be noted as it is not mentioned in the index and it is mentioned long before this). For example, encountering a Deep One forces a Guts skill check at a Terror penalty of –1. If the Guts skill check is failed, the mental damage inflicted on the frightened character is called Mental Anguish, which for the Deep One is “Spirit+d4” with the Deep One Spirit trait being d6. This means that both dice are rolled and result compared to the character’s Sanity. For every four points that the Mental Anguish roll exceeds his Sanity by, then the character suffers a point of Madness. A player character can suffer no more than four points of Madness before going insane. Each point of Madness inflicts a –1 penalty on a character’s Pace (movement) and all trait and skill rolls. This Madness can be addressed within the hour with immediate rest, reassurance, and the application of the Knowledge (Psychology) skill, success leading to the positive loss of points of Madness, or in time with recuperation. If driven insane though, a base Spirit roll is required by the character. Essentially, this roll is in effect made to determine how long the Mental Disorder suffered lasts for.

Although Realms of Cthulhu adds a number of new skills, edges, and hindrances, perhaps the most important addition is Knowledge (Mythos) – the equivalent of the Cthulhu Mythos skill in Call of Cthulhu. The treatment of knowledge of the Mythos in Realms of Cthulhu is perhaps where this version of Lovecraftian investigative horror roleplaying begins to diverge radically from the base line that is Call of Cthulhu. In Realms of Cthulhu, Knowledge (Mythos) is treated like any other skill, except that it is initially gained through certain circumstances during the play of the game, such as being sent insane for the time after encountering a Mythos entity or reading a Mythos Tome. Just as in Call of Cthulhu. Yet where in Call of Cthulhu an investigator receives “Cthulhu Mythos 05%,” in Realms of Cthulhu, he receives Knowledge (Mythos) d4. This does not sound like much, but when you consider that the base target for any skill roll in Savage Worlds

 is 4, then the character has a 1 in 4 chance of rolling that on his skill of Knowledge (Mythos) d4. This high degree of knowledge is further exacerbated because of how player characters make rolls in Savage Worlds. In the game, player characters are special and known as Wild Cards, and Wild Cards always roll an extra d6 – known as the “Wild Die” – and the highest die roll counts towards the total, then it is clear that even for a relatively minor encounter with the Mythos, an investigator can gain an awful lot of knowledge. This is further confirmed by the Realms of Cthulhu/Call of Cthulhu conversion guide, which lists a skill of d4 of being equal to 25% in Call of Cthulhu. That is a lot of Cthulhu Mythos…!

By reading further Mythos tomes or critically failing a Guts skill check as a result of an encounter with the Mythos, a character can gain further points of Knowledge (Mythos). Initially this will grant him a +1 bonus to any Knowledge (Mythos) check, but each time the bonus rises to +2, it changes the die type of the skill, from d4 to d6, to d8, and so on. Each rise in die type increases an investigator’s Corruption. Each point of Corruption decreases an investigator’s Sanity, further weakening his resolve against the Mythos. It is possible to increase an investigator’s Sanity, but it is difficult.

The given means of handling shock and horror in Savage Worlds has never been truly satisfying, and the Sanity mechanic in Realms of Cthulhu provides a more robust treatment of the subject. What the acquisition of the Knowledge (Mythos) skill demonstrates is the effect on Lovecraftian investigative horror from one system to another, from one ethos to another, from one style to another. The move from Call of Cthulhu to Savage Worlds is one of Purism to Pulp, of a binary yes/no realism to something a little more forgiving in terms of mechanics and player character survivability, and most of all, one of a granular mechanic and feel to one that is broader, but with a corresponding loss of detail. Which to be fair, is to be expected, given that Savage Worlds is a cinematic, Pulp genre, action orientated RPG. Yet the designer of Realms of Cthulhu gives the very means to counter this shift in tone and ethos.

Realms of Cthulhu gives the Keeper the tools to set the tone of his campaign, by setting its Physical and Mental play factors, either Gritty or Pulpy. The Pulpy option is essentially the Savage Worlds default, but the Gritty option gives a more Purist, harsher, and less survivable gaming experience. By setting the two play factors, a Keeper can access four different play styles, from the Physical Pulpy/Mental Pulpy of Heroic Horror with its high action adventure to the Physical Gritty/Mental Gritty of Dark Spiral, with its dangerous descent into madness and maiming when faced with the Mythos. Obviously, the first represents the Pulpy style of play, whilst the latter is Purist. Between two are the Slippery Slope (Physical Pulpy/Mental Gritty) and Dangerous Action (Physical Gritty/Mental Pulpy) styles. The first of these allows for investigators who can take a punch or two, but not the stress of encountering the Mythos, whilst the second is deadlier, but the Mythos has a less deleterious effect. These are only the base lines for the four campaign style, the Keeper being given a number of further options with which to tweak his campaign’s style.

The four styles are further discussed in the Keeper’s Section, primarily in the context of period – the 1890s, the 1920s, and the here and now – and the bond which brings the investigators together. Supporting this discussion is a quartet of Campaign Frameworks, one for each of the three eras and one that could be run in any era. The more original of the four lie at the extremes. The Heroic Horror framework is “Seekers of Lost Fortune,” in which the investigators must obtain and destroy dangerous artefacts in the 1920s; while the pleasing “The Frequency of Madness” is a Dark Spiral framework that can be set in any period and casts the investigators as incarcerated asylum inmates who have experience of the Mythos and escape to save not just mankind, but themselves too. Every character in this framework starts play with both the Knowledge (Mythos) skill and a mental disorder.

As expected for an RPG of Lovecraftian investigative horror, Realms of Cthulhu includes the expected sections on magic and spells, tomes, and Mythos entities. Oddly the spells section includes those such as Armour, Bolt, Greater Healing, and Stun, all listed under Combat Spells and all taken from the Savage Worlds rules. Unless the style of game is extremely Pulpy, these are really out of place within Lovecraftian investigative horror, and even if the Keeper deems them appropriate, it is suggested that they are kept well away from player access.

Where Realms of Cthulhu is really useful for the Keeper is in the next set of tools it gives him. These are Mythos generators, which with a few rolls, a Keeper can create a Mythos Tale, a Mythos Creature, and a Mythos Tome. Or rather the broad outline, as the Keeper still has to flesh each of these out. For example, generating a Mythos Tome, which is detailed first in Realms of Cthulhu has the Keeper roll for its language, period of publication, Arcane Lore (essentially how easy it is to learn from it), and possible number of spells and type of spells – the Keeper will need to refer to the book’s chapter on magic for actual details of the tome’s spells. Beyond these basics, the Keeper will need to decide the book’s author, year of publication, title, and content. The Keeper will need to do the same when generating a Mythos Tale or Mythos Creature, the latter covering not just “Tainted” humans (as in my example), complete with “Dark Gifts,” but also Servitors and Independent Races, and who if at all, they serve. Pleasingly, with a few rolls and a bit of thought, a Keeper can switch back and forth between the three sets of tables using the results of each create a Tome, a Creature, and a Tale. 

The Lure of the Long Beasts

Hook: Caught up in Events

Lynchpin: Person

Location: Important Building/Landmark
Plot Type: Descension
Ally: Policeman
Plot Complication: Discovery
The investigators are on holiday in the county of Derbyshire. Following a tourist guide they decide to visit the world famous Blue John Caves near the town of Castleton, but get caught up in a disagreement between the locals and a visiting team of archaeologists from nearby Victoria University of Manchester, led by Professor Terence Chile Oakley. The professor is interested in the folklore and pre-Christian history of the area after reading a monograph entitled Secretis Druidum. The locals object to the professor’s interests and his plans to enact Druidic rites near the caves and the situation has developed into a stand-off between the two groups. The archaeologists have reported attacks in the night and possessions being stolen, and some of the students report suffering from headaches, but the local constable, Herbert Atteberry is at a loss as to what is going on.

Secretis Druidum: Trans Specubus veracis Populis Western Britanniam
Privately published in 1912, this monograph describes the folklore of the rural inhabitants of the British Isles, particularly around mountainous or hilly regions known for their network of caves. It includes several legends about enormous serpents that live underground and who worship one giant serpent, and how in the past the druids actually worshipped and sacrificed to both. The author lists several chants that he states that he was warned against uttering at particular cave mouths at certain times of the year. The author was last seen in the Derbyshire Peak District in England in 1914. The book is bound in oddly translucent leather. The only copy known to exist can be found in the anthropology section of the library of Victoria University of Manchester.
Author: Nicholas Checkley

Language: Latin

Year: c. 1912

Arcane Lore: +2

Spells: Claudens diu bestia (Elder Sign), Fascino lamina (Enchant Blade), Vocate ad diu bestia (Contact Chthonian), Longa ferae Domini invocabo (Contact Shudde M’ell)

Jack Royse(Seasoned)

Agility d8 Smarts d4 Spirit d4 Strength d8 Vigor d8

Edges:Brawny, Mighty Blow, Quick

Hindrances:Death Wish, Mean

Gifts:Immunity to Cold (Minor), Low Light Vision (Minor)

Skills: Climbing d8, Fighting d8, Guts d4, Intimidation d8, Knowledge (Mining) d6, Knowledge (Mythos) d6, Repair d4, Stealth d6

Pace 6

Parry: 6 Charisma-2 Toughness 7

Sanity 2 Corruption2

A native of Derbyshire, Jack Royse is a “Tainted” human who worships the long beasts below and follows their directives exactly. A miner by trade, under his masters’ influence he will do anything. Some would say that he has spent too much time in the caves below, but not to his face. He almost never seems to blink, but dislikes bright light and he seems unnaturally muscular.

In terms of actual Mythos Tales, Realms of Cthulhu is a mixed bag, consisting of four short two-page Tales and one long twelve-page one. The first two-page tale is “Fragments of Mu,” which is nothing more than an slightly extended encounter in purely Pulp vein, whilst “Paradise Lost” is a more pleasing Lovecraftian encounter with a classic feel, though despite what it says, it is set in the Arctic – no Eskimos in the Antarctic! “False Idols” feels more like a modern, grittier affair, but at two pages feels like it was shoehorned into place. The last of the quartet of shorts is the best, “Bayhaven Lights,” a still slight tale, but one with a weird vibe and a subtlety that is missing from the others. The Mythos Tales are rounded with “Mysteries of Drake Manor,” which describes the estate and inhabitants of Drake Manor, as well the mysteries that surround both before describing a few short tales that suggest how the set up can be used. Unfortunately, there is no subtlety to “Mysteries of Drake Manor” which overeggs both the mysteries and the Mythos content. If there is a real issue with these Mythos Tales, it is that apart from “Paradise Lost” all are set in Charleston, South Carolina. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, as Lovecraftian investigative horror only infrequently strays below the Mason–Dixon Line, and visiting a new city is always interesting. What is wrong with this choice is that the designer tells us nothing about Charleston whatsoever when a single page of information could have covered all three periods…

Physically, Realms of Cthulhu is a relatively thin if sturdy hardback. The book on the whole is well written and decently presented in full colour with some nice illustrations. Some of the content could have been better organised though, some terms and elements being mentioned far before they are actually explained, this not being helped by a sometimes unhelpful index.

Overall, Realms of Cthulhu is a likeable, if far from perfect product. One of the issues with Realms of Cthulhu is the lack of advice on investigator generation. This is necessary because creating and playing an investigator is very different to doing either in most other RPGs. There is advice, it is true, but it amounts to list of roles that a player could create rather than actual, useful advice on doing so. The most useful advice on investigator generation is placed some twenty pages away from the rules on actual character generation, all but an afterthought. Another issue is that it is Americentric when Lovecraftian investigative horror tends to be more Anglophile in outlook. Realms of Cthulhu does feel in places as if it is written solely with an American audience in mind.

Perhaps the biggest issue with Realms of Cthulhu is in its choice of rules system. This is not denigrate the Savage Worlds rules, as they offer solid mechanics that emulate a slightly Pulp style, cinematic style of play, and there is, of course, nothing wrong in that. The issue is more whether or not the Savage Worlds rules can handle Lovecraftian investigative horror, and arguably, they cannot. At least not without a degree of tweaking and adjustment to advance the rules to a grittier style of game, and with that tweaking and adjustment comes more rules and more complexity, both of which are at odds with the “Fast! Furious! and Fun!” the Savage Worlds rules. Even with said degree of tweaking and adjustment, Realms of Cthulhu is still not a wholly Purist RPG of Lovecraftian investigative horror. There is still a little of the Pulp left, which is unsurprising given that it is written into the soul of the Savage Worlds rules.

Yet when Realms of Cthulhu reins in Savage Worlds back towards its natural inclination, the result does not feel as forced. In its natural state it can do “Pulp Cthulhu” and do it well, offering a means handle a more action orientated game that offers its player characters a degree of survivability and elasticity in their actions that the binary mechanics of Call of Cthulhulacks. The investigators are no longer ordinary men and women, but more special, more heroic. In addition, for the Savage Worlds GM, Realms of Cthulhu also grants access to the Cthulhu Mythos, its contents easily plugging into Pinnacle Entertainment Group’s Weird Wars: Tour of Darkness and Weird Wars: Weird War II supplements, as well as the Savage Worldsversions of Modiphius Press’ Achtung! Cthulhu line. And of course, Realms of Cthulhu does give Savage Worlds a bona fide Sanity mechanic, something that it has lacked since its first edition.

In terms of support for the Keeper and the player, Realms of Cthulhu is underwhelming, this most obvious in the given Mythos Tales and the advice for the player. Where Realms of Cthulhu works is not just as a cinematic, action-orientated treatment of Lovecraftian investigative horror, but as a set of tools to create and run a roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror in the Pulp mode.

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It's a Corpse Cavalcade II

When the apocalypse comes – and surely it will whether it is tomorrow, next week, or yesterday – and the dead rise to shamble across the Earth, the “lucky” survivors are barely going to have enough time to grab their trusty .45 handguns, first aid kits, complete sets of Elvis Presley on vinyl, iPods and iPhones, and whatnot before the cast of the corpse cortege are upon them. And before they know it, Grandma is down amongst the dead… Only to get back up again and be coming around for a bite out of her late dearest and nearest. Once past their flesh-eating Grandmothers, most survivors are going to looking to the government for help. Then the army. Then anyone. Which is when they discover that their survival is down to them and their decisions. All they can do is hope that their decisions are anything other than stupid, as stupid can get them dead…

So with everyone still occupied with the daily needs for survival and fending off the brain feeding zombies, it will be the rare dreamer or philosopher who has the time or inclination to ask that all important question, “How did this happen?” That might not be a question asked in the zombie apocalypses you might see depicted in books or on television, but when it comes to roleplaying it is a question that not only has to be asked, it has to be answered too. Especially in playing out a zombie apocalypse over the long term. The reason is simple. Whilst in a roleplaying campaign the survival needs have to be addressed, entirely focusing on soon becomes repetitive and quickly lose their drama. Need shelter? Kill zombies. Find shelter. Need fuel? Kill zombies. Find fuel. Need food? Kill zombies. Find food. Need ammunition? Kill zombies. Find ammunition. Wash, rinse, repeat, as necessary. Which is repetitive and dull.

It is an issue addressed and not addressed in War of the Dead: Chapter Two, which as the title suggests is the second release in the series. Published by Daring Entertainment through Cubicle Seven Entertainment, this is a fifty-two part campaign that charts the adventures and travails of a group of survivors in the face of the rise of the dead and the fall of civilisation. Written for use with Pinnacle Entertainment Group’s Savage Worlds, the campaign offers one adventure per week so that a group could play it out over the course of a whole year. Each adventure does not actually represent a week’s worth of game time, but anywhere from a few hours to a few days, essentially enough material that can be played through in a session or two.

The campaign was originally released as a series of fifty-two PDFs, and is now complete. Cubicle Seven Entertainment has divided the campaign into four parts, each collating thirteen episodes. To date, only War of the Dead: Chapter One and War of the Dead: Chapter Two have been released. The campaign began with the player characters – all ordinary men and women – aboard a cruise liner on holiday. It quickly became apparent that the suspected outbreak of an illness aboard the ship was something more, and very quickly the player characters found themselves to be no longer passengers but survivors aboard a vessel of the walking dead. Eventually as War of the Dead: Chapter One drew to a close, the player characters made it ashore only to discover that the infection was not confined to the ship and that everywhere the dead has arisen.

Subtitled “Sanctuary and Loss,” War of the Dead: Chapter Two opens two months into the end of the world. The player characters have been on the road for a month after the events that lead to failure of their first refuge, the town of Dalesbury, as described in the final weeks of War of the Dead: Chapter One. Theirs is a nomadic existence, forced on the road in the search for supplies – food, fuel, and ammunition – that across this Hell on Earth have become increasingly scarce as the cities have become the domain of the Living Dead. As the group makes its way from one desperate situation, it begins to learn of events further afield, including news of where the President went – Colorado, which becomes a much discussed objective as the events of War of the Dead: Chapter Two progress. After all, this is where the government went and it surely must be able to see to the needs of the survivors, right?

In the interim, the group also learns of possible salvation – Sanctuary. A nearby city has been supplying the few outlying communities of survivors with supplies. If the city has been cleared of the Living Dead and is in a position to supply food, could it be the refuge that the player characters have been looking for? Could it be the first signs of government since the characters came ashore? Well, the answer to both questions, is a qualified “yes and no.” Sanctuary is in the hands of UniMed, a pharmaceuticals corporation that has created a safe zone protected by the remnants of a US Army battalion. It is even hinted that the UniMed CEO had information about the Living Dead that the President needed to hear.

Nothing is quite what it seems. Of course it is not. It is true though that Sanctuary offers a degree of respite from the horrors without. Unfortunately, Sanctuary is the focus of new horrors and ultimately, the characters will find themselves on the road again, ready for the events of War of the Dead: Chapter Three.

War of the Dead: Chapter Two wastes no time in getting down to the adventure. There is almost no preamble before the GM and the players are thrown into the difficulty of the apocalypse. It makes a much fuller use of the Savages Worlds rules, in particular the Mass Combat rules, as the battles in War of the Dead: Chapter Two escalate in scale and take a more military feel when compared to the skirmishes of War of the Dead: Chapter One. If there was a lot of combat in War of the Dead: Chapter One, then War of the Dead: Chapter Two ups this, not just in terms of the hardware to hand, but also the foes faced.

Physically, War of the Dead: Chapter Two is somewhat perfunctorily presented. What little art there is, is grim, if sketchy. The writing though, is rough around the edges and it could have done with a closer edit. There is some repetition and inconsistency between sections that the GM will have to adjudicate on. As with the previous chapter, War of the Dead: Chapter Two could do with maps to make it easier for the GM to run.

Similarly, War of the Dead: Chapter Two suffers from many of issues that were a problem in the previous chapter. It is linear in nature and it is heavily scripted in places, and it suffers from repetition in terms of structure and in its encounters. Primarily, it is heavily combative in nature and this becomes both wearisome and grim. Then again, this is a world in which the dead walk the earth… That said, the over arcing plot does introduce several twists to its exploration of the zombie genre and in between the gunfights, there are numerous NPCs to interact with, many of them quite memorable.

At the start of this review, it was stated that War of the Dead: Chapter Twoboth addressed and failed to address the repetitious play of the genre and the question of why the post-apocalypse came about. It addresses the repetition essentially by replacing it with different forms of repetition, but ones that still revolve around the slaughtering of the Living Dead. It addresses the question of “why” only so far, and that is not really a failure upon the author’s part. After all, this is only the second part of the campaign and as such, is far too early to fully answer such questions.  They will only come in War of the Dead: Chapter Three and War of the Dead: Chapter Four. In the meantime, War of the Dead: Chapter Two is as good as the previous chapter, which means more good, but not quite perfect zombie roleplaying fodder.

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AAA-LARM!!

With Sisters of Sorrow, Adam Gauntlett takes Trail of Cthulhu and Pelgrane Press back to the Great War for a third time. Previously, in Not So Quiet – available in the anthology, Out of Time, the author had us visit a field hospital on the Western Front, whilst he let us take to the air in Flying Coffins to serve with the Royal Flying Corps and face an aerial antagonist the like of which the pilots had never seen. For this third scenario, the author switches to not just another theatre of war, but another side too! The protagonists of Sisters of Sorrow are part of the crew of UC-12, a U-Boot in the service of the Kaiserliche Marine. In other words, the players get to be the Germans! This is not as radical as it sounds, after all, the very first story that H.P. Lovecraft had published was “The Temple,” which related the events that led to the loss of the U-29.

In Sisters of Sorrow, the UC-12 is a mine laying Unterseeboot, an unarmed submarine tasked by the Kaiserliche Marine to cut its way through the nets that protect England’s harbours and lay mines as close as possible to disrupt shipping. This is a dangerous task. Not only is there the possibility of the detection and being sunk by the Royal Navy, but the actual laying of the mines can sink the submarine too! There is supposed to be a delay before a laid mine rises to the surface, but sometimes the delaying mechanism fails and the mine rises under the submarine and detonates! (This is where the title of the scenario comes from, for such mine-laying vessels were known as “Sisters of Sorrow”). For the crew, live aboard is damp, smelly, and unpleasant.

Assigned to penetrate the North Sea defensive zone and lay mines off Tyneside, UC-12 and her crew must contend with more than the routine of avoiding the Royal Navy and other shipping on its way to England. Strange noises seem to reverberate through the hull from the outside – could they really be whale song? This and other strangeness seems to be affecting the crew – have they been cooped up too long in the noxiously narrow atmosphere of UC-12? Or is it that water has been splashed on the batteries and they are giving off chlorine gas?

Structurally, Sisters of Sorrow is a reasonably straightforward, somewhat linear adventure. That though, is due to it being a military based adventure and not a criticism. Within the linear structure though, there is never time for the story to lag and there is always something for the player characters to do. If there is a criticism of the scenario structure it is that the player character roles are primarily reactive, although this is primarily aimed at building atmosphere and tension before there is the opportunity for more proactive play towards the scenario’s climax.

One interesting aspect to Sisters of Sorrow is when it is set. Not just during the Great War, but in the war’s early years. The submarines of the Kaiserliche Marine follow a nineteenth century Prize Code under which her crews must warn those of the ships that they attack so that due time is allowed for them to abandon ship. Although the UC-12 does have a machine gun, it is by no means an attack boat, which together with the terms of the Prize Code mean that the crews’ actions will be limited against the outré threats faced in Sisters of Sorrow. This complication, in combination with the descriptions of life aboard the Unterseeboot, is counter to the romantic, almost chivalrous notions that we have about submarine warfare.

Sisters of Sorrow is a one-shot scenario designed for play with six characters, that should not last more than two sessions. The scenario includes six pre-generated “investigators” – the Executive Officer, Chief Engineer, Radio Operator, Helmsman, Engineer, and Mechanic. As written, the scenario tells the story of their first, and quite possibly their last, mission. No advice is given on how to create characters if the players do not like the pre-generated ones included, as essentially they could take the role of any one of the fourteen man complement of UC-12. That said, the Military Template given in Trail of Cthulhuwill probably be all that a Keeper and player alike will need. It is intimated though, that the role of the Kapitan be not taken by a player, primarily in the short set of play test notes that should help the Keeper further when it comes to running Sisters of Sorrow.

Although there are no notes on whether or not it could be run using a British crew and a British submarine, there is nothing to stop an inventive Keeper from adapting it so. Similarly, an inventive Keeper could easily adjust it to the Second World War if he so chose. One of the issues in changing both sides and period is that the limitations of the design of UC-12 would be lifted. Submarines operated by the Royal Navy in the Great War, and by all sides in World War Two were substantially better armed and this has the potential to curtail certain elements of the scenario.

Physically, Sisters of Sorrow is a twenty-three page, 4.26 Mb PDF. Done in murky grays and greens throughout, it is well written and neatly presented. It is lightly illustrated, but every piece by Phil Reeves is excellent, and even if the cover is perhaps tentacularly misleading, elsewhere he draws more inventively from the text to more disquieting effect.

Like the previous adventures, Not So Quiet and Flying Coffins, this scenario could easily work as a flashback to explain how a character became aware of the Mythos. The character does not even have to have been aboard UC-12. It could be that the character’s brother or father was aboard and that in playing Sisters of Sorrow, what is being played is not a flashback, but the events of the father’s or brother’s journal which was recovered… Sisters of Sorrow is all about the infectiousness of paranoia and desperation in confined spaces. After all, nowhere could be more confined than an Unterseeboot in the middle of a Royal Navy blockade in the North Sea when the danger comes from below.

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Between States II

Five hundred years ago Eschaton occurred. As asteroids fell to Earth, the sky boiled. Their impact cracked the Earth open, causing earthquakes to ripple and volcanoes to boil over. Fires raged and both poisonous gases and dust were thrown up into the sky. The planet’s ecosystem was wrecked and human civilisation shattered, Europe being hit the worst. Worse was to come through; an ice age descended upon the survivors and they would have to struggle against an altered climate that would radically shift the balance of power. As the climates of Europe and South Africa cooled, so did that of central Africa and when combined with the rains blown in from the Atlantic, the Sahara bloomed and the peoples of Africa, underwent a renaissance as they threw off the yoke of Europe. In the years to come they would swarm across the soupy Mediterranean to plunder the belly of Europe for technology, trade, and slaves.

In the five centuries since Eschaton, seven Cultures and thirteen Cults have arisen to dominate the new world. Directing Africa’s revenge on Europe are the Neolibyans, ultra-capitalists that divide the known world into trade regions and drive hard bargains, and are known for their ostentatious spending and charity. If the Neolibyans are Africa’s heart, then her claws are Scourgers, mercenaries in the pay of the Neolibyans, ferocious soldiers armed with multi-thonged whips who protect Neolibyan trade trips and raid Europe for slaves. The Anubians are the continent’s spirit and heart, shaman that see themselves as humanity’s guardians.

The Cults of Europe resist these African incursions as best they can, but rarely with any unity, though their interests do on occasion coincide. The Anabaptists seek to purify through fire the Earth of the taint of an ancient deity they call the Demiurge and see as the destroyer of the world and the root of all evil. The Apocalyptiks are Europe’s gypsies, promising pleasures through gambling, prostitution, fortune telling, and the drug “Burn,” but often seen as bringing addiction instead. The Ashen are descended from those that took refuge underground before Eschaton, pale creatures biding their time until they can rule the world again. The masked Chroniclers are obsessed with finding and hoarding the knowledge lost in the Eschaton with the aim of restoring civilisation. Standing at the crossroads are Hellvetics, the most efficient and capable military force in Europe, which honourably maintains its neutrality by charging a toll to cross its territory to European and African alike. The Jehammedans are fanatics wanting to dominate Eastern Europe and bring their faith to all. The Marshals dispense a forceful if grim peace in central Europe based on a strict code of laws. Scrappers are not so much a Cult, but a way of life for individuals who delve into the ruins of Europe in search of lost artefacts, ready to sell to the highest bidder. The Spitalians are a militant medical caste, dedicated to burning out the poisoned lands, and batt­ling the spore fields and their mutant armies with fungicides and fire. Living between all of these Cults are the Tribals, small clans each with their own beliefs and ways of life.

The seven Cultures of the new world include Africa, Balkhan, Borca, Franka, Hybrispania, Pollen, and Purgare. Africa is a united Culture of three Cults, though threatened by strange bloodthirsty mutant plants called psychovors that swallow the land and alter it forever. Balkhan is wild country, its people untamed and passionate, permanently divided unless threatened by others, most recently from Purgare in the West and by the Jehammedans from the East. Borca sits across most of Europe south of the ice, but is divided by the Reaper’s Blow, the colossal fault smashed open by asteroid impact. To the West of the fault, the peoples are obsessed with finding traces of their ancestors, whilst to the East, they are mostly nomads driving herds of oxen unconcerned with the past. The people of Franka are rebuilding after the Neolibyans have plundered their relics and their old capital, Paris, was lost to hordes of insects and renamed Parasite. Hybrispania is also divided, but by war rather than by a fault. The natives have been fighting a guerilla war for years against the invaders from Africa while Jehammedan pilgrims try to convert the natives. Pollen is a land of nomads, driving armoured caravans from one fertile patch of ground to the next, hoping to harvest a crop before the ground spoils into rotted wasteland overnight. Lastly, claimed by the Anabaptists, Purgare is divided along its spine, the western side poisoned ruins, whilst to the East they battle with the Balkhani for the rich soils between their lands.

The effects of Eschaton are longer lasting though. In Europe and Africa, the impact craters are the source of a Foulness that grows and spews out Spores that mutate flora, fauna, and humanity’s children. Initially appearing normal, these children grow distant from their families as their newfound ‘demonic’ abilities also grow. Known as ‘psychonauts,’ by adolescence these children are often abandoned by their families and flee into the wilderness, there to hide and scavenge until they find others of their kind. There are five great craters, known collectively as the Earth Chakra, each spewing a different type of Foulness that mutates the psychonauts in different ways.

This is the setting for Degenesis: Primal Punk Roleplaying, an RPG published by Posthuman StudiosLLC, best known for the award winning Eclipse Phase RPG. It is an RPG of primeval savagery and wild abandon set in an epic post-apocalyptic survival drama, though one that suggests at an approaching singularity, although whether that singularity is devolutionary or evolutionary in nature, is yet to be determined by the few that are aware of the threat and have examined it in any detail. The publication of Degenesis Core Rulebook Primer Edition by Posthuman Studios marks the game’s first appearance in English, for Degenesisoriginally appeared a decade ago in 2001 in Germany, published by Sighpress. It joins what are merely a handful of German RPGs to appear in English language versions, the most well-known being Engel, published by the Sword & Sorcery Studio, and The Dark Eye, published by FanPro. Less well known, but more recent is Western City, a GM-less RPG published by Redbrick. The game’s origins and history have a marked effect on Degenesis, but I will come to those effects after looking more closely at the game.

Character creation involves selecting a Culture, a Concept, and a Cult. The Culture must be one of the seven given in the setting, which then determines the choice of Cults available. For example, someone of the Purgare Culture can choose from the Anabaptist, Apocalyptik, Hellevetic, Scrapper, Spitalian, or Tribal Cults. The Concept suggests the situation under which a character grows up – Compulsion, Decay, Lust, Madness, Pain, Peace, Quarantine, and Wealth. Every character begins with the same values for his attributes, but to raise one, he must lower another. He will receive bonuses to the attributes from the selected Culture and Concept, but not Cult. At each stage a character also receives a few points to spend on skills, and although these can be assigned to any skill, only those skills listed under the selected Culture, Concept, and Cult can be raised by more than a single point. In addition, a character must also select a Principle from those listed for the selected Culture, Concept, and Cult. These provide no mechanical benefit, nor are they defined within the rules as they are simple roleplaying hooks, although they are briefly discussed. Lastly each character checks to see where he or she stands within their selected Cults. For example, a Hellvetic with Firearms (3) is a Private, First Class, and is equipped with twenty rounds and 500 Chronicreds, while an Anubian with Domination (2), Empathy (1), and Faith (4) is regarded as a Guide of the Dead.

Our sample character is a NeoLibyan Writer, ambitious yet unable to win a bid for one of the annually auctioned trade missions. With Accounting (2) and Writing (2), the sample character qualifies as a Writer, and has a 1000 Dinar, but if he had Accounting (3) and Negotiation (3), he would qualify as a Trader and possess 10000 Dinar. Every NeoLibyan owns an Accounting Journal. He has been hired to work as a geographer and negotiator for his first trip to Europe.

Name: Dumisani

Culture: Africa

Concept: Wealth

Cult: Neolibyan

Cultural Principle: Bonds of Kinship

Concept Principle: Obsessed with Status

Cult Principle: Good Samaritan

Attributes: AGILITY 5; BODY 5; CHARISMA 7; INTELLECT 6; PSYCHE 5

Skills: AGI 5 + Unarmed Combat 1 (AV 6); BOD 4 + Mobility 1 (AV 5); CHA 7 + Etiquette 2 (AV 9); CHA 7 + Negotiation 5 (AV 12); INT 6 + Accounting 2 (AV 8); INT 6 + Geography 2 (AV 8); INT 6 + Language (Borcan) 1 (AV 7); INT 6 + Language (Purgar) 1 (AV 7); INT 6 + Survival 1 (AV 7); INT 6 + Writing 2 (AV 8); PSY 5 + Perception 1 (AV 6); PSY 5 + Self Mastery 1 (AV 6)

Flesh Wounds: Head 1; Torso 2; Legs 1

Trauma Wounds: 5

Vitality: 4

Overall character generation is quick and easy, and the three steps of Culture, Concept, and Cult do lead to characters that fit the setting. The result though does not lead to characters that are necessarily competent, especially if a character is created as a generalist. This quickly comes to light in the game’s mechanics, called the CatharSys. To undertake an action, a character must roll two ten-sided dice, aiming to roll over the Difficulty value, but under the character’s Action Value for that skill or action. Difficulty values range from Easy (4) and Tricky (6) to Nearly Impossible (14) and Miraculous (16), whilst the Action Value is a combination of the relevant Attribute and Skill. A character with an Action Value of eight or more is seen as Experienced, whilst an Expert would have an Action Value of thirteen or more. For example, Dumisani is in Purgare and encountered a Scrapper who has artefacts to sell. He does not know what the artefacts are – he does not have the Artefact Lore skill, but he thinks that they might valuable and attempts to negotiate a deal. The GM sets the Difficulty at Hard (6) because Dumisani has no idea as to the actual value. Setting this against his Negotiation AV of 12, the player must roll 2d10 and roll over the Difficulty (6), but under the AV (12), which with a range of 7 to 12, gives him a 30% chance of success. Roll over the AV and he fails, roll under the Difficulty and he also fails, but can roll again if the GM allows, though this will be at a higher Difficulty. If he rolls doubles (4, 4; 5, 5; 6, 6) and succeeds, then the result is a Critical Success, but fail and roll doubles, and that is a Critical Failure.

The example is for a character that is at least Experienced in one of the skills for his Cult. Outside of this skill and the character’s chances of success at even Easy Difficulty are severely curtailed. With this lowered chance of success comes the greater chance of failure and thus Critical Failure. It is almost as if the CatharSys is setting the characters up for failure. This is only exacerbated in combat. The sample character is geared towards interaction and not combat, but with that focus comes an incompetency when it comes to combat and an inability to withstand any wounds taken in a fight. This is because in order to improve a character’s capability to withstand even the most minimum of damage, points have to put into the Toughness skill, and that takes away from what the character is supposed to be good at. Given that combat can be deadly once weapons are brought to bear, characters can either be barely competent – and arguably not even then – at their Cult skills and useless at everything else, or take skills to enhance their capability and survivability in combat and lose their supposed competency. Whether characters are underskilled or the Difficulty values are too high – a 4-point (20%) penalty for even an Easy task – and the CatharSys just sets up to fail. Which given the relative simplicity of the CatharSys, is just so disappointing.

Physically, the Degenesis Core Rulebook Primer Edition is a 376-page perfect bound book (also available as a hardback) done in greyscale throughout. It is done in black and white and greyscale throughout, profusely illustrated by Marko Djurdjević to great effect. The book is densely written with chapters interspersed with pieces of setting fiction and verse. The background is explored in some depth with some two hundred pages devoted to the setting and background before the reader reaches the mechanics, combat, and character generation of the CatharSys are even mentioned. Beyond the rules themselves, the GM is given the expected bestiary and selection of foes, an equipment section, details about the psychonauts, a discussion of some of the setting’s secrets and history, plus a short scenario.

The density of the Degenesis Core Rulebook Primer Edition is something of an impediment to the reader. There is almost too much to read and understand before the reader begins to grasp a feel and an understanding of the setting, as if the game is written to be read by an inhabitant of 2585 rather than one of 2012. This is not helped by either the writing, which often feels flat, or the lack of any frame of reference, so that the reader is often left wondering what is going on. It is only much later in the book that it becomes clear where the places described earlier actually are.

Degenesis is a distinctly European RPG. Indeed there is almost no mention at all of what happened to anywhere apart from Europe and Africa during the Eschaton and beyond. It also shows in the artwork, which has a high degree of flesh on show. The setting has an earthy feel, a grubbiness not found in many American designed RPGs. For a game with as dense a setting and a setting as rife with secrets, it is daunting to know where to start. The included scenario helps, but the wealth of player character Cults and Cultures is another issue as many of them are openly antagonistic towards one another, and getting them to work together is likely to prove a problem during play.

Upon first tackling the Degenesis Core Rulebook Primer Edition, the setting and book had the feel of a classic White Wolf RPG, especially in its organisation of the thirteen Cults and the seven Cultures. The extensive use of in-game fiction and verse also contributed to that feeling. Yet the effect of that feeling is that Degenesisis an old game, not a new one. For as much as the game felt similar to a White Wolf RPG, it was as equally reminiscent of another German RPG, Engel. Which is not surprising, since the English version of Engelwas published by an imprint of White Wolf, but the settings are different. Engelis a post-apocalyptic millenarian RPG, part of a rash of similar RPGs that appeared before and after the year 2000, while Degenesisis also post-apocalyptic, it focuses more on horror and near transhuman themes. That said, both games date from the same period, the original Degenesis - ein Stern wird fallen appearing in 2001, followed by second edition in 2004 along with supplements.

It is rare for an RPG to be translated from another language into English, so it is good to see Posthuman Studios publish the Degenesis Core Rulebook Primer Edition. Yet the translation fails to overcome the game’s handicaps – the density of the setting, the openly antagonistic character options, the flatness of the writing, and worst of all, the inherent incompetency of player characters built into the CatharSys, which devalues player agency in the game and exacerbates the grim nature of the setting. It is the setting though, that saves the game. It is rich, it is detailed, and it deserves to be explored. From that point of view, Degenesisis worth examining at the very least.

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Victorians & Vampires (& Zombies)

In 1905 the dead rose and fell upon the living.

Whole countries collapsed under the onslaught of the cadaver cavalcade, but society and civilisation held. In the United Kingdom the declaration and implementation of martial law meant that society could hold on and hold out long enough to learn about the new world around them. It would take decades, but slowly the nation’s cities were reclaimed from the dead and refortified to prevent attacks from without, much of the countryside being left to roving bands of animates and the blight that poisons the very ground. Having retaken the cities, the Domestic Security Force – known as the Deathwatch – mans the walls, protecting the cities from threats without whilst having the mandate to ruthlessly put down any outbreaks of the Plague and the rise of the dead within. In the tightly packed slums, the living conditions mean that disease is rife and Outbreaks of the Plague and the dead are far from uncommon.

In the two hundred years since the first Outbreak, the well-known Victorian reverence for the dead has been more than reappraised. The cremation of the recently deceased, lest they rise again, with most bodies going to the great public crematoria – it is a prosecution offense not to send a body there. Only the very rich can afford to have the deceased lie in mourning, and even then, a member of the black clad Mourners’ Guild must watch over the deceased, ready to behead the corpse if he should rise. Other undead threats besides the animates – vampires and ghouls as well as the Frankenstein creations of the alchemy and embryonic sciences – lurk deep in the sewers, tunnels, and warrens below the cities. When the Deathwatch cannot deal with these, Undertakers will delve into the depths, seeking the bounty on the head of each at the branches of the Office of Urban Defence.

Whilst Great Britain remains a parliamentary monarchy, a new aristocracy has arisen as the old has ossified. The industrialists have become richer as the work place reforms of the nineteenth century have been repealed. Of course, this does not dissuade the industrialist nouveau riche from wanting to marry into the aristocracy for the name and the status, and of course, that money gives accesses to the anti-aging treatments that prolong life for up to two hundred years. Another path to unaging is vampirism, although the Office of Urban Defence places a bounty on head of all vampires – or rather their dust – as they are dangerous predators who spread their condition by disease and mind control. Vampires most commonly infect prostitutes, but there are some who survive the infection and live out an existence as that most romanticised of tragic figures in this new age, the Dhampiri. Eschewing their progenitor’s sanguinary desires, the Dhampiri express a hatred of all vampires and often turn to hunting them for their bounty.

The atrocious living and working conditions of the working class to be found in Britain’s cities are not only the breeding grounds of disease and new outbreaks of the Plague, but they are unsurprisingly the breeding grounds for dissent. Food riots are common and anarchist bombing campaigns not unknown, although the men of the City of London Police and Metropolitan Police do their best to rout the terrorists out. They are aided in this task by the clairvoyants, mediums, and telepaths of CID’s Psi Branch. The police also have to deal with the Resurrection Men who trade in bodies for experimentation and as food for the Meat Market; the swelling desire to kill in the growing number of murderers; and having to monitor the otherwise legal practice of prostitution, whose practitioners must be checked lest they spread disease and even vampirism.

The skies over the cities remind the inhabitants of both life and death. They crackle with the galvanic energy of the Tesla Towers that power many of the devices that people use daily, including the Van Haller Lightning Gun favoured by the Deathwwatch, yet are laden with the outpourings of the factories and the public crematoria, forcing everyone to wear protection from the ash coated London Peculiars – even the horses! The working classes often can only afford the cloth “dust masks” to wear over their mouths, whilst the middle and upper classes can afford gas masks of brass, glass, and rubber, as well as clothing in similar material, a style known as “Gas Mask Chic.”

This is the setting for Unhallowed Metropolis, a neo-Victorian set RPG that combines horror, manners, and zombie and vampire hunting set in an alternate future. First published by New Dark Age through by Eos Press in 2007, the Unhallowed Metropolis, Revised returns in 2012, this time published by Atomic Overmind Press, best known for Ken Hite’s superb The Day After Ragnorak. This can only be good news because the few supplements released by New Dark Age for Unhallowed Metropolis were either unavailable beyond the borders of the USA, or inordinately expensive to obtain. As the title suggests, Unhallowed Metropolis, Revised, the book has been redone, both character creation and combat being streamlined; the setting information being expanded to cover the USA, most of Europe, and beyond; new character Callings or types (the Deathwatch Soldier and the Detective) being added; and an array of new material incorporated from some of the supplements previously released. The result is an improved rulebook and background, but as will be explored, not all of game’s original issues have been addressed.

In terms of characters, Unhallowed Metropolis, Revised offers eight Callings – two more than the original edition – each of which not only determines a character’s social class, but also his Class in game terms. The eight are Aristocrat, Criminal, Deathwatch Soldier, Detective, Dhampir Vampire Hunter, Doctor, Mourner, and Undertaker. In addition, rules are given that enable a player to create a custom character not using one of these Callings. Although a Calling provides a character with a set number of features and skills, each also gives plenty of options that allow a player to customise his character. For example, the Aristocrat Calling grants the Blue Blood and Deference Features, but allows the player choose from another thirteen, one for each level in his Etiquette Skill – the skill varies according to the Calling. The Features for the Aristocrat Calling range from Big Game Hunter and Casanova to Military Family and Vogue via Duellist and Gossip. Each Feature usually adds a bonus to skill roles or allows failed skill rolls to be rerolled, but each also adds flavour and background to the character too.

Once a Calling is selected, each player has twenty-five points to spend on six attributes – Vitality, Coordination, Wit, Intellect, Will, and Charm; and another twenty-five to spend on skills. Both are rated between one and five, and with the points available, most characters will have average attributes of 3 or so, with perhaps one attribute a little higher, whilst their skills will again average at 3 with one or two skills much higher. Each player has a final five points with which to customise his character, and he can also choose from a wide selection of advantageous Qualities and disadvantageous Impediments. Before that, a player must select his character’s Corruption. This reflects that although the characters have the capacity to be great figures of the Neo-Victorian Age, they possess a greater susceptibility to the moral decay that threatens the very fabric of society. This is represented by the three Corruption paths that a character could take – Physical, Desire, and Drive. A character begins with just a point in one of these paths and an associated Affliction, but through play can develop further Afflictions as he meanders along the Corruption paths into moral decay, eventually to turn into a monster, both physically and mentally. The most obvious way of being drawn down these paths is by being exposed to greater horrors, but there is a more common means of being driven along the path to Corruption. First a character has “Second Chances” and can make a number of rerolls per session equal to his Corruption, and if he needs more rerolls, then he must increase Corruption, and second, once per session he can call upon the “Devil’s Luck” to automatically get out of a perilous scrape, again at the cost of increasing his Corruption. Since the likelihood of a character requiring “Second Chances” is quite high, it seems odd that the desperate need for luck is so tied to a character’s path to Corruption. That said, at its heart, the Corruption paths are a pleasing roleplaying reflection of the setting.

Our sample character is Mrs. Arthur Fanshawe, the widow of the late Arthur Fanshawe, Member of Parliament for Deal. He rose as a vampire after being infected following continued dalliances with prostitutes and had to be staked after he had killed several of his servants. Thankfully his son, John, was at boarding school at the time. Florence was the one who did the staking and had to endure the scandal even whilst she was in mourning. Come the end of mourning, the scandal did not go away and she entered the “Quiet Service” of the Guild and became a Mourner.

Mrs. Arthur Fanshawe

Calling – Mourner

Vitality 3 Coordination 3 Wit 3 Intellect 2 Will 3 Charm 3

Skills: Concentration 4, Etiquette 3, Language 2 (French), Melee Weapons 4, Psychology 1, Ride 1, Second Sight 1, Shadow 2, Thanatology 3, Theology 2

Prowess 6 Wealth 4

Corruption: Desire 1 – Addiction (Laudanum)

Features: Death Trance, Disconcerting, Disciplined Mind, Exculpus Mastery (Preferred Weapon: Exculpus), Familiarity: Animate, Latent Medium, Twin Blade Fighter (Two Weapon Fighting Stunt, Ambidextrous)

Combat Stunts: Fast Draw, Free Parry, Lucky Shot, Snap Reaction

Qualities: Dreamer (6), Faith (2)

Impediments: Allergy – Pollen (1), Fastidious (1), Good Tasting (4), Ward – Son, John (2)

Equipment: Exculpus (Pair), Armoured Leather Corset, Mourning Clothing, Respirator, £8

Mechanically, Unhallowed Metropolis employs a pair of ten-sided dice, these being rolled and added together along with either the appropriate attribute or skill to equal or beat a Difficulty Rating. A Moderate Difficulty Rating is 11, Complex is 14, Hard is 15, and Virtually Impossible. Although the average result on the dice will be 11, with a character only adding a pertinent attribute or skill to a roll, the average of which will probably be only 2 or 3, there is nevertheless a high chance of a character failing even a Moderate Difficulty Rating. Although some Calling Features and some Qualities allow rerolls with certain skills, it is not all and the likelihood is that a player is going to need to turn to his character’s “Second Chances” more often than not. As much as the Corruption mechanic is an integral part of the setting, this potential reliance upon it is all but an imposition.

This mechanical issue is only exacerbated when it comes to combat, which can be very deadly. That said, one pleasing aspect of the combat rules retained from the original edition are the combat stunts, which a character receives for each level he possesses in a combat skill. For example, “Snap Reaction” enables a character to react before an foe can take an action, whilst Fast Aim allows a character to forgo an action rather than a whole turn in order to gain an aiming bonus. (In the previous edition, every skill had a series of stunts associated with it, which while it added detail, slowed down both character generation and play). Nevertheless, the deadliness of the combat rules not only exacerbates the unforgiving rules system and its reliance upon the Corruption mechanics, it is at odds with the cinematic leanings of the combat stunts.

The problem would not be so bad were the base roll consist of the result of the two ten-sided dice and both the pertinent skill and the pertinent attribute (or twice the pertinent attribute if an attribute check), but it does not. Then it does under certain circumstances, such as attempting to strangle someone, which requires an opposed roll of the Vitality plus Unarmed Combat. To have such inconsistencies is odd and undermines the game’s rules.

The setting itself is explored in some detail, such as a discussion of “unmentionables” and “combat corsetry” under equipment, which covers the setting’s weaponry with flavour aplenty and gives the tools of the trade for the various Callings. Animate Restraints or Dust Kits for collecting the fine ash of staked vampires? Just what every Undertaker needs! Almost a quarter of the core rules is devoted to the threats faced by humanity in the Neo-Victorian Age. In turn, the anatomy of the animate dead – Zombies and Zombie Lords, Vampires and Dhampirs, and Ghouls, as well as the creations of alchemical and galvanic science – artificial life such as the Anathema and the Homunculi, the reanimated dead known as Mercurials, the assembled Prometheans, and the half-living Thropes that are capable of switching between human and bestial forms. The chapters explore the science and philosophy behind the creation of each as well as presenting the stats, and there is plenty here that the GM can draw from for inspiration and flavour for his scenarios. There is enough here that a player could draw from if his Doctor character wants to delve into the alchemical, galvanic, and life sciences of the very modern Neo-Victorian Age.

Many of these elements and threats are further discussed, exploring in particular how they can be used in play, in the chapter for the GM’s eyes only, as well as that ever present danger in the Neo-Victorian Age – scandal! Accompanying these notes and advice is a set of eight plot seeds. The rulebook is rounded out with appendices that provide a glossary, a bibliography, an index, and a detailed description of Deathwatch uniforms.

Physically, Unhallowed Metropolis, Revised come as an attractive and sturdy hardback. The book is illustrated with an array of artwork, some of it black inks, some greyscale pieces, and some it actually photographs of posed models. Much of the latter illustrations are devoted to the illustration of the setting’s “Gas Mask Chic,” and whilst they do fetishize said style, they do not always capture the grime and grubbiness of the setting. The other artwork does though. The book comes with a very nicely done map of London on the inside front and back cover, and the book is generally well written. If there is an issue with the book it is that it is not all that easy to use. The glossary is probably all too short, whilst the index, which although present, is too broad to be really of any use, whilst the need to refer to various tables, such as the wound tables in combat, is hampered by their not being reprinted at the end of the book (though they are referenced).

As much as the setting of Unhallowed Metropolis lends itself to any number of scenario and campaign ideas – Deathwatch duty beyond the walls of the fortified cities, animate hunting through the streets of London, and vampire hunting through London’s high society being the obvious ones – there is pair of dichotomies at the heart of the game and its set up. The first of these is intrinsic to the Victorian era, and is one of class. The issue is that bringing characters of different social classes together, as certainly it would be a possible scandal for a member of high society to be seen consorting with a member of the lower orders. Yet characters of all classes are needed if a party is to gain access to all classes of society. The second is the dichotomy between the combat orientated and the non-combat orientated characters. Both types are necessary, but one type will find itself relegated to the role of bystander when the game focuses on the speciality of the other. Both dichotomies are addressed in the section on Dynamics of Play, and whilst the advice is good, it does not totally negate either dichotomy.

When Unhallowed Metropolis was originally published, I reviewed it in 2008 for Steve Jackson Games’ Pyramid e-zine. The issues that I had at the time were the lack of Callings, the underpowered mechanics that imposed the Corruption mechanic, and the social/combat divide. Four years on and with the publication of Unhallowed Metropolis, Revised, not all of the issues have been addressed. Certainly the additional Callings of the Deathwatch Soldier and the Detective are welcome, as is the additional new material and the streamlining of the stunts. Yet the failure to address the fundamental flaws in the mechanics is at the very least disappointing.

Despite the shortfall in the revisions carried out with Unhallowed Metropolis, Revised, the return of the RPG and the promise of supplements are both more than welcome. The game itself is far from unplayable, and the setting itself is rich in horror, suspense, and intrigue, being atmospheric to the last. Ultimately, the atmosphere is what sells Unhallowed Metropolis, ash-laden, gin-soaked, and perpetually in mourning…

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Between States

In the last seventy years humanity built an elevator into orbit and explored the Solar System from the Sun’s corona out to the Kuiper Belt. We terraformed Mars and established colonies wherever we went. We mastered nanotechnology and built Artificial Intelligences. We cloned ourselves and uplifted innumerable species. We adopted augmented reality and mastered the ability to digitize our memories and consciousness. We gene-engineered ourselves and new forms of ourselves, known as “Morphs.” We learned how download and upload our consciousness from one body to another. The ability to change our bodies forced us to redefine our sense of self and we got close to becoming something new, a new definition of what it was to be human.

Ten years ago the Fall occurred.

The TITANS appeared. In the wake of these human-created, recursively-improving, military seed A.I.s known as Total Information Tactical Awareness Networks came conflict. First a netwar, then advanced war machines, then nuclear and chemical weapons, nanovirii and nanoswarms, with millions of humanity harvested, their memories digitised to unknown ends. The lucky few got off the Earth with their mind and body whole, but millions had themselves voluntarily digitised and their minds beamed out into space. Some of these infugees or “Infomorph refugees,” were never collected, but many remain in storage or live out an existence in virtual reality, whilst the lucky few work out long periods as indentured servants in cheap Morphs in hope that they can own a body of their own someday. The Earth itself is a smoking, irradiated, toxic wasteland, home to dangerous machines and plagues, abandoned and actively quarantined by the Planetary Consortium for our own protection.

As to the TITANS? Well, within days of the conflict breaking out, they disappeared, taking with them the millions of minds that they had uploaded. Later they were traced to the first of several Pandora Gates, each a wormhole gateway that connect with alien worlds far outside of the Solar System. Each of the known Pandora Gates is in the possession of a Hypercorp – the commercial descendants of the old megacorps, but adapted to harder, leaner times – or a faction like the Love and Rage anarchist collective which operates the Fissure Gate on Uranus.

Barely an eighth of Earth’s old population made if off world before the quarantine came down and ten years on, it has adapted to its new and many environments. The Inner System – Mars, the Moon, and Mercury – is dominated by the Planetary Consortium, a capitalist/republican system in which the biggest shareholders have the largest vote. A military, almost fascist oligarchy rules the moons around Jupiter, whilst the Outer System is dominated by an alliance of Scandinavia-style social democracies and anarchist Collectives. Humanity survives, but its fears are even greater now that its home has been ruined. It already deals with one alien species – the ambassadorial race known as the Factors, a species of intelligent slimes that protects humanity from other aliens, but fears the nature of the others. It fears another outbreak of the multi-vector Exsurgent Virus capable of self-morphing and infecting computer systems and biological creatures, one strain of which, the Watts-MacLeod strain, is known to leave its victims with the capacity to use Psionic or Parapsychological powers. It fears the use of the weapons of mass destruction that destroyed the Earth and worse, it fears the return of the TITANS or the possibility of the current A.I.s becoming fully self-aware and delivering another hammer blow to humanity.

No one faction works to prevent these “existential threats,” most being concerned with signs that their rivals are researching and developing such threats themselves. Except that is, Firewall. This is a secret cross-faction conspiracy that works to protect transhumanity from “existential threats,” whatever their source.

This is the set-up for Eclipse Phase, a near-future trans-humanist post-apocalyptic game of conspiracy and horror published by Posthuman Studios that won the 2010 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game. The title comes from the term, “Eclipse Phase,” which is the period of time between when a cell is infected by a virus and when the virus appears within the cell and transforms it. During this period, the cell does not appear to be infected, but it is. Humanity then is infected. By what, and what it become is another matter. At the heart of the game though is its slogan: “Your mind is software. Program it. Your body is a shell. Change it. Death is a disease. Cure it. Extinction is approaching. Fight it.” It neatly sums Eclipse Phase up, for in this RPG, a player character cannot die. “His” body can, but his self or Ego cannot, it either being recorded onto an implanted Cortical Stack and retrieved after death, or a back-up body is activated afterwards – if he has paid the insurance that ensures that there is Morph at the body bank to be resleeved into. Thus it is possible to resleeve from one body to the next, essentially holding off death. As to the extinction of the slogan, it is being fought by Firewall, which in the RPG’s default setting, the player characters are presumed to be members of. Other suggested campaigns include salvage and rescue/retrieval operations (the Fall left numerous habitants, on and off world to be scavenged), trade, crime, mercenaries, social/political intrigue, and exploration (the Solar System is not fully explored, and that is before you consider the possibility of Gatecrashing through one of the Pandora Gates).

The divide between body and self in Eclipse Phase begins more or less at the start of character generation. A player decides upon the concept for his character, and then his character’s Background – Fall Evacuee (got off Earth with his body intact), Re-Instantiated (did not get off Earth with his body intact, but his consciousness was beamed off), Martian or Lunar Colonist; and Faction – Argonaut (scientific techno-progressive), Barsoomian (Martian outback colonist), Socialite (member of the inner system glitterati), or Titanian (participant in the Titanian Commonwealth’s socialist cyberdemocracy). Each gives a few advantages, whilst several limit the type of Morphs available to the Background or Faction. He also needs to decide his Motivations of which he will have three at the start of the game. In game they helpa character regain Moxie (the game’s equivalent of Luck) and earn Rez or Experience Points.

A character has two types of skills. The first are Aptitudes (Cognition, Coordination, Intuition, Reflexes, Savvy, Somatics, and Willpower), ingrained talents that every character has and which are the basis of the second type, Learned Skills. Both will be carried with his Ego from one Body or Morph to the next, but each Morph is different and will limit and enhance a character’s Aptitudes and thus his Learned Skills, depending upon the type of Morph. This is why some of the Learned Skills in the character example receive small five point bonuses. Each player has two set amounts of points with which to purchase both types of skills, but in addition a player must draw from the points for his Learned Skills if he wants to select Traits – such as Direction Sense or Adaptability (a character resleeves with ease), his Morph, improve his Aptitudes, and get extra money so that he can purchase Backup insurance (and so has a Morph prepared if his current is killed), services, and implants from an array of bioware and cyberware. Every character starts the game with a Cortical Stack (for recording a character’s Ego) and Basic Mesh Inserts (which allow a character to connect to the all-pervasive wireless mesh), but can purchase more. A character can also purchase his “Rep” or Reputation, a social currency that he can spend with various factions in return for favours. If a character wants more points to spend on these and Learned Skills, he can select negative traits but they grant only a few points.

Lastly a player selects his character’s Morph. It is possible to play a normal, unmodified human or Flat, but they are rare, few having got off Earth following the Fall. In the After Fall, humanity has developed a diverse range of Morphs, divided between Biomorphs and Synmorphs. Most Biomorphs are genefixed humans or Splicers, but other Biomorphs are engineered towards athleticism (Olympians), combat (Furies), particular environments (like the Rusters of Mars), or a particular type of role, the latter being vat-grown morphs known as Pods, and include Pleasure and Worker models. Biomorphs also include Uplifted species such as Chimpanzees and Octopuses. As the name suggests, Synmorphs are artificial and robotic. They include the extremely cheap, mass-produced robotic shells known as Cases that are prone to malfunction, but other options include Flexbots, Reapers, and Swarmoids.

What is important to note here though, is the fact that whatever the choice of Morph, it is only a character’s starting Morph. Due to events in game, a character could easily find himself resleeved, and not in a Morph of his choice, which essentially grants the GM control over what a character’s physicality will be. This can be discombobulating for the players, let alone the characters, but overcoming the limits of one body to use another is the point of Eclipse Phase.

Lastly, a character has two sets of second statistics. One for his Ego and another for his Morph. The process is not that complex, but it is not a short process either, involving a lot of flipping back and forth as a player works out what he wants. The process can be curtailed by using one of the sixteen pre-generated sample characters.

One other option available during character generation is that of Psionics or Parapsychological powers. Available to characters who have been infected by the Watts-MacLeod strain of the Exsurgent Virus and who have purchased the Psi Trait. Once infected, the Psionic Ego – and Psionics are wired or “Quantum Entangled” into an Ego rather than a Morph – can select Psi Sleights that either enhance their users or allow the users to “Mind Hack” others. On the downside Psionics have a reduced capacity to withstand mental stress, are prone to mental disorders, and are vulnerable to further infection from Exsurgent Virii.

The sample character is a Neo-hominoid, an Orang-utan Uplift. As such Maisie is a pro-Uplift rights advocate. When not working as a Zero-g Emergency Medical Technician, Maisie supplements her income and reputation as a security ops/combat medic.

Name: Maisie
Background: Uplift
Faction: MercurialMotivations: +Exploration+Reclaiming Earth+Uplift Rights

Morph: Neo-hominoid

EGO STATS

Initiative 80

Lucidity 20

Trauma Threshold 4

Insanity Rating 40

Moxie 2

MORPH STATS

Speed 1

Durability 30

Wound Threshold 6

Death Rating 9

Damage Bonus 2

Advantages: Common Sense, Expert (Medicine), Limber (Level 2), Right at Home (Neo-hominoid)

Disadvantages: Addiction (Chocolate), Mild Allergy (Bee Stings)

APTITUDES

                                        BASE MORPH BONUS       TOTAL

Cognition (COG)            20

Coordination (COO)     15                    5                      20

Intuition (INT)              15                    5                      20

Reflexes (REF)              20                                            20

Savvy (SAV)                  10                    5                      15

Somatics (SOM)            15                    5                      20

Willpower (WIL)           10                                            10

Skills:

Academic [Biology] (COG) 50, Academic [Chemistry] (COG) 50, Academic [Genetics] (COG) 50, Academic [Psychology] (COG) 30, Art [Drawing] (INT) 25+5=30, Climbing (SOM) 70+5=75, Fray (REF) 70, Free Fall (REF) 60, Free Running (SOM) 55+5=60, Infiltration (COO) 55+5=60, Interest [English Literature] (COG) 50, Interest [Old Earth History] (COG) 50, Intimidation (SAV) 30+5=35, Kinetic Weapons (COO) 45+5=50, Language [English] (COG) 90, Language [Mandarin] (COG) 50, Language [Russian] (COG) 50, Medicine [General Practice] (COG) 30, Medicine [Paramedic] (COG) 75, Medicine [Paramedic/Decompression Victims] (COG) 85,Medicine [Trauma Surgery] (COG) 60, Navigation (INT) 45+5=50, Networking (SAV) [Mercurials] 30+5=35, Perception (INT) 55+5=70, Persuasion (SAV) 40+5=45, Pilot [Spacecraft] (REF) 50, Profession [Forensics] (COG) 40, Profession [Lab Technician] (COG) 50, Profession [Security Ops] (COG) 30, Psychosurgery (INT) 35+5=40, Research (COG) 40, Scrounging (INT) 35+5=40, Unarmed Combat (SOM) 55+5=60

Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Bioweave Armour (Light), Direction Sense, Clean Metabolism, Cortical Stack, Prehensile Feet

Gear: Backup Insurance (four months), Cr 2750

REP:

c-Rep 25, g-Rep 20, i-Rep 20, r-Rep 35

In terms of mechanics, Eclipse Phase uses a percentile system, but one running from 00 to 99 rather than 01 to 100. Since Learned Skills range from 01 to 99, a roll of 00 is always a success. Rolls of double numbers – 00, 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, and 99 – are always a critical success if under the skill, but a critical failure if over. One tweak with the system is that Moxie can be spent to flip the result of a roll. So for example, a roll of 72 could end be flipped to a 27 and a success. What is interesting in this mechanic is that rolls of doubles cannot be flipped and so critical failures cannot be avoided.

If the system is relatively simple, the setting is not. Lengthy sections discuss in turn the new homes and habitats that humanity has found itself in the After Fall; the politics and economics of the After Fall – the economics having radically changed with relatively easy access to nanotechnology and Cornucopia Machines, though your Reputation with various factions and interests can often get you further than simple money; how to live with the Mesh, the decentralised information and data that pervades everywhere – and not just live with it, but also hack it and use it; and gear that includes everything from personal augmentation and drugs, chemicals, and toxins to weapons, robots, and vehicles. Much of this information has an understandable technological bent, so it is no surprise that the RPG’s most radical technology, that of Morphs and resleeving, gets most of a chapter of its own. Entitled “Acelerated Future,” it primarily explores the ramifications that resleeving has on society, but it also covers rules for handling the alienating effects of integrating into a new Morph and the concept of Forking. This is the sleeving of multiple copies of the same Ego in several different Morphs so that there can be multiple versions of one person moving around. There is a social stigma attached to this, but it is done for various reasons, not just the need to be in two places at once. One sign that Eclipse Phase is a hard Science Fiction RPG is attention is paid to the scale of the setting. It takes time to get around the Solar System. The upshot of the digitised consciousness is that it possible to travel great distances via Egocasting. Once an Ego arrives at its destination, it is resleeved. This is not without its dangers, but it allows easy interplanetary travel.

Rounding out Eclipse Phase is a chapter for the Gamemaster. Although the chapter contains advice for the Game Master, the bulk of it is devoted to yet more setting material. This though is not for the players’ eyes, but the GM’s only, for this setting material is about the secrets behind the setting. In truth, I have not done much more than scan this chapter as I actually do not want to know the secrets! But from what I saw it all looked to be useful, expanding upon earlier information given on Firewall, the TITANS, the Pandora Gates, and more.

Physically, Eclipse Phase is a solid hardback, done in full colour throughout. The standard of artwork is good, especially when depicting the technical elements of the setting, and whilst the layout is clean and tidy, it is does get a little busy in places.

Science Fiction roleplaying depends to veer towards the Space Opera and the light and fluffy, relying on the clichés of the genre. Eclipse Phase stands directly opposite that, its background being rich in terms of both depth and detail. This means that the setting is that much more complex, and thus that much more demanding for players to grasp, though not as complex and as demanding as it is for the Gamemaster. It asks both to grasp and use a thoroughly radical technology, that in addition to the challenges presented by the technology and its capabilities that both have at their fingertips. It is this very daunting nature of the game that is its major problem, and it is not one that is really addressed to any great depth. At least though, the game keeps its mechanics relatively simple when compared to the complexity of the game itself.

A minor issue is that given the level of detail awarded the setting of Eclipse Phase, it is surprising that none of the gear is named. It is all generic rather than branded, and in any fiction, including that of an RPG, brand names do add verisimilitude. That said, this lack of branding is addressed, but even then a list of suggested manufacturers would at least offset this minor lack.

Eclipse Phase has been a book that I have wanted to review for quite some time. I did not until now because I had been daunted by its density, but upon reading the RPG, it is no surprise that Eclipse Phase won the 2010 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game. It is an impressive creation, superbly detailed Science Fiction setting, with a dizzying density that grabs you and makes you want to play there. And then makes you want more detail.

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