RPGaDay 2024

I again missed this year's RPGaDAY blogging event. But hey, at least it's still the same year this time 'round. These will be fun to come back to 10 years from now.

Day 1: First RPG bought this year

I think it was Swyvers. If free games also count, it was Advanced FASERIP. Both PDFs, of course; I haven't bought physical RPG products this year (instead allocating shelf space and hobby budget to gamebooks and board games).

Day 2: Most recently played

The last game I ran was WFRP 4E where the group tracked down and defeated a pair of trolls (finally allowing the troll slayer the opportunity to advance in their career). Since then I also played in a Kazamaták és Kompániák campaign where we set sail for a distant island to rid some party members of a terrible curse.

Day 3: Most often played RPG

This year it was WFRP 4E, closely followed by Lancer and Arduin.

Day 4: RPG with great art

I'm much less interested in art in games than many others. Still, if I had to say, my favourite game in terms of illustrations is the first edition of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (in its current edition known as Hyperborea). All illustrations were done by Ian Baggley, ensuring the kind of visual consistency that gets even me going.

A close second would be Rifts (not just the core book but also many supplements). What can I say? I like tanks and robots.

Day 5: RPG with great writing

Again, I don't particularly judge RPGs on their artistic merits. For me a game is well-written if the writing is competent, unambiguous, and free of typos and other errors. HârnMaster is definitely one such game.

One that always fires up my imagination, though, is Monster Island, an unabashed sword-and-sorcery setting supplement for Mythras.

Day 6: RPG that is easy to use

Easy to use at the table or while learning the game? I would hope Kazamaták és Kompániák (click here for excerpts in English) fits both (particularly with the game aids my partner in crime, Narmor, designed for it), but I'm hardly unbiased and way too familiar with its systems.

I have yet to form a comprehensive opinion, but Break!! seems like one that is easy to learn.

As for easy at the table... all games are easy once you're familiar with them (just ask GURPS and HERO players).

Day 7: RPG with "good form"

Arguably not even an RPG in the traditional sense, En Garde! immediately jumps to mind when I think about social rules in a game.

Day 8: An accessory you appreciate

I don't know... A lot of these daily topics have to do with auxiliary stuff such as apps, screens, dice, and whatnot. At the end of the day, I think the most important accessory for my current gaming habits is Discord, because that's where we communicate, organise, and conduct our gaming sessions.

Day 9: An accessory you'd like to see

I'm not sure... I generally have everything I need, although they all could be improved slightly. I guess most games need better quick reference sheets.

Day 10: RPG you'd like to see on TV

I'm not that attached to RPG settings (and I also think television would butcher them anyway in order to appeal to a wider audience). A Rifts series would be pretty rad, though.

Day 11: RPG with well supported one-shots

Maelstrom Domesday has an incredible two-volume campaign spanning over 100 years. Each year comes with its own mini-adventure in the form of an investigation that can easily be played separate from each other.

Day 12: RPG with well supported campaigns

The obvious answer would be D&D or Call of Cthulhu or the aforementioned Maelstrom Domesday... but I wanna point out a rules-agnostic campaign that I like: King for a Day. It's a huge early medieval Anglo-Saxon sandbox with a bunch of interesting NPCs, conflicting goals, and plenty of secrets and horror elements.

Day 13: Evocative environments

I generally prefer simple but atmospheric environments to the zany and over-the-top. A ruined castle, a dark forest, misty mountains, and green hills are all I need to get into the fantasy adventuring mood.

I also adore the general setting of Werewolf: the Forsaken. The whole animistic cosmology with the separated worlds of Shadow and Flesh speak to me on a deeper level. However, its most evocative explanation isn't in a Werewolf book; it's actually the Book of Spirits, a supplement for the mortal line of World of Darkness.

Day 14: Compelling characters

Most of the time in my games, characters are memorable not because of their story arc, as it were, but because of some (usually funny) thing they did during play. The ex-student who charged alone into a beastman with his quarterstaff. The sorcerer who drank the warrior under the table using clever illusions. The avatar of a god who appeared out of thin air when his priest died (best character replacement mid-dungeon so far). The archaeologist who tragically destroyed a magical tome and thus began her unstoppable descent into madness. Sadly, you kinda had to be there to find them interesting — it's the adventures they went through and the shenanigans they pulled off that made them interesting.

Day 15: Great character gear

GURPS High-Tech and Ultra-Tech immediately come to mind as they are very comprehensive. We also had great fun with Shadowrun 3rd edition and the Cannon Companion back in the day. However, the most entertaining read has to be Paranoia's Stuff. The preview on DriveThruRPG doesn't really do justice to it, so here are two items selected randomly:

Day 16: Quick to learn

Mazes & Minotaurs (which I briefly talked about here) is one of my favourite rules-light games. It's immediately accessible in terms of both thematics and mechanics, and it only needs a d20 and a d6 (or maybe two of each for smoother play). Character creation is extremely straightforward (and because you have to assign your best rolls to the primary stats of your class, you cannot accidentally make a useless character), and record keeping is minimal. I heartily recommend it for everyone who likes games about adventure and/or Greek myths — and it's all free (or pay-what-you-want)!

Day 17: An engaging RPG community

Nowadays I mostly get my RPG-talk fix on the RPGPub forum. There's a tendency to favour traditional systems and appreciate crunch — both of which I had found lacking elsewhere. Also, it's very light on moderation: thread drift and necroing are both allowed (and practised regularly).

Day 18: Memorable moment of play

After twenty years of gaming, we've had many of those... Let's pick a fairly recent one. In my current Lancer campaign, the objective was achieved by one player self-destructing his mecha. However, before reaching the exfil zone, he found himself running into an enemy mech with a mech-scale shotgun. They attacked and scored a hit; the player had to roll for the severity of the injury, but he rolled a 1 — instant death.

Funnily, their clone at the end of the second mission pulled off a similar stunt, this time managing to survive the encounter. His call sign was changed from Stranger to Sacrifice to reflect his habits.

Day 19: Sensational session

I don't know about sensational, but there's one session in particular that we often reminisce about. Set in the City of Masks, the party was tasked with recovering a gem that was to be present at a noble wedding. During reconnaissance the party sadly killed the bride. So they picked a girl off the street and My Fair Ladied her, just enough to fool everyone until the ceremony. To ensure things go smoothly, they also killed off the bodyguard's captain, and one of them took his place. They suspected others had also infiltrated the mansion, so they had to be really cautious. The ceremony ended up being one giant disaster — it turned out that a group of Amazons were there to rescue the bride (their kidnapped queen), but of course they rescued the replacement girl; a few other parties revealed themselves as the gem was presented; and the party, disguised as the loyal guard and his mates, had to escape through the backdoor along with the nobleman. They made it to their hideout, where the noble thanked them for their service and even tasked them with cleansing his house to ensure his safe return — for a significant reward, of course...

Day 20: Amazing adventure

I've been quite enamoured with the original Boot Hill adventure modules, particularly Ballots & Bullets. I was already going to pick up some western minis and MDF buildings in the foreseeable future, but reading these modules just made me even more certain about it.

Demonspore is still among my favourite OSR modules, though, and I find it sad it's almost never mentioned.

Day 21: Classic campaign

We started Masks of Nyarlathotep a few years ago (although I ran the latest edition), but it's largely petered out by now... I'd really like to finish it, but I also don't want to put my current games on hold (play's already been pretty sporadic in the last few months). Beyond the Mountains of Madness is also on my wishlist of campaigns to run, but I'm really not sure when/if we'll get to it.

Day 22: Notable non-player character

I don't know; my memory tends to focus on the players... Perhaps the main cast in my published module, Benighted Betrothal? It's been many years since that campaign, but because of so many repeated interactions, they still haven't completely left me.

Day 23: Peerless player

If you're one, no worries; there are plenty of solitaire games you can play. It's probably worth a whole post (or series of posts) on its own, but there are games ranging from angsty journalling games and clever town management games to gritty dungeon crawlers and space exploration. Not to mention the various solitaire hex-and-chit games, procedurally driven "narrative" wargames, all sorts of interesting new gamebooks, and solo skirmish miniature games.

Day 24: Acclaimed advice

xx

Day 25: Desirable dice

The lucky ones :P

I was gifted a set of D&D dice a few years ago — and now I understand the appeal of metal dice. For dice pools I still prefer my trusty purple d10s and d6s, but the heft of those metal dice, man... It's just a really nice tactile experience.

Day 26: Superb screen

I don't really use GM screens, to be honest. I prefer quick reference sheets, and my favourite is probably the one my good friend Narmor made for Kazamaták és Kompániák. Here you can find a collection of the most important tables, and here's a sheet for note-taking during the game (alas, both in Hungarian).

Day 27: Marvellous miniature

I adore Victrix's Dark Ages set, and I've been eyeing their 1:144 WW2 figures as well. I have a few fantasy minis, but to be honest, I'm much more interested in historicals (and sci-fi) than fantasy. I have recently pulled the trigger and order some Bloody Miniatures figures as well — I find the ECW and TYW era aesthetically pleasing, and I have a number of game systems lined up for those very miniatures.

Day 28: Great gamer gadget

The most sophisticated gadget I use at the table is a dice tray my significant other made for me. It's very simple, but I prefer the minimalist aesthetics.

Day 29: Awesome app

COMP/CON for Lancer. Nothing comes even close. On the other hand, it's almost necessary to use (otherwise you'd almost have to replicate it on paper yourself). I'm also partial to Hex Kit and Dungeondraft.

Day 30: Person you'd like to game with

My sister. She hadn't shown any interest in RPGs for a long time, but a year or two ago she and her friends began a Vampire: the Masquerade campaign. My brother already plays with us when his time permits, so we could have a proper family game sometime — if we can overcome the hurdles of scheduling.

Day 31: Game or gamer you miss

I haven't played with anyone from my first long-term group for ages. I'm not sure we'd be "compatible", but it'd be fun too play again sometime.

Weapon vs. Armour in Chainmail vs. AD&D

Disclaimer: Note that some of the links below are affiliate links (meaning I get a small percentage of the sale without extra cost to you or the publisher).

Also, I'd like to give a big shout out to waysoftheearth over at the odd74 forum for his insights. My original goal was simply to reproduce his calculations and to be able to compare variations myself — like I do so below.

I have recently talked about some aspects of the man-to-man combat tables in Chainmail (and even shared my calculations so that you can play around with your own variants). It occurred to me that there's a weapon vs. armour table in the AD&D Players Handbook as well (which has been shown to be wildly different from that in Chainmail) — wouldn't it be fun to compare the two?

Here is the weapon vs. AC table in AD&D. As a reminder, these are modifiers added to the to-hit roll with a d20. Armour Class (leaving Dexterity aside) is determined as follows:

For a level 1 fighting-man, the minimum required to hit these AC values is (20 minus AC). so 10+ on d20 hits an unarmoured foe, and 18+ hits someone in plate and shield.

To compare these values to those in Chainmail, we need to cut some of it. The Chainmail tables only include thirteen different weapons, and the armour categories are also different (for instance, chain, banded, studded, and splint mail all belong to the same category). To make things easier, we will only consider the following armour categories: no armour (AC 10), shield only (AC 9), leather (AC 8), leather & shield (AC 7), chain (AC 5), chain& shield (AC 4), plate (AC 3), and plate & shield (AC 2) — leaving out AC 6 for now.

Most weapons in Chainmail have a clear equivalent in AD&D, but note the following:

• for mace and flail we'll use the footman's mace and flail
• sword is interpreted as longsword
• polearms, a single entry in the Chainmail table, are left out because AD&D has different stats for each variant
• lance is similarly left out for now to make things simpler

Edit: I made a crucial mistake in my calculations, essentially flipping the modifiers in AD&D. I'd like to thank everyone who pointed this out! My conclusions are also rewritten to reflect this. Apologies for the errors in the first place.

If we calculate the minimum requires rolls for a level 1 fighting-man with these weapons vs. the discussed armour categories, we get the following:

 

 

And here are the percentile chances of hitting compared to Chainmail:

 

In AD&D the average difference in performance is minimalised; blunt weapons are generally much worse against heavy armour than in Chainmail (cf. mace 20% vs 41.67% or 25% vs 58.33%); and the two-handed sword doesn't vastly outperform all other weapons.

Now, what if we make a direct conversion from Chainmail instead? If we take the percentile values and convert them to target numbers on the d20 scale, we get the following:

Of course, lance and polearms are still too ambiguous in AD&D terms, but it's definitely a starting point. Now, for the last bit, here are the to-hit modifiers for the above, presented in the AD&D format (AC 6 left blank and up for interpretation):

Editable Chainmail M2M Tables

This is going to be a short one.

In my last post I shared some statistics about the man-to-man tables in Chainmail. Here's a link to my calculations, with separate sheets for the numbers as presented in the book and another to play around with (Raw and Mod, respectively). To edit your own version, go to "File" then "Make a copy". Have fun!

On Chainmail's Man-to-Man Tables

On and off I've been working on Láncvért, a supplement for Kazamaták és Kompániák that integrates most subsystems found in Chainmail into the KéK framework in a much less confusing way than the original (at least that's my hope).

One of the many interesting bits in Chainmail is the man-to-man combat system (the one that was supposed to be used with OD&D according to the rulebook, although apparently even the designers disagreed). It's a fairly simple 2d6 table where you check the attacker's weapon and the defender's armour to see your target number; if you meet or exceed your target, the defender is killed (or dealt one die of damage in D&D terms).

Below you can check the table (colour-coded for our convenience); I also added averages (and rounded averages) for each weapon and armour category as well:

The bell curve can be a little counter-intuitive, so I also included a handy chart with percentages. Don't be confused by the colours; I decided to swap them so that red means "hard to kill" instead of "meagre defence" here:

We can already see some interesting things here. For some reason, the spear seems to be the worst weapon in terms of stopping power. Two-handed swords vastly outperform all other weapons (including the mounted lance!), followed by the flail and the morning star.

Leather armour is virtually the same as no armour (it only makes a difference against a dagger or a sword). Shields, however, are really good. In fact, if you have to choose between picking up mail armour or a shield, you should go with the latter.

I also made some more detailed comparisons between various armour types:

Curiously, mail armour makes you more susceptible to being killed against a number of weapons (possibly because the manoeuvrability you sacrifice is greater than the protection of the extra armour that the weapons in particular can bash through — at least that's my theory).

Shields, if we look at them closely, always improve protection, except in one case: against a halberd and paired with leather armour.

There are more rules that go into this subsystem, of course, but this is the main engine. I quite like the extra differentiation between weapons, but I'm not convinced about the specifics. Further testing needs to be conducted until I find a happy middle ground.

List of D100 Games

Like my lists for D&D-esque games and 2d6 games, here's the final piece: a list of d100 games.

I decided not to be strict with my criteria here; the list includes everything from the BRP family (and its d20-based derivatives, such as Pendragon), various Warhammer games, and even Rolemaster and its ilk. It's not comprehensive at this point, but I'll be slowly expanding the list with both old and new games.

Gamebook Flowchart: The Cluster of Echoes #1 Nightshift

Inspired by The Outspaced Shrine, I decided to map my gamebook ventures using Graphviz. Transcribing my written notes into the new format is tedious, but I have a high tolerance for monotony. I've only completed one so far: the first volume in The Cluster of Echoes series, Nightshift (which I talked about here).

You can get it in svg or svgz format. Needless to say, it contains spoilers!

Bits from the Adventure Ideas Folder

I have been thinking about campaigns and half-prepped adventures I didn't end up running or that otherwise fell through the cracks. Here are a few from my IDEAS folder. Some of them have a few files detailing locations and NPCs; some only have the one paragraph I jotted down once on a late night after a few drinks.

Sky Ship from Another World

You are on death row. The serious nature of your crimes (murder, heterodoxy, or effrontery), whether real or fabricated, has sealed your fate. Yet, a glimmer of hope sneaks into your heart upon the visitation from Taraxiam the Pale, a reputed sorcerer, offering you a chance to escape death. You are in no position to bargain, and you accept his proposition without consideration. In exchange for his great favour, you are to embark with haste on an expedition to Lake Nova, join forces with Ziamos the Crimson and his company, and explore a sunken sky ship, purportedly originating from another dimension.

Trogos Gold Rush

The misty woodlands of Trogos are experiencing a new gold rush. Adventurous prospectors from Khromarium and its vassal towns are flooding the area as the streams and slot canyons provide ample locations for panning and other forms of placer mining. A small boom town (Mulgrave) has already emerged close to the popular prospecting sites.

There are many rare woods and herbs to be harvested in the forest, and the impossibly deep slot canyons hold even stranger treasures. There are rumours of a triple temple of Lunaqqua, each dedicated to a different aspect of hers (the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone), and of an ancient Hyperborean burial site as well.

However, there lurk many dangers in these woods constantly enwreathed in the mists rising from the unfathomable gorges. You may encounter ape-men scouting parties from the nearby City-State of Kor, native tribes of troglodytes, as well as the strange oon, a subterranean servitor race of the mi-go; giant weasels, wolverines, snakes, and spiders; owl bears, lycanthropes, fungi, and sentient plants; crazed druids, shamans, and cultists, and possibly the mighty phoongh, intelligent humanoid grasshoppers who seemingly kill for their own entertainment and embrace their own death as if it was part of their nefarious plans...

I even prepared a few images for myself and my players (something I don't usually do) to help visualise the environment:
https://goo.gl/images/X4vbiu
https://goo.gl/images/wBPpd4
https://goo.gl/images/mmsAQ1
https://goo.gl/images/upED4E
https://goo.gl/images/VABtxX
https://goo.gl/images/2Y7RQS
https://goo.gl/images/Q5cH7H
https://goo.gl/images/gHFqnz
https://goo.gl/images/Hu5afx

Raygun Holocaust

This one is basically my Carcosa campaign that never materialised.

The characters awaken from hibernation in a strange laboratory with no memories. Their first task is clear: escape their captors. They soon find themselves on a strange planet where humanity is the subject and object of arcano-technological experiments carried out by serpent people. The local gods are cthulhoid monsters; there are nomads riding velociraptors; bounty hunters use laser sniper rifles and jet packs; magic rituals are carried out at precise times and locations; and ancient ruins are scattered across the land.

Chaos Warbands

This one was greatly inspired by WARBAND! (and, of course, Realms of Chaos).

The players are wandering, independent mercenaries and adventurers (essentially disbanded/deserted chaos marine–like figures) who are trying their luck in this no man's land. They are beginner but potent characters, with random mutations, chaos artifacts, and fanatic followers.

Superhuman soldiers, techno-gothic armour, chainswords and laser rifles; demons, mutants, and wild magical creatures; surreal but cool aesthetics and items; demons and tormented souls imprisoned in weapons and ancient machinery; human sacrifice and gore.

I'd also added a few NPC ideas to my notes; here's one:
An old hag hidden behind dark veils, with one of her hands replaced by a sword-sized pair of scissors. Her servants are mechanical spiders with the head of an infant.

Magic-Users Only

The characters are a group of "applied librarians" seeking knowledge and power (such as magical artefacts and grimoires). The caveat is that they must be magic-users of some sort (in AS&SH terms that means they must be members of the following classes: Magician, Cleric, Warlock, Cryomancer, Illusionist, Necromancer, Pyromancer, Witch, Druid, Priest, Runegraver, Shaman, Bard, Legerdemainist, or Purloiner).

I wrote this one down because my players generally prefer fighter-types over magic-users, and I liked the idea of running a short campaign specifically to dare them. I also thought about having each of them play two characters: one wizard-type and one bodyguard so that they wouldn't have to rely on hirelings constantly.

The Bucket List

The characters are the young sons and daughters of rich nobles from a reclusive community — but before they can become true members of the aristocracy, they must travel around the world (maybe they have a bucket list, and they can only return if they cross everything out). They get some starting equipment (probably better than regular stuff they can buy elsewhere, but obviously the supplies will run out at some point), a few magic items, a handful of cannon fodders servants, a sky ship, a map, and a to-do list. Go!

Mansion Inherited

The party inherits a haunted mansion in a fairly isolated region (like a valley). The villagers are generally good-hearted but fairly strange (think of Twin Peaks but in a fantasy world), and there are mysteries abound (like the ghost lady of the lake, the slime-infested old well, or the three deer-saints of the woods). Plus, y'know, old scrolls in the mansion's library, the dungeon beneath, and the ball room where ghosts party when the clock strikes thirteen.

Bedlam in Bormium

Visitors from all over the country have flooded the streets of Bormium, eager to witness the historic coronation of Prince Agalloch. As the revelry approaches its zenith and order breaks down, opportunists use the ensuing chaos to their advantage to further their own agendas.

Well, this is a vague one... I think I just liked the names and the idea of a city during festivities.

List of 2D6 Games

Similar to my somewhat popular (and still maintained) list of D&D-esque games (which began its life as a "comprehensive list of OSR games"), I decided to make two further lists (firstly for my own benefit). The first of these is a short list of 2d6 games. It's still missing a few entries, but the goal is to catalogue the various versions of Traveller and their offshoots (basically, the standalone Cepheus variants).

The next list is a little more ambitious (but still not as big as the D&D-esque one); it should be ready sometime in September.

Review: The Cluster of Echoes #1 Nightshift

Nightshift is a horror gamebook written by Victoria Hancox and was originally published in 2019. It is a self-contained product, but the most recent offering (2nd edition) ties it to the author's later gamebooks, forming a series called The Cluster of Echoes. I should note that the connection is fairly surface-level; I actually started with book #3, and it didn't impede my enjoyment or understanding one bit. Apart from the sixth and final book in the series (Game Over), you can play them in any order you like.

In case you're not familiar with the tern, a gamebook is a form of interactive fiction. The text is organised into numbered sections (or paragraphs). Most sections offer you multiple ways to progress, and depending on your choice you are directed to another section to continue, hopping from section to section in the book.

Writing and Art

The text is conversational but competent. Apart from a few typos and missing commas, it's all pretty clean. Because the game is structured very much like a puzzle, I didn't really experience a sense of dread, but there were definitely a couple of horrific scenes in there.

The game has 400 sections in total (reminiscent of old-school gamebooks) plus one that ties it to the series, with 42 "bad endings" and one victory paragraph. The interior images are all black-and-white. I liked some of the filler illustrations meant to break up the text. The art ranges from serviceable to off-putting; some of them are quite pixelated for some reason as well.

Mechanics and Structure

Nightshift is much closer to the Choose Your Own Adventure series than Fighting Fantasy in that no randomisers (cards or dice) are used. However, much like old-school gamebooks, it is about collecting items, gathering clues, and solving puzzles. There are a few cases where you can progress by sheer luck, but it's never because of a die roll.

Although I enjoy elaborate mechanics as much as the next nerd, I've come to like this approach just as much — as long as the puzzles are varied and challenging, and there are ample opportunities to gather information to help you make the right choices.

There a few riddles in there, and another puzzle or two test your knowledge of the real world, but most challenges require an item or a specific action for which you had hopefully found a clue earlier on. There are a couple of these that you can easily miss out on but absolutely cannot finish the game without. It can be a little frustrating unless you keep track of your runs.

There's one red herring in particular that I thought was both ingenious and cruel. Not everyone you can talk to is a friend (although most of the time you can tell who's on your side).

Story and Gameplay

You work in a hospital as a nurse. It's the night shift, and you're just waking up from a nap between two emergencies. You immediately realise something's wrong when you find your colleague murdered, and the murderer is still around... Can you survive the night shift?

As you explore the hospital, it becomes apparent that you're not in Kansas any more. Creeping along the dark hospital corridors, it all starts to feel like you're in a nightmare, with an appropriate cast of creepy characters and surreal environs. It's not just a terrifying hospital; it's weird and otherworldly too, which makes it feel much more like a game, but it also means there's always a chance of something crazy awaiting you in the next room, rewarding exploration with a clue, description of a gory scene, or an interesting way to die.

Navigating the environment is IMHO unnecessarily challenging. Although a lot of times various sections of the hospital are named explicitly ("if you want to enter the vascular ward, turn to XX"), there were still numerous "left or right" choices without any hint whatsoever. I'm told that the hardcover version actually contains a map of the hospital (but it's also available on the author's website).

Summary

Overall, Nightshift is a great little puzzle if you're not squeamish about body horror (it takes place in a nightmarish hospital after all), and you don't mind the occasional "you hadn't picked up the right item so you die" sections. It's not perfect by any means, but it's a decent romp, especially from a first time designer.

Nightshift is available in softcover, hardcover, and Kindle formats on Amazon (com, uk, de, etc.).

Lindenbaum 2021/22: The Eldritch Key (by Tiago Filipe Costa)

This is part of a series where I briefly talk about the Lindenbaum Prize winners and runners-up. This is a friendly gamebook writing competition, organised yearly by Stuart Lloyd. The entry discussed below was submitted for the 2021/2022 competition and won a Commendation Award. You can find the details of the competition here, links to all entries here, and the announcement of the winners here. Needless to say, all of these are available for free in PDF.

In this gamebook you play a master thief who must steal a dangerous artefact known as the Eldritch Key. Although there are multiple routes to get there, the end game plays pretty much the same, and there's only one "good ending".

The game is set in the lawless city of Makivel, located on Anarlan, the Prison-Island. There's magic and weird creatures, and the game has explicit Cthulhu mythos influences.

The combat mechanics are fairly involved: 2d6 + Dexterity vs. 2d6 + Dexterity, greater wins. Then the loser rolls 2d6 + Avoidance vs. the winner's attack score. If the defender succeeds, they avoid damage. Otherwise, the weapon's damage is deducted from the defender's HP. The character's basic stats are fairly decent, but to reliably defeat the stronger foes (especially towards the end), a handful of items are needed to boost the character's stats. I very much enjoyed the item-hunting aspect, but the endless rolling without any decision-making definitely felt tiresome.

At the beginning, the player chooses three abilities from a list of six (things like lockpicking, dark vision, or clean kill). These abilities can be used when explicitly offered as an option, and they are largely responsible for facilitating multiple ways to get to the finish line.

The writing is all right. It's simple, apart from a few embellishments here and there, much like an adventure game; the emphasis is definitely on solving the game like a puzzle.

The game features 100 sections, and the whole document has about 13,300 words, including the rules and background info. Apart from the fights, there are only a handful of game-ending choices (they can be avoided by gathering info or having luckier dice).

Things to improve upon:

• the combat system involves too many rolls (this is especially true near the end)
• the inventory system is nice; if expanded upon, I definitely want more of this
• it's unclear whether damage from wielding multiple weapons stack (I assume the answer is yes)
• a few of the "save or die" paragraphs felt too punishing particularly the loose stone block, but to be fair, some of these can be ignored with the right abilities and/or items
  

The Underappreciated Combat Table of Barbarian Prince

Barbarian Prince is a great little game from 1981. James Maliszewski over at Grognardia posted a short retrospective in 2011, and in 2020 Anne from DIY and Dragons wrote an excellent three-part analysis (Map and Layout; Main Menu; Characters, Followers, Encounters, and Combat). It has been recently on my mind partly because of the Drifter series (see my review of the first game here) and a four-part actual play series by the Lone Adventurer.

Today I only want to look at one specific aspect of Barbarian Prince: the combat result table.

The gist of it is this: roll 2d6, add your Combat score, subtract the enemy's Combat score, apply modifiers if any, and consult the chart below to see how many wounds the attack inflicts.

taken directly from Anne's part 3 post linked above

Anne points out how the wording in the original rules is confusing and how the table above makes no logical sense. The Lone Adventurer criticises the rule for a similar reason. I didn't go looking, but I imagine other people being baffled by the above table.

However, this table is actually pretty ingenious. Let me show you a table of the average expected damage results arranged by final modifier to the 2d6 roll.

The first column shows the final result; next to it you can see how many wounds that roll inflicts upon an enemy. The columns after that alternate between showing the percentage chance of a result (given the final modifier noted on the first line) and the expected damage. The bottom two lines show the average expected damage per attack based on the final dice modifier as well as the percentage chance of inflicting at least 1 wound (i.e. the chance of hitting).

As you can see, the average chance to hit steadily increases (up until it plateaus at 83.34%, while also retaining the increase in average damage). The way the table is set up allows the chance to hit
(basically) to follow a gradual progression whereas if it was a standard 2d6 roll (something like 2d6+mods vs a target number), the progression would be much steeper.

Of course, whether the added granularity and hard-capped accuracy is worth having a chart is something we may disagree with; I can at least point out how deliberate the numbers are, and the fact that such granularity can be achieved on a 2d6 roll is just interesting to me in and of itself.

RPGaDay 2023

I usually don't participate in any sort of community blog event for several reasons, but last year's RPGaDay questions seemed interesting enough to tackle. However, I quite dislike releasing a bunch of small posts so I combined all the questions and answers into this one.

Day 1: FIRST RPG played (in 2023)

It was early January that we started a new campaign of Werewolf: the Forsaken (1st edition). Although my love for the Storytelling System has waned considerably (compared to the late 00s when it was our most played system), the animistic nature of Werewolf and the particular implementation of the Shadow Realm (especially the way it was elaborated on in the Book of Spirits) still makes it one of my favourite settings conceptually. If I were to redesign the rules, though, I'd probably go for something close to Rivers of London and Imperium Maledictum, although the whole spirit rank system just cries for a level-based approach. I would have to make sure that either combat is quick (like, OD&D quick) or actually interesting (with the caveat that making it into a power-based tactical game would be pretty cool and a disservice to the setting at the same time).

Day 2: First RPG GAMEMASTER

I actually don't remember the first GM I met (probably someone in my first group, possibly Szabolcs running 7th Sea or Viktor running MAGUS that one time), so I'm going to interpret this as the first RPG I GMed, which was Shadowrun 3rd edition. Despite its many flaws, I would still be down to run the game. It might not come to pass, though, as Sinless, a retro-clone of old-school Shadowrun, will soon be released.

Day 3: First RPG BOUGHT (in 2023)

The first PDFs I bought were The Sword of Cepheus and Superpowered. The only physical gaming products I picked up in 2023 are a few gamebooks (the first batch was all by Victoria Hancox) and a wargame (Western Front Ace).

Day 4: Most RECENT game bought

The one I bought most recently is Super Action Role-Play. The most recently published one I picked up is Imperium Maledictum.

Day 5: OLDEST game you've played

It has to be OD&D, right?

Day 6: Favourite game you NEVER get to play

That's a tricky one, because I enjoy "running" RPGs way more than "playing" them. Nevertheless, if we talk strictly about "playing" RPGs, I wish I had more opportunities to play OD&D (I'm not elitist, though; Delving Deeper, Age of Conan, or Champions of ZED would also suffice). I want it fast and loose, with large skirmishes and each player (sooner rather than later) having henchmen and hirelings and mercenaries. Kinda like a large narrative skirmish game, actually. If we're talking about games I'd like to run but seemingly never can, well, that's a big list, but here's a few things on my mind at the moment: (1) a cross between OD&D and the narrative campaign in the Realm of Chaos books; (2) a Braunstein-like game of Boot Hill, with miniatures and asymmetric player forces (I would love to run something similar with Battle Troll, too); (3) a wuxia sandbox, either using Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blade or Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate.

Day 7: SMARTEST RPG you've played

Torchbearer is weirdly good (the ways its subsystems interact with each other is like a well-oiled machine), even though it didn't scratch the right itch for me. Lancer, although probably not the smartest overall, is also well-designed (if you're into 4E-style tactical combat and mechas), both in terms of player abilities (and their interactions) and enemy design (although there's really not enough GM tools in the core book to set up fights). Mazes & Minotaurs, maybe? It's so incredibly slick and robust, but is it smart?

It almost feels to me like the smartest one has to be the most versatile one.... something like GURPS, HERO, or EABA.

Day 8: Favourite CHARACTER

I am rarely a player, and I don't find my own characters particularly memorable... But there was a halfling warrior in Narmor's Dungeon World campaign, Finnegan, that I really enjoyed playing. I generally remember the games, not my characters.

If characters that played in my campaigns are allowed, then I have quite a few favourites:

• Scott the hacker and John the cop from my first nWoD campaign back in secondary school
• Csillámcsóró Csongor (Premier suggested Gilbert Glassglad, but it's impossible to translate accurately), a cleric of the Order of Glassbreakers; all because the character's random starting item from a d100 table was a piece of broken glass
• Zöldfogú Harald (Harald Greentooth), a warrior in my Vikings & Valkyries campaign, the least successful member in a family of womanisers
  

Day 9: Favourite DICE

I was gifted a set of D&D-branded metal dice some time ago; I have underrated the incredibly satisfying tactility the heft of metal dice have for too long!

Still, my absolutely favourite dice are a set of plastic purple dice. They have been with me for ages, in sickness and in health.

Also, d12s are underrated.

Day 10: Favourite tie-in FICTION

I don't really read RPG-related fiction (although I copy edited a few short stories and novellas of the kind). In fact, most of the fiction I read is categorised as "classic literature" (my top three probably being The Count of Monte Cristo, Brave New World, and Előre, gonoszok!), although by now I have read some pulp fantasy and sci-fi as well.

Day 11: WEIRDEST game you've played

Either Puppetland or My Life with Master. While the former fell pretty flat for me, the latter I remember as one of my favourite games of all time (just to be clear, I used game as shorthand for "not quite one session but not really a campaign... two sessions, to be exact").

Day 12: Old game you STILL play

My taste in gaming has changed considerably over the years. Basically, I don't really play any of the games I started out with any more. I'm also largely over my "old-school only" period in gaming — now I'm into narrative skirmish games :P

Day 13: Most memorable character DEMISE

I'm not a particularly cruel referee, but there certainly have been a number of PC deaths over the years. Still, my favourite is probably the one which led to the birth of another: Kron literally rose from the ashes of the player's previous character (thanks to the quick chargen of Kazamaták és Kompániák).

Day 14: Favourite CONVENTION purchase

I don't have any. The local conventions I attended weren't usually selling stuff.

Day 15: Favourite Con MODULE / ONE-SHOT

My absolute favourite convention module, due to its sheer weirdness, was Urban's Dekomoran scenario (which is a tongue-in-cheek play on Boccaccio's Decameron and the Hungarian word "komor", E. sombre). It was run with the real first edition of Warhammer, but the true sauce was the highly absurdist setting. My memories are quite vague, but an oneiric recollection fits the scenario perfectly!

Day 16: Game you WISH you owned

That's a tricky question, because most games that interest me can be acquired at least in digital form, and I rarely purchase physical products (I do print out a lot of reference material, though, often of my own design). The first edition of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (now just Hyperborea) is something I wouldn't mind getting my hands on. Even though I like 2nd edition the most in terms of rules and layout, I find the first edition's unified visual style more appealing. Another one is The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition, which comes with all sorts of maps and counters and whatnot. Unfortunately, shipping costs make it a very unfeasible purchase for me, especially because most of our games are played online these days.

Day 17: FUNNIEST game you've played

Humour is a big component in virtually all of my games (it's inevitable and even desirable when you play with your close friends), so there's a bunch of weird little emergent events that we look back on fondly... Let me pick one at random.

The party fought some ghouls in a dungeon; some members have been paralysed, including the berserker (remember, it lasts for quite a while in older editions). The player made it explicit that he intends to start raging immediately when the effect ends (the characters were able to deduce his state of mind by looking deep into his crazy eyes; but honestly, this wouldn't have been the most meta moment anyways). The party moved the berserker to a cleared room a couple corridors away and locked themselves up in a different room (including a local NPC from the village above). Y'know, for good measure.

Paralysis ends, rage ensues. We're counting rounds. Open doors check succeeds. The player gives an equal chance to all directions. The berserker's heading straight towards the party's location. Decides he'll try forcing a door open no longer than 3 rounds. Fortunately, the party's holding up successfully.

Next door opens on the first try. In a pit, there's a girl — a werewolf (not in control of her transformation). She sees the berserker open up the pit. She starts transforming. Rage stops, berserker falls to the ground exhausted. Party members come out and investigate. They manage to grab the berserker and pull him in the same room they were hiding in, but the werewolf follows them.

They know they can't hold the door long enough, so they move into the crypt whence the ghouls originally attacked. Meanwhile, it turns out the boy knows the girl (in fact, they are in love, and freeing her from this dungeon was his secret motivation all along). People suspect the crypt door won't hold long either — they need to sacrifice something. Or someone. The berserker throws the boy at the rampaging werewolf and closes the crypt door. The girl, upon realising what she's done, wanders off into the dungeon — they never saw her again.

Day 18: Favourite game SYSTEM

That's a tough one. I obviously really like Kazamaták és Kompániák (you can find a few English posts here), but I'm also partial to The Fantasy Trip, Mongoose Traveller, and Call of Cthulhu / BRP.

Day 19: Favourite PUBLISHED adventure

One of my favourite adventure modules (one that I both played at a convention and later ran for my own group as well) is Melan's In the Name of the Principle. It's the perfect campaign starter: the players are tasked with a difficult mission of eliminating key figures in a city. It's an open-ended scenario with a clear initial goal — my favourite structure.

It might be cheating, but I'd like to nominate another favourite (campaign) module: Masks of Nyarlathotep. We haven't finished it yet with my group (although we're getting close), but I can already say it absolutely deserves being called the best published campaign module.

Day 20: Will still play in TWENTY years time...

I cannot really say. Twenty years is a long time... I will still probably run some form of OSR game (whether OD&D, Kazamaták és Kompániák, AS&SH, or something close to those). Aside from that, I have no idea.

Day 21: Favourite LICENSED RPG

I rarely play licensed RPGs. Does Dark Heresy count (as FFG licensed it from GW)? Or WFRP 4E?

Day 22: Best SECONDHAND RPG purchase

My very first RPG purchase was a used copy of a Hungarian game called Codex. Later I acquired a better quality copy of both the core rules and the magic supplement (Grimoire), and I haven't bought any secondhand books since (well, at least not RPG books).

Day 23: COOLEST-looking RPG product / book

The then-boyfriend of the older sister of a friend of mine had a Werewolf: the Apocalypse book with the claw marks cut into the cover. It really impressed me as a teenager.

Day 24: COMPLEX / SIMPLE RPG you play

I had a fairly extensive minimalist era with regards to rules, but I actually prefer crunchy games. One of my current favourites is Lancer (even though it's far from perfect), and I have also been impressed with WFRP 4E so far.

My favourite simple game is probably Mazes & Minotaurs (well, Vikings & Valkyries) followed closely by Ghastly Affair. Also Call of Cthulhu.

Day 25: UNPLAYED RPG you own

I have quite a few of those... The ones I really want to try at some point include Kult (1st edition), Modern War, Pendragon, and Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blade.

Day 26: Favourite CHARACTER SHEET

For a long while, my favourite character sheets have been those made by MrGone for the (old and new) World of Darkness. I'm also partial to the various d100 character sheets (Call of Cthulhu, BRP, WFRP, Against the Darkmaster, etc.).

Nowadays, I usually make my own character sheets in GoogleSheets, where I can semi-automate and share them with my players. It's definitely a function-over-form matter for me.

Day 27: Game you'd like a new EDITION of...

Hm, let me see...

• Behind Enemy Lines (new layout and more examples of play; new and more maps)
• ForeSight (an improvement and modernisation following the groundwork laid down in the previous editions and the James Bond RPG to become a generic system for modern and futuristic action-adventure games with a simulationist bend)
• Magic World (along with supplements and proper support from Chaosium)
• Mutant Chronicles (an improvement upon 2nd edition instead of the 2d20 system)
• Rifts (with a cleaned up but familiar system with much better organisation; gun & robot porn should stay, but the various options need to be mechanically significant)

Day 28: SCARIEST game you've played

I'm not sure I was ever "scared" while playing, and I don't think I ever really inflicted terror on my players. Some of my earlier World of Darkness games were pretty freaky, although usually more surreal than terrifying.

Day 29: Most memorable ENCOUNTER

My players really liked the dung monster in Rappan Athuk. We've also had some good fights in Lancer so far.

However, most of the memorable events in my games aren't really encounters but rather my players' responses to certain situations that often spiral out of control. The tale with the werewolf I shared above... The time when they used a Trojan Horse Beornian Goat to get into a village... When they accidentally killed (and then replaced in My Fair Lady fashion) the bride of a noble whose precious stone they were after... The list goes on.

Day 30: OBSCURE RPG you've played

The three most obscure games I played in the last 20 years, I reckon, are My Life with Master, Puppetland, and Warhammer: The Mass Combat Fantasy Roleplaying Game.

Day 31: FAVOURITE RPG of all time

It has to be a tie between Vikings & Valkyries and AS&SH (now Hyperborea). I generally like their mechanics, their settings, and all the memories we have generated playing them.

Lindenbaum 2021/22: Archer (by Morten Gottschalck)

This is part of a series where I briefly talk about the Lindenbaum Prize winners and runners-up. This is a friendly gamebook-writing competition, organised yearly by Stuart Lloyd. The entry discussed below was submitted for the 2021/2022 competition and won a Commendation Award. You can find the details of the competition here, links to all entries here, and the announcement of the winners here. Needless to say, all of these are available for free in PDF.

In this one you play a young hunter. You need to gather the funds to enter an archery competition and be ranked among the best three to have enough money to support your family (and perhaps allow you to take some time off adventuring and travelling). In this sense, some outcomes are better than others, but you don't need to win the competition to get a "good ending".

Mechanically, it's very straightforward. You need to keep track of your money (you need ten crowns to enter the competition) and your single stat, Concentration. Tests are rolled on 2d6, and you succeed on an equal or lower result. Concentration begins at 8, but it may be modified depending on your actions. Difficult tasks are usually represented by adding a number to your roll, or sometimes having you roll twice or with a different number of dice.

The author writes in a competent manner, using fairly descriptive and evocative prose. Word choices are mostly fine, and the details mentioned indicate a clear vision in the author's mind. However, the text is full of typos and grammatical errors. It's not worse than what an average internet user may encounter in any international space, but it still felt distracting.

The whole game consists of only 83 sections (numbered from 1 to 93, with a handful of missing numbers, and one unreachable paragraph), in circa 20k words. There are 20 bad endings and 5 good endings. It seems pretty rough, and luck obviously plays an important role, but overall I'd say it's pretty fair. Maybe a few of the bad endings could have had a few more steps, but I'm much more tolerant of harsh consequences in a short gamebook. Plus, if you could wander about too much, it would lose focus and stop being a short gamebook in the first place.

Things to improve upon:

• spelling and grammar (the prose would otherwise be pretty good)
• making sure all sections are reachable
• a few times the wording on modifiers was ambiguous (although the intent is trivial to work out)
• the game didn't really need both silver and gold coins; one of them should have sufficed
• I missed one particular outcome winning 1st prize in the competition but it's also sorta humbling not having it in the game
• the deal with the pouch of dust felt disconnected; maybe because of the length constraints? I thought it was a little random, to be frank