Posted on October 31, 2024
Arduin, Wonderful Arduin!
After my first shipment was lost by the carrier on my end, the wonderful David and George at Emperor’s Choice shipped me a replacement, full of extra goodies. I cannot express my glee!
During my period of inactivity on this blog, I stumbled onto Arduin (many OSR bloggers and podcasters stumbled across it around the same time so I probably have someone else to thank) and quickly fell in love with its idiosyncratic, high energy, kitchen-sink fantasy style – not to mention the Arduin Trilogy‘s pages and pages of glorious tables. I was therefore excited when Emperor’s Choice launched a Kickstarter this Summer, and even more excited when they very quickly fulfilled the Kickstarter with a set of stunning maps, art carts, and index box. They even threw in two (!!!) official Arduin back scratchers!
I am very much looking forward to Arduin Bloody Arduin, the new OSR edition of the game Emperor’s Choice has been working on. In the meantime, I will continue to entertain myself with these goodies and with my copy of Arduin Trilogy (available as a PDF on DriveThruRPG via this affiliate link, or in print from Emperor’s Choice). I’ll be sure to post again about Arduin in the future.
Posted on October 30, 2024
Exorcism
Most (but not all) of the Cleric NPCs in my Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaigns have been Christian clergy. Since my campaigns were mostly set in Early Modern Europe, that seemed to be an appropriate decision. Player characters Clerics have been more varied in their religious beliefs, but then, player characters are always exceptional in some way. Just as there were many infamous witch hunts in the 17th century, there were also many documented cases of (apparent) demonic possession. Often these were integral to the matters under investigation in the various witch hunts, of course. The Christian Rite of Exorcism was employed in such cases to expel demons from their unfortunate vessels, and frankly not only was it more historically and theologically correct, it also seemed more useful for Clerics in most circumstances than Turn Undead!
Here is a spell for Clerics in Basic D&D retroclones and derivatives, like Lamentations of the Flame Princess, intended to let them practice the Rite of Exorcism. I offer the spell as open game content if anybody is still game to use the OGL!
Exorcise
Cleric Level 1
Duration: Instantaneous
Range: Touch
This spell can drive a demon out of the victim of a demonic possession, or assist the caster in the interrogation of a demon which has possessed the mortal target of this spell. It cannot be used to banish a demon which has physically manifested outside of the body of a mortal host (for which purpose the spell Dispel Evil is recommended). The caster rolls 1d20 and adds their level, and either their Wisdom or Charisma bonus (whichever is higher). By placing holy relics on the head of the possessed person, the caster may obtain a further bonus of +1 to +3 depending on the holiness of the relics. The demon rolls 1d20 and adds their number of Hit Dice (the Hit Dice of the demon’s physical manifestation, not of their mortal host). If the caster does not call the demon out by name (if, for example, they do not know the demon’s name), then the demon adds +1d6 to their score. The Referee should roll the demon’s roll in secret. The caster must beat the demon’s score to cast the demon out. The degree of success or failure influences what happens next:
- Caster succeeds by 10 or more: The demon is driven out, and can never return to the same host again. If there is another demon present in the host whose presence is unknown to the caster, it will make itself known and reveal its name.
- Caster succeeds by 5 to 9: The demon is driven out, and cannot return to the same host for at least 3d12 days. If there is another demon present in the host whose presence is unknown to the caster, it will make itself known and reveal its name.
- Caster succeeds by 1 to 4: The demon is driven out of the host, and cannot return to the same host for at least 3d12 days.
- Draw: The demon appears to be driven out of the host, but is still present inside. It cannot resume control over the host for at least 3d12 hours, however.
- Caster fails by 1 to 4: The demon remains. If the mortal host is physically restrained, then the caster can ask the demon 1d4 questions, and the demon must answer truthfully to the best of its knowledge. The demon is not compelled to be helpful, however, and if the caster asks ambiguous questions, the demon is free to give ambiguous (though technically truthful) answers. If the demon does not know the answer to a question, the question is lost. If the mortal host is not restrained, then the demon will force the host to attack the caster.
- Caster fails by 5 to 9: The demon remains. If the mortal host is not restrained, then the demon will force the host to attack the caster. If the mortal host is restrained, the demon will attempt to free the host, lending them superhuman strength (+1d10 Strength) for 1d6 rounds to help break free.
- Caster fails by 10 or more: The caster must make a saving throw against Magic. If they fail, then the demon leaves its current host, and takes possession of the caster instead. If they succeed, then the demon attacks and/or attempts to break free, as above.
Posted on October 28, 2024
Roleplaying in Averoigne: Map
Averoigne is a dark, weird fantasy setting created by Clark Ashton Smith, one with a troubled history with roleplaying games after the famous Module X2: Castle Amber. This module was produced with the permission of Clark Ashton Smith’s literary estate, and was based heavily on the Averoigne cycle of short stories, poems, and novellas written about or set in the fantastical province of medieval France called Averoigne. The settings of those early modules for the Basic/Expert edition of Dungeons & Dragons became part of the larger Known World setting of B/X then BECMI D&D, by virtue of which, the province of Averoigne is part of Mystara. If you search for a map of Averoigne, you will almost certainly find something informed by if not based on the map of the province in Mystara or X2, and as a map of the D&D version of Averoigne, the one found in Mystara (or in the alternative plane of existence called Laterre) – it’s perfectly serviceable.
As a map of a fantastical province of France, however, it leaves much to be desired. The best specimen “X2” map which can be freely found online is Thorfinn Tait’s excellent version from the equally excellent Atlas of Mystara website. There’s three immediately obvious issues with the map when approaching it from the perspective of wanting it to represent a (realistic) province of medieval France:
- The name Cordeliers should refer to a convent of Conventual Franciscans, or its place. The area in Paris which gave its name to the famous Cordeliers Club of the French Revolution had that name because it had previously been the location of such a convent. It shouldn’t be a town.
- Touraine is an historic French province along the Loire Valley, the capital of which was Tours, an area so significant in the economy of medieval France that one of the main units of account for French currency was the “pound of Tours” (livre tournois). Touraine should therefore be “off map” as it isn’t within the province of Averoigne.
- Like Touraine, Moulins is a real place, this time a city probably vaguely to the north of Averoigne. Like Touraine, Moulins should therefore be “off map”.
I sought to use Averoigne as a fantasy setting within historical medieval France for my Chivalry & Sorcery (affiliate link) campaign, and so some degree of historical verisimilitude was important to me. In my view, the authors of X2 had placed Cordeliers and Touraine (and indeed, other places) on the map as towns, when Clark Ashton Smith himself didn’t necessarily intend these things to be found within Averoigne. Certainly, it is my strong view that the author of X2, the esteemed Tom Moldvay, placed “Touraine” as a town on the X2 map because a character in The Holiness of Azédarac introduced himself as being from Touraine, and the character meant the province of Touraine. Moldvay may have done this by mistaking the character’s meaning, or more likely, it was just a convenient name to turn into a place in the map for game purposes. Similar explanations probably apply for Moulins and Cordeliers. It’s unfortunate though that so the map from X2 has gone on to influence so many maps found online of the province of Averoigne, which are derivative of the D&D module rather than the primary sources!
I resolved that for my Chivalry & Sorcery campaign, I would need to create my own map. A far from perfect or fully detailed thing, with many additional places not named in any of Clark Ashton Smith’s sources as best suited my purposes as a game play aid, it at least does not replicate the “errors” of the maps based on X2. Instead, all errors are my own. The map, previously glimpsed here, is presented here in full size for personal use. I created the map using Hex Kit (affiliate link).
Posted on August 9, 2024
Review: Wight-Box
In recent years, while not posting here, I have been increasingly interested in OD&D and various retroclones. Many of these retroclones will be very well known to anybody likely to read this blog, and I do have a good many of them. There have been a couple which have come out recently which have particularly excited me, however, so much so that I was motivated to get back to posting here with a review. Wight-Box: Original Medieval Fantasy Adventure Campaigns is a retroclone by The Basic Expert, available both as pay-what-you-want as a PDF and in soft and hardcover in print from DriveThruRPG (affiliate links). I purchased my copy in softcover print.
I was drawn to Wight-Box because it advertises that it is based on Chainmail and the original 3 little brown books. I’m particularly interested in integrating Chainmail with OD&D, and I spent a good amount of time during the pandemic and subsequently working on my own “alternate evolution” of D&D, Mailed Fist, based on the combat system evolving more from Chainmail and less from the “alternative combat system” presented in OD&D Book I (i.e. the d20-based system). Wight-Box goes a different direction, sticking with the d20 mechanic, but adapting Chainmail‘s man-to-man combat system to the familiar d20, and doing a lot of other interesting work besides with a novel, well-organized presentation of OD&D. What emerges is a game which has both simple and familiar mechanics, but is also satisfyingly “crunchy” thanks to the extra bits from Chainmail which many retroclones forego.
The game has the same three character classes (Cleric, Fighting-Man, and Magic-User) as OD&D. Perhaps the name “Fighting-Man” is retained out of reverence for the original? All three classes are presented with their Chainmail Fighting Capability as they were presented in OD&D Book I (e.g. 2 Men, or Hero +1). In the combat rules, Wight-Box explains that Fighting Capability is used when fighting non-heroic level opponents (e.g. monsters with less than 4 hit die), when the attacker uses their Fighting Capability (or a Monster their HD) to determine how many attacks they can make against such opponents. These attacks are made at level 1 (i.e. without a higher attack bonus unless provided for by their Fighting Capability). When facing opponents of higher level, a single attack is made at the attacker’s character level per the attack matrices in the “usual” way familiar to the “alternative combat system”. This is one way Chainmail concepts are married with the alternative combat system.
Wight-Box also adapts Chainmail elements to the d20-based combat system by incorporating weapon class and different weapons being better or worse at attacking opponents with different armour. Some of this appears in other retroclones, and modifying the “to hit roll” required to hit a particular armour class based on the weapon being used made it into AD&D, although I’ve never played in a group which used the weapon type and armour class adjustments from the AD&D PHB. Weapon class also influences the ability to parry an opponent’s blow, and who attacks first. In this respect, Wight-Box is similar to my own game, although I think Wight-Box‘s presentation of the effects of weapon class is clearer than my own (at least in the current playtest version of Mailed Fist – maybe I can learn from that for the next release).
Beyond these mechanical “marriages” of Chainmail with the d20-based “alternative combat system”, Wight-Box also presents clear presentations of the different “subsystems” of OD&D and Chainmail, including air combat, naval combat, jousting (from Chainmail), and domain rules. In addition to this, there are appendices including novel subsystems/rules: dungeon generation, hex generation, oracles, NPC generation, room content generations, a thief class, and an adaptation of pole-arm rules from the Strategic Review. Collectively, it’s accessible, well-organized, and appealingly presented as a compact but “crunchy” ruleset.
Wight-Box is a well-put together retroclone of OD&D as presented in the 3LBBs and Chainmail. It’s based on the 5.1 SRD, not on Swords & Wizardry or Delving Deeper or another popular OD&D clone, and if you are looking for “yet another retroclone” of OD&D with some thoughtful incorporation of Chainmail concepts, Wight-Box is a worthy purchase.
Posted on October 26, 2020
Colony of Death
Colony of Death: Weird Fantasy Roleplaying in 17th Century Maryland is a third-party adventure module for Lamentations of the Flame Princess by Mark Hess. It is available in print via Lulu and via PDF from DriveThruRPG (affiliate link). This review is based on a reading of the print version, not on actual play. The author, Mark Hess, has released two other third-party products for Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but this is the first one available in print.
Colony of Death is a 58 page softcover adventure setting, including a high level summary of the English colony of Maryland in 1650, a colour hex map of the setting, a bestiary, random encounter tables, four brief adventures, and several other sections to bring some 17th century colonial flavour to your table, including New World Diseases and rules for growing tobacco in Maryland colony. There’s a lot of value packed into those 58 pages at a very reasonable price – $1.14 for the PDF and $4.99 for the printed book! The module would be terrific value at three times the price.
I have been drawn to the idea of the New World (or a fantasy analogue for it) for my next Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign for some time. You have wilderness exploration and relative isolation – both useful breeding grounds for horror. The existence of early European colonies in America was precarious – and that’s before you add any weird fantasy or horror complications. Colony of Death does a good job of giving us a sense of this historical precariousness with brief descriptions of the history of the colony and its people. The early religious tolerance between Catholics and Protestants gives way to the violence of the Plundering Times, for example, during which the English Civil War visits Maryland. The disease rules are suitably gritty and nasty, and establish deadly illness as an ever present and omnipresent fact of life in the colony (an historical state which somehow feels less distant in 2020 than it felt in 2019). In a short space, Hess paints an evocative picture of early colonial Maryland as an adventuring locale.
The bestiary is a combination of natural wildlife, supernatural creatures, and potential human foes. There’s 22 entries and random encounter tables for every type of hex in the Maryland map included in the module. The bestiary is not illustrated – some entries have a brief description text before the equally brief LotFP stat block, others are most self-explanatory and jump straight into the stat block. It’s a no-nonsense, working bestiary which will keep the player characters on their toes as they move about the colony. Like most LotFP products Colony of Death seems aimed at low-level characters so the encounters are mostly lower-level creatures, although there are a couple of 7 hit dice creatures too. It would be better with some artwork, but the bestiary is undeniably useful.
The adventures are a nice mixture of “mundane” and supernatural horror. They’re all sufficiently different from each other both to provide your campaign with some variety and to get you to think about the right mix of adventures for your own game. Any historical or pseudo-historical setting can only absorb so much “weird” before the historical aspects are so eclipsed by the weird ones that the setting no longer feels grounded and real – which in turn makes the weird fantasy elements feel less special. It’s important to get a mixture of mundane and supernatural adventures in your campaign in order to make sure the “weird” keeps feeling “weird”. I think this is the motivation for some recent official Lamentations of the Flame Princess releases such as No Rest for the Wicked and The Punchline. It is nice to see a mix of adventure types in a third-party product.
Colony of Death is 58 pages of gameable early colonial era weird fantasy roleplaying content with zero waste, and represents fantastic value in both formats. I highly recommend it. My only minor quibble is that the physical book I bought from US Lulu (it only seems to be available from the US at the moment) is printed in 6×9 inch format, which is slightly taller (just over 1cm) than the A5 size preferred by Lamentations of the Flame Princess. But that’s really nothing. This is a value-packed module, one of the best third-party publications for Lamentations of the Flame Princess I have purchased. If you want to run an OSR game in early colonial America, buy this book, you will not regret it.
Posted on July 26, 2020
Adventure Anthology: Blood
Adventure Anthology: Blood is the last of the planned three volumes of previously independently published LotFP features. The Adventure Anthology series has included Fire, Death, and Blood. Blood was recently released in print and PDF, and my print version has not yet arrived, so I am basing this review on the PDF. Blood is available from the LotFP webstore (EU store and US store) and in PDF only from DriveThruRPG (affiliate link).
Whereas the previous Adventure Anthology volumes reprinted adventures from the period after LotFP had found its feet as a publisher, which were already beautifully illustrated and laid-out, Adventure Anthology: Blood reprints some of the publisher’s earliest modules, and has therefore been given all new artwork and layout. This means that the PDF version of Blood is a PDF of the newly laid out and illustrated versions of the originals, not a ZIP file of the PDFs of the original adventures as was the case for Fire and Death. This makes Blood worthy of purchase even for those who own the originals, and even in PDF format, and appears to be why it was released on DriveThruRPG whereas the others were not. The artwork is by the talented author, artist, designer (and soon to be nude portraitist) Kelvin Green and the layout is by Alex Mayo. Both are mainstays of LotFP and their work updates the look of these adventures to be consistent with the high standards expected of the publisher in 2020.
The adventures in Blood are quite different from the “normal” LotFP fare from the era of the Rules & Magic book onwards. As James Raggi (who wrote all of the adventures in this volume) says in the foreword, these adventures are from “back in the day when I was still trying to fuse traditional heroic fantasy with my nascent understanding of the Weird.” This is actually a fondly remembered period in LotFP‘s history with many OSR Grognards found online, who complain that Raggi’s later works are “negadungeons” or less obliquely and more crassly, “party fucks”. While I don’t really agree with this assessment of the later LotFP titles, it does mean that this may be the first LotFP product in some time which may appeal to this “traditionalist” wing of the OSR, if they are willing to give a new title from LotFP a second look. This also means that these adventures are, on the whole, easier to adapt to a “standard” D&D campaign than most LotFP modules. It could even serve as a “gateway” book to gift a 5e DM looking for something different to do with their next game.
The first adventure in Blood is The Grinding Gear. Although I own the PDF of the original, I’ve never run this adventure. The premise is that an innkeeper with good cause to hate adventurers had his own tomb constructed as an adventurer-trap dungeon as revenge on adventurers as a social class as a cruel practical joke. It’s a fun, tongue in cheek premise. At first the adventurers will find an abandoned inn, but as they blunder through it, they will find the entry to the dungeon and there the real fun begins. The dungeon is initially surprisingly conventional (remember: this Raggi’s early work before all the elements of the current LotFP formula had come together), with progressively more devious traps and puzzles, especially once the players reach the second level. If the players do “beat” the dungeon and get the final treasure, they will have earned themselves a recurring opponent who “will test them again” – more like a determined prankster than a truly malevolent villain. I can imagine that players will feel pushed very hard by the traps and puzzles in the second level of the dungeon, and will indeed start to feel like the dungeon’s designer has tortured them for his own amusement. It’s not exactly eldritch horror, but it is a lot of fun and I think between the details of the dungeon’s designer and the types of traps and clues left in the dungeon, the tone is perfect, albeit quite different from newer LotFP adventures.
The second adventure in Blood is Weird New World. I’ve nearly used this module as the basis for a campaign twice, and each time reverted to the English Civil War because the players wanted to stay there. Weird New World is a sandbox inspired by the search for the Northwest Passage (but not actually based on the geography of the real world). LotFP had not definitively settled on Earth in the Early Modern period as its default setting when this adventure was originally published – in fact, the Grindhouse Referee’s Guide actively advises against using the real world as a setting – but it would be easy enough to imagine that this giant hexcrawl could take place in our own world, as a conceit to the idea that the area being explored really was unknown to those exploring it and that almost anything could be encountered up there in the icy northern waters. There’s a good mix between natural phenomena and beasts and fantasy creatures (elves most notably). Weird New World also features the “Eskuit”, a native people of many tribes, generally with a bad impression of elves (understandable given the nasty elves found in this module). In the political climate of 2020, I am genuinely not sure how the Eskuit will be perceived – to my reading, they are presented as a fairly obvious stand-in for the Inuit and nothing seems to be intentionally offensive or insensitive in their portrayal but I am not the one who gets to make that call. Exploration and colonial exploitation were themes of adventuring in the real-life 17th Century which seem like they are important and worthy of inclusion in any game using this historical setting however broadly. Weird New World may not be our “New World” but it seems far more appropriate to me that it has native peoples of its own just as the real “New World” which was explored and exploited by the European powers in this period did. Weird New World is an interesting sandbox for an exploration/wilderness survival horror campaign, and it’s one I keep coming back with the intent to use myself. Maybe someday!
The third adventure in the Blood volume is No Dignity in Death. This module is an extremely early one in LotFP history and until now I’ve only had it in A4-sized PDF, so the format update to be consistent with the rest of the LotFP line is extremely welcome. This adventure features “gypsies”, with Raggi’s heavy disclaimer that the portrayal is intentionally inaccurate and explanation of the prejudice against these people which he observed when he first moved to Finland and how surprising it was and how this influenced his decision to make the victims in this adventure gypsies to see what his players would do with the setup. Dealing with the prejudices of your players towards the ethnic group of the people they are supposed to be helping in an adventure may be a lot heavier than you might prefer in your elfgame! Much as the presence of the Eskuit in Weird New World may offend some, so may the presence of gypsies in No Dignity in Death – and it is not my place to declare these portrayals as “fine”, but at least in this adventure Raggi has made a conscious decision to make the victims who need the party’s assistance an exaggerated stereotype of an ethic group which is the victim of discrimination even in “enlightened” 2020 Europe. No Dignity in Death is set in Pembrooktonshire, a fictitious community which would be easily enough incorporated into a typical fantasy campaign setting or into Early Modern Europe (although it will require significant modification to really strike an historical feel, which may end up ruining the vibe).
There are really three different “adventures” presented in No Dignity in Death all presented in and around Pembrooktonshire, which is enormously detailed, with about one hundred pages of this volume given over to describing the community and its inhabitants in the People of Pembrooktonshire chapter. There’s a huge amount of material to mine here and Pembrooktonshire could easily become the base of your campaign. The key thing to know is that Pembrooktonshire is isolated and insular and has a strong sense of character which will come across in play. The players will realise that this is a distinct community with its own traditions and local culture. It’s also a profoundly weird place, albeit a very different kind of weird from the weird found in most of the more modern Lamentations of the Flame Princess line – it’s more surreal than horror, in my assessment. The three adventures in No Dignity in Death can be summarized as: a murder mystery, a deeply messed up local competition/human sacrifice, and a location-based adventure in the mountains. With all the details from the People of Pembrooktonshire chapter, these adventures have the potential to come to life, especially if you and your players like to get into character and roleplay social interactions.
The final adventure in Blood is Hammers of the God. In another departure from “modern” LotFP, which eschews demihumans, this adventure is based around dwarfs. This has advantages and disadvantages. How much do you like dwarfs? Depending on how much “dwarf lore” is established in your campaign setting, you may find that the adventure isn’t usable because dwarfs as they appear here are not the dwarfs of your campaign setting. If your dwarf lore is a bit more malleable, however, then this adventure is a world-building romp. Despite this being the most “traditional fantasy” adventure in the module, the weird horror flavour of Lamentations of the Flame Princess starts to come through with wormholes, aliens, and tentacles on random tables and in room descriptions. The appendices of this adventure have some useful tables, but one of them is very strangely laid out – “Appendix II: Book Descriptions” is a d100 table which spans many pages, but strangely, the reverse pages are blank. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for this layout decision – I am just reviewing the PDF though since the book has not shipped yet, so perhaps I am missing something which will be obvious once I have the physical copy.
Overall, Adventure Anthology: Blood revisits some early Lamentations of the Flame Princess modules with modern art and layout. Even for owners of the original modules, the new art and layout certainly justifies the cost of the PDF. I look forward to receiving my physical copy, which I am sure will be up to LotFP‘s usual excellent standards for physical products. As someone who discovered Lamentations of the Flame Princess after the originals of these modules were already out of print, I am very pleased that these adventures have been made available again in anthology form.
Posted on July 25, 2020
Fermentum Nigrum Dei Sepulti
Fermentum Nigrum Dei Sepulti (henceforth Fermentum) is a new adventure from Lamentations of the Flame Princess available in print and PDF from the LotFP web stores (EU Store and US Store) and DriveThruRPG (affiliate link). This review is based on the PDF version of the book so I cannot comment directly on the book quality except to say I expect it to be outstanding as all my other hardcover Lamentations of the Flame Princess books have been.
Fermentum is a weird fantasy monastery-crawl (that’s a thing now) featuring zombies controlled by an intelligent alien yeast which is used by the monks of the aforementioned monastery to brew outstanding beer famous through the local area of your campaign setting. The designer, Gord Sellar, cites as one source of inspiration “The Color(sic) Out of Space” by HP Lovecraft1, and this story probably best captures the initial premise of what is going on at the monastery, although Fermentum adapts this heavily both to the ostensible theme (monastic brewing) and to gaming purposes. This is not quite Gord Sellar’s LotFP debut, as he contributed to Green Devil Face #6, which is for some reason not available on DriveThruRPG and is thus the only issue I don’t have a copy of, but it is the first complete LotFP book he has completed as sole author. I believe it is one very worth of his reputation as a SF/weird fiction writer. This review attempts to avoid significant spoilers.
Fermentum features a unique set of infection rules for what happens when the “Black Barm” (the intelligent alien yeast) infects the player characters. This system features infection cards, which appear in the back of the PDF (presumably they’ll appear in the print book too) which should be printed out, cut out, and shuffled into decks to be drawn at the appropriate stage in the infection. At first I was disappointed to see this design choice as this product is a book, after all, and does not include separate cards, and it struck me initially like an awkward gimmick. Having read the cards and the explanation of how they are to be used, I feel much more comfortable with the decision and think that they neatly resolve what might otherwise be a fundamentally “unfun” (in a bad way) aspect of play with the adventure. Without spoiling the contents of any card, the infection cards are mostly provided as a tool for players to roleplay out the result of their player character’s infection. This mitigates the problem in play which some spells, powers, and effects have of taking control away from a player and effectively rendering them a spectator rather than a participant in the game. It is true that they are gradually losing control of their characters as the infection becomes worse, but through the use of infection cards, the players are given a lot of scope to interpret the effects of the infection on their character. The infection cards are the primary new game mechanic in Fermentum and I think they achieve both the narrative purpose (protagonists falling under the “spell” of the unknowable alien entity as in “The Colour Out of Space”) and the gaming purpose (preserving the players as active participants in the game and in the shaping of the impact of the infection on their character) admirably.
While I’ve visited medieval monasteries as a tourist, I’ve no particular expertise in their particulars. With that disclaimer, the monastery itself (the Abbey of St. Christopher, technically) feels realistic to me, and Sellar has rendered the primary adventure location in a way which feeds true to historical reality, overlaid and overwhelmed by the weird caused by the Black Barm. This creates wonderful contrast between the mundane and the extraordinary. The adventure is assisted in this with maps which are both attractive and functional, and which are generally presented on the same spreads as the description of the locations depicted on the maps. It’s functional, realistic, and evocative.
Although it is by a different artist, the obviously Gonzalo Aeneas, the interior art work is reminiscent (in a good way) of Jez Gordon’s work in earlier Lamentations of the Flame Princess releases. Fermentum is illustrated with high contrast black and white interior artwork featuring recognisable but distorted human forms highly suggestive of “the weird” which is going on. The layout is reminiscent of a 17th century printed book in many ways, with supposedly handwritten marginalia in a variety of languages. The effect is slightly spoiled by the use of modern “hand writing” fonts rather than being actually handwritten (although that’s probably necessary for legibility). Colour coded tabs adorn the outer edge of each page to make it easy to find your way through the book (very handy given the PDF is 104 pages long including the infection cards). The whole presentation is consistent with the high standards we have come to expect from Lamentations of the Flame Princess.
Fermentum is an inspiring and substantial addition to the Lamentations of the Flame Princess product line-up, at over double the size of the largest of 2019’s offerings. It is at once something new and impressive from a new (to our hobby bookshelves anyway) and impressive author, and entirely at home thematically and aesthetically with the existing Lamentations of the Flame Princess range. I highly recommend it!
- Lovecraft of course being an Anglophile retained the proper u in the word colour in his title, unlike the recent film adaptation of the story, which is excellent despite the spelling.
Posted on June 22, 2020
Deep Carbon Observatory Remastered
I backed the Deep Carbon Observatory Remastered Kickstarter, and received the hard copy of my new book yesterday. I have never played Deep Carbon Observatory (either version) so this review is based on a reading only. I will start my review with a section aimed at those familiar with the original, and then move on with a section aimed at anyone, whether they are familiar with DCO or not.
What’s New?
The new book is an A4 hardcover, with glossy interior pages and two ribbons. Its layout preserves the aesthetic of the original but seems much more functional. Each spread is clearly numbered (in the top left and right corners), and the maps are keyed to each spread. The maps in the remastered version as much more legible than they were in the original, redrawn in isometric projections on much larger scales, at both the front and back of the book to be easy to reference in play. The spread numbers and keys on the map make it very easy to quickly flick between maps and the appropriate page. The Remastered book now features an index rich in detail (not just titles and page numbers, but including a very brief summary of key information). These features make the new book a great deal more functional than the original as a publication.
The book also features expanded content as opposed to the original. Once again, this new content has the effect of making the adventure substantially easier to use, in my personal view. I found the dive straight into the crisis of Carrowmore without any real context in the original DCO disorienting in my read through of the original book. The book now provides 30 different hooks, an introduction to DCO, how it should be run, intended character levels, and so on. Even once we move into the material which was there before (e.g. the 18 box “The Flood” flowchart), this material is made more usable with small enhancements to the content and formatting. The Crows are now stated more clearly for Lamentations of the Flame Princess and have clearer advice for the referee about how to run them. This pattern continues throughout the book, especially for the more important encounters.
The new maps from Dirk Detweiler Leichty and new, larger artwork from Scrap Princess now add much more visual interest to the Remastered book. The art style is consistent with the original but the size and improved printing quality has enhanced the effect considerably. The style may still remain divisive and is not necessarily for everyone – but for me, Scrap Princess captures the frenetic energy, the sense of despair and desperation which perfectly matches the write-ups of creatures and encounters in the module. I also really like the new maps by Dirk Detweiler Leichty – they are much more functional in play than the maps included in the original, and much more clearly communicate the three dimensional nature especially of the “dungeon” parts of the adventure. You can pick these up PWYW on DriveThruRPG right now (affiliate link) if you are fence sitting about the new remastered book and it might help you make up your mind.
If, like me, you were always interested in the original Deep Carbon Observatory and found the adventure compelling, but hesitated running it in your campaign because you didn’t find it sufficiently accessible to actually try running it, the remastered version is a worthy upgrade. I now definitely want to actually play this module, and feel that the new book will actually help me run it. In short, Deep Carbon Observatory now feels like it wants to be actually played. If you found the old version perfectly playable, and you already enjoyed it, though, then I think the question really is – do you want a “deluxe” version of the physical book? If you do, and you’re prepared to pay £25 for it, then the remastered DCO is there for you. Otherwise, you are probably fine keeping your existing book, and maybe just checking out the maps from the remastered version.
New to DCO?
Deep Carbon Observatory is an OSR adventure with a DIY, art house aesthetic by Patrick Stuart and Scrap Princess. It is a dark, bleak module, which starts off in a drowning town and finishes in an observatory at the bottom of a deep mineshaft carved out of the depths of the earth by slaves in aeons past. If they survive, the player characters will pick over the bones of a long dead civilization for its discarded and forgotten treasure. This is not Faerûn – this is grimdark survival horror fantasy.
The module describes itself as “theoretically survivable” for a level 1 party, but is aimed at a party of characters of levels 3 to 5. Most monsters and hostile NPCs have less than 5 HD, but the toughest enemies have more, and the biggest foe has 15 HD. As with most OSR games and adventures, the raw challenge rating of encounters is far from the full story about how challenging the adventure is likely to be. Player skill and strategy will be more important for success in DCO than player character levels and abilities.
Unlike the original version of the module, Deep Carbon Observatory‘s remastered edition has a number of compelling hooks for player characters. The ultimate objective is to reach an ancient magical gate deep within the earth, underneath a lake, upriver from the town of Carrowmore, and from there perhaps to escape with the treasure of an ancient empire.
The adventure starts with the characters on the scene of a natural disaster – this is an uncommon opening in adventure modules to say the least, and will certainly set the tone of darkness and despair as no matter what the players do they will be unable to save everybody. On the other hand, if your player characters don’t even try, as a referee you’ll know from the start that your PCs are amoral arseholes and maybe the tone of the rest of the adventure won’t affect them very much either. The adventure provides a flowchart-based approach for witnessing the various small human tragedies which comprise the flood of Carrowmore, and I believe this will create a dynamic and chaotic feeling in play as the players respond to some events and not to others, with consequences for both. It’s a unique opening to an adventure.
From this opening the adventure moves on to a race to the observatory through the devastated valley beyond Carrowmore, up the walls of the destroyed dam, and to the vast, ancient underground structure where the gate and the eponymous observatory lie. The race strikes me as both crucial to maintaining the pace of the adventure and as the part which will likely be the most difficult to run “as designed” in play. Players like being fully rested, with their full array of spells prepared, before they go into danger. To maintain a sense of desperation and keep that “survival horror” feeling established early on in the adventure, the players can’t be allowed to rest lightly. Any delay on their part must cost them. This is clearly the intention of the race as described in the book – rival adventuring parties (and other groups) are hot on their tails, and delays will lead to more challenges and complications in the form of dealing with these rival parties. Many players, especially those used to 5e D&D’s rest mechanics, will push back on this pressure and respond in ways which will lead them onto sidetracks – they refuse to be harried and will try to “take out” the pursuers so that they can approach the rest of the adventure at their leisure. Referees will need to play the rival parties and adversaries in the race “smart” in order to keep the pressure on, so that the party feels that the best direction for them to keep going is forward. Even then, a smart party knowing it is going to play a long term campaign which will last beyond the Deep Carbon Observatory module may reason that they may as well stop and fight their pursuers now, as otherwise they will have to fight them on their way back, when they will presumably be in substantially worse shape. There’s nothing wrong with the party succeeding at destroying its pursuers, of course, but it will mean there’s a lot less tension in the remainder of the adventure if they do so.
Where I find Deep Carbon Observatory most compelling is in its description and the exploration of the ancient structures left behind by the long extinct civilisation, and in the guardians that ancient culture has left behind. The description of the ancient culture’s structures and its guardians are compelling, but sometimes, only the referee will be able to properly appreciate this. The ancient golems, for example, are both ominous and tragic foes. They are slowly dying through the course of the adventure, and the longer the player characters take to meet the golems, the weaker the golems will be when they are encountered (all the more reason why the race must succeed at keeping up the pace!). Unfortunately, only the referee is likely to feel the sense of inevitable doom which makes these golems so compelling as an encounter. The golems, weakening day by day, are slowly dying. The player characters are unlikely to realise this – they’re going to encounter golems with x many hitpoints and that’s likely to be the only encounter they have with them. They will not realise that if they met the golems a day earlier, x would be larger, or if they had encountered them a day leater, x would be smaller – and this is a shame because the size of x is the only way a player character can directly observe the decay of these ancient servitors. The sense of ancient decay and despair will be more properly appreciated by the players in locations such as “The Slave Caves”, however, where the suffering and aeons of misery will be more directly observable.
There are very many great modules in the OSR scene where the adventurers themselves will rarely get more than glimpses of what is truly going on. This is not necessarily a problem – in fact, it rather helps the richness of the sense of mystery about an ancient dungeon if the players catch glimpses of it but the referee knows much more. If the details even the referee has are few and disjointed, however, then the players are more likely to be confused by the glimpses they get than they are to develop a sense of mystery and awe. It is my feeling that Deep Carbon Observatory belongs more in the former camp – that the players will finish the adventure with a sense of mystery, albeit one which they have only glimpsed in incomplete but compelling pieces. This is based only a reading, and not on actual play, so I may be proved wrong. I am, however, now determined to find out, which is the great success of the remastered Deep Carbon Observatory in my view – the compelling promise of the original has been developed into something which I now find playable and want very much to run.
Affiliate Links
You can get Deep Carbon Observatory from DriveThruRPG in PDF:
- Deep Carbon Observatory Remastered (but I recommend buying the book in print here – this not an affiliate link but it’s just better to have a hardcover book)
- Deep Carbon Observatory original – now pay what you want
- The remastered DCO maps
- Feast of Bukako – a free spellbook including all the spells mentioned in DCO