Tabletop Gaming Feeds

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on June 20, 1985.

Hex #1: Here at last is the series that's been teased (in the pages of Jonah Hex, at least) for the past few months. Fleisher and Texeira have Jonah Hex plucked from the 19th century and brought to some unspecified, post-apocalyptic near future (far enough away that capes and big metallic shoulder pieces have come into fashion, though). Hex was brought to the future by rich geezer, Borsten, who collects historical warriors--quite literally. He promptly escapes, though, and winds up teamed with a woman wasteland raider named Stilletta. He falls in with her gang of Road Reapers, who raid settlements to steal water in the radioactive deserts in the vicinity of Seattle. Hex has his doubts about the morality of all this, but before he can formulate a plan, fate steps in. Someone has tipped off the next target, and there's an ambush, and the gang's leader Falcon takes a dislike to him, so Hex winds up on his own with a stolen hover cycle and a costume out of Road Warrior. Then he almost has a head on collision with a Vietnam-era military helicopter!
Westerns were at an ebb in the early 80s and sales were apparently poor on Jonah Hex, so with post-apocalyptic films a fad in the wake of Mad Max, this new direction makes some sense. As a kid, I hadn't been a regular reader of Jonah Hex, but this title got my attention for its subject matter and the dynamic art of Mark Texeira.

Batman and the Outsiders #25: Barr and Davis have most of the Outsiders out of costume this issue as they go about the arrangements for the wedding of Metamorpho and Sapphire Stagg. Meanwhile, Halo is becoming part of the religious cult community she had stumbled into and doesn't notice anything sinister at first. She misses when the father of Brother David visits the community to try get his son to return home, and he's surreptitiously drugged by "Brother Abraham's" second in command. We learn later that he's a general working with "Star Wars," but I'm sure that's a coincidence.
Ultimately, David asks Halo to marry him, and he plans for them to leave the community. The cult leaders catch them, and Brother Abraham is revealed as Kobra. He recognizes Halo as a member of the Outsiders. Under threat of David's death, Kobra forces her to reveal Batman's secret identity. 

Blue Devil #16: Mishkin/Cohn and Kupperberg/Maygar continue the Vanquisher story from last issue. Marla,in the hands of the Vanquisher, Verner's chauffeur, Vance, whose brain is being affected by his super-suit, has to figure out a way to get him to calm down and keep herself out of danger. When the Vanquisher isn't reacting to unreal enemies, he starts to get rational. Then Dan shows up and almost blows things, but Marla quickly clues him in, and they've got things settled down when Kid Devil shows up and again stirs things up. Ultimately, Vance returns to his normal self, and Marla agrees to a date with him.

Green Lantern #192: Engelhart and Staton/Patterson spend most of this issue giving some background on Star Sapphire and her relationship to Carol, explaining how we got to this point. I don't know Star Sapphire's history well enough to know if any of this is retcon or not. After Star Sapphire tells her story, she leaves Hal and travels to Zamaron. Green Lanterns John Stewart, Katma Tui, and Dalor, following some Zamaron raiders, arrive on Zamaron in time to witness Star Sapphire's coronation as the new queen.

Infinity, Inc. #18: Either the Thomases are trying to make the Helix into a big deal or this issue is padded, because in addition to getting the Helix's origin (as victims of illegal in utero experimentation) and a fight between them and Infinity, Inc., we get a whole sequence of them robbing a store for "humor" and to showcase their powers and personalities. There's also a pin-up of them in the back of the issue. McFarlane is still leaving a lot of space in the layout that he's filling with character logos instead of just making the story panels bigger. Anyway, the issue ends on a cliffhanger or two with Jade poisoned with Mr. Bones's cyanide and the Harlequin confronting Thorn.

New Teen Titans #12: Wolfman and Woch/Tanghal give us a ghost story as Nightwing's and Cyborg's encounters with a ghostly little girl lead the team on an investigation that uncovers a murder of a family by the mob 50 years ago in Dick's apartment. It's not a bad bit of investigative storytelling, but it seems sort of out of place in a superhero team book. It would have worked better as a solo Nightwing story.

Sgt. Rock #404: Kanigher and Kubert bring us a reprint from Our Army at War #158 in 1965 repackaged with cool new Kubert cover. It tells the story of Rock's first meeting with the Iron Major, who's a bit of a different character here (commandant of a prison camp thanks to his injury and prosthetic) and pretty clearly intended to be a one-off. We also get an interesting detail about Rock's past: He and his brother were originally paratroopers involved in a test of gliding techniques to reduce mortality in cases of parachute failure over water. In a test of these techniques in a jump from the Golden Gate bridge, his brother Josh (Josh Rock?) is killed. Strangely, Josh calls his brother "Rock" throughout the flashback instead of "Frank." I wonder if Kanigher envisioned Rock as the Sargeant's first name in 1965? 

Saga of Swamp Thing #40: Moore and Bissette/Totleben bring us a feminist werewolf story. Swamp Thing follows Constantine's direction and goes to Maine where a woman named Phoebe has been transformed into a wolf creature under the moon by the lingering anger of the Pennamaquot Indian women who were forced to stay in a lodge while menstruating on the site where Phoebe's house is now located. Swamp Thing speaks with her but is no match for her rage. Ultimately, she kills herself on a knife display in a supermarket. Constantine shows up again, and Swamp Thing angrily tells him he's going home to Louisiana, but that's exactly where Constantine wants him to go.

Warlord #97: I reviewed this issue here.

Superman Annual #11: This is the second Moore scripted Superman story this month, this one with art by Gibbons. It's certainly the more famous of the two, having been adapted to an episode in the first season of Justice League Unlimited, and being reprinted as soon as 1988 in Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told. Interestingly, like the DC Comics Presents story, it involves Superman being taken over by an alien, non-animal organism. 
Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman arrive at the Fortress of Solitude for Superman's birthday to find the Man of Steel seemingly insensate with an alien plant attached to his chest. This is the work of Mongul, who steps up to explain that the plant can psychically project a person's heart's desire, trapping them in a dream. While Wonder Woman fights Mongul, Batman and Robin try to remove the plant. Meanwhile, Superman experiences a world where Krypton survived, and he has a wife and child there.
With help from his friend's and his own force of will, Superman escapes the dream, though losing his son is emotional wrenching. Batman is briefly caught in his own dreamworld, but Robin saves the day, throwing the plant on Mongul before the alien can defeat Superman in a fight.


Who's Who #7: We finish off the D's here with a number of characters that haven't appeared a lot. Dr. Regulus last appeared in 1982 in Legion of Super-Heroes #286, while Dr. Psycho appeared in an arc in'82, but last showed up in Wonder Woman #325 earlier in '85. Dr. Thirteen had a run in Ghosts in 1981 and was last seen in a bit part in Batman #354 in '82. The others are more obscure, except for Dolphin who gets a sultry illustration by Dave Stevens and did appear as one of the Forgotten Heroes. 
Then, we're into the E's. There are bit players from now-ended titles: Earthworm from the never-satisfactorily solved storyline in the Huntress backup stories, and Eradicator from Supergirl. Then, Easy Company gets a 2-page spread by Kubert. The Eclipso entry has art by Gibbons, presumably because he drew him recently in Green Lantern. Elongated Man shows up in a costume he hadn't yet worn in the comics ny Infantino. With end the issue with two F's, one of which is Fastback from the Zoo Crew.

 Classic BECMI (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortal) and Rules Cyclopedia D&D typically utilize a nested 1d8 / 1d12 system for wilderness and dungeon generation. However, compiling those monsters into a flat, true d100 percentile framework makes running spontaneous classic hex-crawler sessions drastically faster.This photo came from Wayne's books in the article, 'BECMI Dungeons &Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

 Building a Sky-Ship (or Sky-Galley) using Warriors of the Red Planet (WotRP) within the framework of ACKS II turns a simple vehicular purchase into a major logistical, engineering, and financial project. This blog post picks up right from Building The Red Planet Empire - Mixing Warriors of the Red Planet (WotRP) with the Domain-level Architecture of ACKS II RpgIn ACKS II, large Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

By David Hay
Third Castle Games
OSE
Levels 1-3

Travel from sun-drenched beaches to dense jungle trails, over vine-rope bridges and up volcanic cliffs. Encounter lizardmen, the living dead, diabolical cultists and worse. Find magical items, gold and perhaps some glory too. Or at least a good tale to tell, should you make it to the taverns of Hardwind Harbour. But don’t tarry too long – for dark smoke belches from the volcano and the earth trembles. Where will your party be when it erupts?

This 74 page adventure uses about 55 pages to describe sixteen points of interest, and some of their dungeons, on a tropical island you are shipwrecked on. It’s pretty good for what it is, combining some ok formatting and a more situational approach to the adventure. I wish the overall situation on the island, how it works together, was addressed just a little more.

Oh no! You’re shipwrecked on a topical island! You probably find your way to the pirate town and there you probably find out it’s a lot harder to join a pirate crew than I thought. The island, while it has a map, is laid out like a pointcrawl. Each location is either self-contained or has a small complex/’dungeon’ attached to it. A couple of caves, a town, a necropolis, ye olde volcano temple, and so on, each with between eight to, say, eighteen locations in them. 

Ostensibly you are trying to get off the island, and many of the paths/leads go to the pirate town where you can bargain with the pirates. There’s pirate intrigue in the town, of course, and everyone wants something in order to help you out. But, also, there are other things about. You can find a small rowboat at one beach, and you see a much smaller island offshore, and it has a ship on it. A cursed ship, as it turns out. Do you know how to sail? Do you know how to recruit sailors to man a cursed ship? 

And, thus, we see a larger kind of more traditional hex crawl sort of thing going on in this adventure. In those more traditional hex crawls there are generally resources and wants/needs from others that the party exploits to fulfill their needs. They are generally not explicitly noted, with perhaps a few linkages explicit but in most other cases the party comes up with some crazy thing to do to exploit hex Y to do something in hex X. And this adventure, while a pointcrawl, does much the same thing. There ARE explicit linkages between the sites, Bob wants you to deal with the cult or Frank needs their crew found before they can do THE THING. But there are more than enough resources, and weirdo things going on, that the party can exploit things of their own design as well. This is good. The designer has written the adventure to present situations, expanding that to also present some more traditional crawls, and that situation-forward writing is what enables the more free-form non-linear gameplay. And, as the adventure reiterates a couple of times: “oh, and don’t forget to make the volcano explode!” 

The more traditional “dungeons” are decent, as well. Underground passages to swim to are a great example of a kind of hidden area of a dungeon that a party paying attention to can discover to get a reward/danger. A bridge over a chasm … and exploring the BOTTOM of the chasm is another example of that. Something a little oblique but obviously present, that the party can poke their noses in to. It’s the ol “cave behind the waterfall’ thing that I love so much. There are also rope bridges over a valley, complete with a corpse hanging from it and wild baboons on it. Or crack in a sea cave floor with an old rowboat, rickety, spanning it. The old “sarcophagus with something inside banging on it to get out’ thing. The rooms, much like the hexes, generally have more than one thing going on in it and many times the dangers are telegraphed well. A pool with luminescent seaweed, and when you go fucking around inthe pool you find out its strangleweed. Well, the DM told you the fucking seaweed glowed, did you think it was just window dressing. For that room, in particular, there’s a sandy floor with footprints, a pool of water, with the underground passage, a howling sound coming from somewhere and then that seaweed, and it’s all handled in one column rather than droning on and on. 

As that column note implies, formatting and word count here is pretty spot on. There’s a little sections at the top of an entry that could be read-aloud or inspiration, with some bolded words that reference bullets deeper in the description. A couple of sentences for each bullet, and two to three for the read-aloud/summary. It’s easy to scan and easy to locate information. There is a case of three of information being presented a little late, with something more critical to the action being presented later in the description/bullets. If there’s an ancient red dragon in the room then maybe get to that part sooner rather than later, yes?

I do want to call out something I rarely do: the art. More than once in this I thought some associated art pieces did a GREAT job of bringing the room better to life, which is what I think ALL art in an adventure should do. I understand this is subjective to some degree, but I know it when I see it. Tommaso Devitofrancesco and Gary Trow are credited with the interior art and one/both of them did a good job. “This large room is filled with magnificently sculpted statues standing in rows. At one end of the room war relics are displayed – trophies taken from the Old Empire’s defeated foes. Mosaics depicting famous victories festoon the walls.” This is accompanied by an art piece of greek-style warrior statues on plinths that really brings home the scale of the room. It’s one of the few times that good art in an adventure made me want MORE art pieces to do the same for EVERY encounter. (Which I’d probably then bitch about, but, whatever.)

There’s not a lot of padding in this thing. A few pages of pre-gens and one page of magic items at the end. The preamble before the keys are focused on wanderers and other pertinent information. Still, I wish perhaps the ‘summary’ information was just a little more in depth. A better overview of the various linkages between sites and perhaps a bit more about … campaigning? Hiring a ship, living in town, a sentence on expeditions … this is an expansive adventure and the support for that part of the play could have been better. The whole “jungle vibe” thing doesn’t really come through much at all. I think this is related to the pointcrawl nature; the immersive jungle setting doesn’t come through because the journey to the next time is essentially abstracted in a point crawl. That doesn’t have to be bad, but it needs a little attention, I think, to bring the journey part to life. The sites feel weirdly disconnected, which I guess makes sense give the pointcrawl nature. But, as I said, the designer must then remedy this. And the lack of travel time issues almost certainly strengths this abstraction and minimizes the jungle vibe. 

Still, a pretty decent adventure. I’m happy I found it and happy to see what the publisher does next.

This is $16 at DriveThru. The preview is nine pages and shows you the entirety of the starting point/cave complex. It’s a good representation of the encounters to be found, and shows off the nice Glynn Seal maps. 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/552809/escape-the-devil-s-eye?1892600

Only seldom is the summit not shrouded in clouds, but on that rare day when it is visible, it's easy to see how the mining town in the high valley below gets the name Silver Peak. The pinnacle is forever sheathed in ice and snow that doesn't retreat with the change in season thanks to maddened elemental fae, forever enraged at some ancient insult.
In the glaciers that run like deep, blue veins from summit there is para-elemental ice that resists melting for long periods. If another reason to mine the Dagards beside rich stories of thaumatite and occasional manastones was needed, the arcane ice provides it. The ice is the simplest and most widespread means of refrigeration and cooling in Parsulan, and until magitechnologists rediscovered the means to make it, the Ice Barons of Silver Peak were the supplier of that ice.
Each of the ice magnate families controlled territory around Silver Peak, which was mostly neutral ground as it was a necessary resource exploited by all. Their workers lived there, and it was everyone's haven from the periodic assaults by monsters and Fomori. 
In addition to periodic attacks by hostile creatures and thunderstone eruptions that can blast a miner (or part of them) high into the sky, ice mining carries unique hazards. When they take notice of intruders (which is only occasionally but often enough to be a risk), the fae turn their anger on them. Miners have had their blood frozen in their veins or had the ice winds of a blizzard blasted into their lungs. Sometimes the fae animated crude physical forms to attack. 
These assaults have only gotten worse, perhaps, since the Ice Castle was uncovered. In the last century, the miners delved too deep and stripped a layer of ice so that the structure encased within it came into view: a castle of soaring towers and fanciful battlements. No one knows who built the castle or what became of its inhabitants.

Since the Castle was revealed, the fae have become more active. Now they howl down from their usual haunts into the valley in the winter, creating unnatural cold. They are also more aggressive toward miners.
There are other strange things. People swear they see inexplicable tracks leading down form the castle, and then there is the weird music that sometimes drifts over Silver Peak.
Fewer miners are willing now to take the risk, and then there was the miners' union and demand for fairer wages and better protections. The ice barons have dwindled in number and influence, but the most tenacious of them have over time joined by intermarriage into one clan, the Stonehearts.

 Here is a d100 encounter table tailored for classic B/X Dungeons & Dragons (and compatible Old School Renaissance systems).Yes I totally stole this photo from Wayne's Books from here. To keep this highly functional for a standard B/X campaign, the table is structured around the classic dungeon tier logic: Levels 1 to 3. It balances standard low-level fantasy staples with faction Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

 In ACKS II, Level 2 of Quasqueton transitions from a military fortification to a hostile subterranean wilderness. Wandering encounters here are not just combatants—they are environmental pressures that test the party’s resource management (light, rations, sanity) in a damp, enclosed ecosystem. This post  picks right up from Meditations on the classic In Search of the Unknown (Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

You see, I do all this stuff for fun, not for a living. I admire and respect my friends and cohorts who make a living at it. I do not.

I also never look at my DTRPG earnings. I'm terrible. I even neglect comments so that I see questions asked a year later. I'm terrible.

Anyway, I did run some quick numbers just out of curiosity. I predicted that the Black Pudding Heavy Helping books would be the ones that sold the most, and it's true. By a country mile. But I was pleasantly surprised that GOZR came in second to them. I had this feeling that while GOZR was the most labor intensive thing I'd ever done, it was a big fat super unknown. And it is... in the grand scheme who the hell knows about GOZR?

In terms of pure downloads, the Black Pudding zines are far and away the highest (5,678 "sold" for BP 1, for example). But they are also free (pay what you want), so that makes sense.

All told, if I had to live off what I'm earning on DTRPG, me and my family would have died a decade ago. But I kinda knew that already. I'm just stoked when anyone buys a copy of anything I do. I appreciate it! You help me keep going.

In August 2016 I published Rabbits & Rangers. That's ten years ago! Time flies.

I thought I'd look back on the book since I haven't touched it in many years.

First, I went with a traditional digest format, which is nice. The POD print book is compact, cool. Good job, me.

Layout was done by Matt Hildebrand and I have to hand it to Matt... this thing still looks cool to me. Thanks Matt!

Speaking of thanks, flipping through it this morning I didn't spot any errors. Oh I'm sure there are some that slipped through, but Andy Solberg lent his meticulous editorial eyes to this thing and I'm forever in his debt. Thanks Andy!

The Monday Doomslakers RPG group played this game. I ran an adventure called Sheep on the Borderlands... get it? So thanks to them for enduring it. We started gaming in 2014 and, with a few changes in membership, we're still going strong today (currently playing Boot Hill 3e!).

Ok, so anyway... here are some things about the book I had forgotten that I believe are quite good.

1. Size differential table. I kept it simple. Sizes are small, medium, and large. You get +1 or -1 based on where you fall on that scale compared to your opponent in a fight. Small vs. small +0, small vs. med the small guy gets +1. Small vs. large, small fry gets +2. I think that's elegant and simple.

2. Natures. Inspired by the exaggerated personalities of old cartoons, you pick or roll for a Nature. If you're a Bully, then you act like a Bully. If you're Rascally then you're always one step ahead. And so forth. I think this reinforces the cartoon inspirations, but isn't too intrusive.

3. Death options. This has become something of a theme in my games. GOZR certainly has this. In R&R, you get to decide if your character dies at zero HP or not. The choice comes with cost, of course. If you die, you get a benefit to your next PC. If you live, you're knocked down a few levels until you earn 1,000 XP. I'm not sure why I did it that way, honestly. If I wrote this today I'd just say you're knocked out for a few rounds and get back up with 1 HP. But that was 10 years ago and I was firmly entrenched in OSR thinking... the idea of letting a PC live after the dice called for death?? Preposterous!

4. HD limits and XP mods. I put a lot of thought into this book. Looking at it now, I see hundreds of files of revisions and ideas. I spent a long, long time on this bastard. The tone and logic had to work. So it mattered to me that a mouse Fighter and a moose Fighter would have the same HD and stuff. It doesn't make sense. So I put limits on them. The mouse has a d4 HD limit, even as a Fighter. But they get a beefy +20% XP bonus. I also applied ability score modifiers quite liberally, but with balance. The mouse, for example, gets +3 to Dex but -3 to Str. They also get +1 to Cha (cute mice!) and a bump to AC for being small and quick. All animals get similar considerations for their size, speed, and traditional characteristics.

5. 21 new spells, 18 new magic items, 14 new creatures*. Notes and advice about armor and weapons that work for the vast array of animal shapes. Like... you find some plate mail in a dungeon. You're a polar bear and your companion is a bat. What are the odds this armor fits either of you? Well, unless the LL already knows the answer, you roll 1d6 to see what size it is. Then maybe you roll a percentile to see if it's specialty. Maybe you'll get lucky and find a rare All-Fitting Armor, which is described in the book.

Some of my favorite little bits:

StoatThe first level spell Ahkme's Catalog. The mage sends gold and a request by way of a magic bird to the laboratories of the geniuses at Ahkme. Within the hour, the bird returns with a package delivery containing an item that may help in their situation. You roll on a table to see if the thing explodes in your face or works like a charm. There's also a magic ring of Ahkme you can find.

Spells that target certain types, such as Down to Earth, a spell that grounds avian creatures.

The cute little animal portraits! I did one for each of the 50 animal types and I adore them, even if I drew them. I'm not above loving my own work. And it's so rare that I adore my own work from so long ago.

 

I'm waxing nostalgic now, but I have a hankering to run this again. What's more... there exists an expanded edition that started as a sequel. I did all the work of adding 50 more animals, some new spells, etc. I just didn't finish the work. It's something I'd like to do... but I would have to put myself back into a full on Labyrinth Lord mode and beg Matt to do an updated layout for the expanded edition. It would be worth it, though. Hopefully I would hold firm and keep to the classic LL format... complete with descending AC.

But there's also the strong possibility I'd want to change the whole thing to mesh with Black Pudding Play Book... and that would be awesome too.

The PDF is free to download. 

*Fun fact: the zard makes its first appearance here! I ported them over to GOZR later and I don't even know if I remembered they came from this book originally. 

 

 Here is a d100 random encounter and lore table tailored for a high-lethality Sword & Sorcery campaign. In classic pulp style, these entities aren't just blocks of hit points; they are reality-warping terrors that twist the landscape, corrupt the mind, and demand heavy logistics or clever tactical thinking to survive. This blog post picks right up from D100 Sword & Sorcery Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

By Greg Gawron
Advanced Fantasy Games
OSRIC
Levels 2-4

Hidden within a long-forgotten cemetery stands an abandoned mausoleum, once a place of grand splendor and solemn reverence. Now it lies broken and rotting — its roof collapsed, headstones shattered, and its glory buried beneath decades of neglect. But decay has not left this place empty. A new evil has claimed the ruin as its lair, and by fate or folly, you have found its resting place… and it now awaits your party of adventurers in The Lost Tomb of Kazcuk Mot the Undying.

This 28 page adventure presents a small tomb with fourteen rooms that is primarily aimed at tournament play. There is a certain, physicality? to it that I find interesting, however, it’s a bad tournament adventure, with mucho read-aloud and padded out DM text with rather simplistic challenges. 

It’s not every day you see someone thanking both Finch AND Taormino in the same breathe, like the credits page to this one does. I assume he went to a con and they both said some kind of Gandhi shit to inspire him to publish? I hope that’s the case. I don’t know, Taormina cranks his shit piles out so maybe it was publishing tips? Anyway, this is a tournament adventure. Tournament adventures need a few things special going on so you can judge them similarly, fairly, amongst different tables. I think that’s all bullshit and it’s like comparing a Rothko to a Picasso. “You get a prize!” Fuck that shit. 

And, therein, is the issue, at least with regards to the tournament aspect to this. Let us consider two different scoring systems for a dungeon. In the first, I give you one point for each room you enter. In the second I roll a d6 for every room you enter and if it comes up a ‘1’ then I give you a point. IE: what are we measuring? The ability to penetrate the dungeon by any means possible or are we measuring how lucky the dice are for the party? Further, we must be up front with the players on what we are measuring. SHould they be tearing the place apart looking for treasure, or defeating monsters, or “winning” the plot, or trying to roll as high as they can on their dice? This adventure, of course, does not disclose the scoring to the party other than to say you get a point for accomplishments and lose a point for mishaps. And then it does things like “if you search the room then roll a d6. If you roll a 1 then the party finds a pearl necklace. They get a point.”  I seem to recall that some tourney adventures went so far as to have die rolls prepared for the DM in order to make things as fair as possible across tables. Rothko does not approve. So, as a tournament adventure I think this fails to do a decent job with the scoring. The answer is not more prepared die roll and less randomness, but a different axis of scoring, I think.

Ok, so, the adventure intro also says we can use this as a stand-along adventure. How was the play Mrs Lincoln? Not as bad as one might think, given the murder of the president.

I’m not happy with the adventure, or the interactivity as a whole, but there is a certain physicality to the interactivity that I think works well. One of the entry rooms has a door under a sarcophagus that flips up. There’s a grate in the floor to go down. There’s a portcullis to lift. There’s a decent amount of this kind of physical interactivity in the adventure. Or, maybe, environmental? Whatever. There are other classic elements as well, such as yellow mold, the old water monster in a pool of water thing, and so on. They don’t feel tired in this, but I’m also open to this being because the amount of text that surrounds them. Interactivity, beyond that physicality, is generally limited to stabbing. And, even that is a bit iffy. The wanderers are bats, rats, and centipedes and they show up a decent amount. One wonders at the boredom of it all. 

Otherwise, the adventure has some of the long standing usual problems with the untrained. The read-aloud can be quite long. And, of course, players don’t listen to long read aloud. It’s not a new thing. You’re boring them with read-aloud. Keep it short. It’s the designers job to figure out how. Further, the read-aloud over-reveals the rooms contents. You want the read-aloud to hint at things for the players to have their characters follow up on, not to just expo dump every little detail. at the party. You want the back and forth. 

EVerything here is padded out. Every read-aloud ends with “WHAT DO YOU DO” and then immediately we get a “DM NOTES” heading. Yeah, got it man. It’s not read-aloud so it’s DM notes. Yeah, got it, the read-aloud is over so now the party and do things. The first trap takes like three paragraphs to describe, and it’s a simple stair foot pit. Ok, so, I take it back. Four paragraphs. This is a quarter of a page. For a simple trap. It’s not complex. It’s just padded out. The wanderer text is padded out. “Inside the mausoleum the characters will find ample space to move about and it may appear to be a safe place to rest and take shelter. It is not.” Jesus man, that did nothing for the adventure. It is just worthless text. You didn’t actually say anything. All you’re doing is adding words to the adventure. And these filler words and paragraphs get in the way of the ACTUAL meaningful text that the DM needs to locate in order to run it at the table. The DM needs to be able to quickly scan the text, and right now they have to dig through shit like that in order to get to the stuff that matters. 

It’s just relentless. The editor is the designer, which is either magnificent, if the designer knows what the fuck they are doing, or a disaster is they do not. The designer was not born with some a priori knowledge of how to write an adventure and do layout and what makes it fun and so on. Ideally, an editor, a decent one anyway, can help with some of that. YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. You might be a decent DM. You are probably an ok guy But YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Seek help. Seek an editor. Learn what makes an adventure a good adventure and also an easy to run adventure. 

This is $20 at DriveThru. I think that’s because it was kickstarted. I’m going to, rather generously for me, NOT say this is a fucking cash grab, even though the first thing published was kickstarted at $20. That advice above? Learning what makes a good adventure, getting an editor, etc? You can ignore that. You can go down the path of filthy lucre. Just crank shit out on kickstarter the most efficiently possible and build your market. 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/562629/the-lost-tomb-of-kazcuk-mot-the-undying-osric?1892600

 Yes, absolutely. In fact, B2: The Keep on the Borderlands aligns surprisingly well with the mechanics of the Wretched system. Because the Wretched system (including Wretched Époque) is built on an OSR (Old School Renaissance) d20 foundation heavily inspired by classic B/X D&D, the core math, monster stats, and dungeon-crawling loops require almost zero heavy mechanical conversion. This Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

 Bringing the 80s Saturday-morning post-apocalyptic swagger of Thundarr the Barbarian into the gritty, OSR-style mechanics of Sword of Cepheus 2nd Edition is an awesome cross-genre mix.Gemini is the ultimate Thundarr antagonist: an evil, ancient-tech-wielding cyborg sorcerer with a literal split-personality. His head rotates 180° beneath his visor to switch between a short-tempered, Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Photo by Paul Glazzard

The head of Vorlas is on display in the Revolutionary Museum in Kingshead, shielded from the ravages of time by magic so that it may be a near-permanent reminder of the revolution's resolve. One of the last of the great Wizard-Kings, Vorlas's rule was particularly despotic and draconian, but his security forces and even inhuman soldiers transformed by magic proved unequal to the defense of his kingdom during the Demon War and even less effective in dealing with the crises of displacement of people and food shortages that followed.

Vorlas was dragged to central square of Kingsforge, his capital, by the rebel army and beheaded by a new apparatus designed for that purpose, the machine now called "The Nemesis." The city was renamed in commemoration of this event and the head has resided there since.

There is another, newer head in Kingshead. That one is made from steel, thaumatite, manastone, and more than a little spellcraft. The dwarven theorists and magitechnologists behind its creation convinced the Council for Progress, a conclave formed of the various business groups that have become the true rulers of the Durendine Confederation, that the magitech mind could run the nation more efficiently than any mortal, anticipating problems before they arose, and maximizing their profits. So far, the head remains a work in progress, but the Council is still captivated by the possibilities. 

The dwarves who built it have an even grander vision. While they promise their device will far exceed the computational and planning capabilities of mortals, they hope for it to one day to be greater than either god or titan, at least in the sense that it would be free of their passions and weaknesses. 

 Blending the transgressive, Cronenbergian biopunk of New Flesh (The Red Room) with the gritty, 90s-cartoon-inspired sandbox of SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City (Bloat Games) yields a highly distinct tabletop experience. It transforms a street-level superhero aesthetic into a dark, visceral "splatterpunk-noir" setting. This blog post picks up right from Survive This!! Vigilante City & Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

This is one of the best ways to plan for Gen Con!

The BGG Gen Con Preview is live!Coming to Gen Con? BGG creates a “Gen Con Preview” list of all the hot new releases. You can check out the full list here, or just the Allplay titles here.

Even if you aren’t going, the Preview is a great place to see what’s coming out so that you can add games to your wishlist from home. We have 21 New Games since last Gen Con, so go check it out!

As you browse, we’d love for you to give the Allplay games a thumbs up (by clicking the thumb to the left of each game’s image). This lets us know what you’re excited for and helps other gamers know what to look out for!See The Allplay TitlesSee The Full Gen Con PreviewComing To Gen Con: “It might well be one of the most exciting games you’ve ever played. It is superb. It is awesome.”
-Shut Up & Sit DownContainer – One of the greatest economic games of all time. Build factories, produce containers, set prices, negotiate with your rivals, and sail across the sea to trade. Obviously, buy low, sell high. But, can you make it happen?See The Gen Con Preview
“Every time you think you’ve seen what this box can do, it opens up your mind again.” – Lincoln Hoppe | The Game BardMountain Goats: Legacy – The goats are back! Roll and combine dice to race up the mountain. Get to the top to score, but don’t get knocked off! As your story progresses, you’ll unlock special ability and face tougher challenges. The mountain itself might even transform beneath your hooves.See The Gen Con Preview“It’s got a really satisfying puzzle. Every time I play this, the first thing I want to do after seeing my score is to try again and get a better score… but it never feels overbearing. It always retains that cozy vibe” – Ezeekat Enchanted Ivy– Our very first dedicated solo game! Expand your inn, place guests based on their preferences, and connect the magical ivy to have the perfect stay. See The Gen Con Preview“Absolutely fantastic game! Very simple concept with a real fun twist that always causes uproars and hysterics.”
– BGG User ItcantstormJibber Jabble – A cooperative, word-association party game. Players spells one letter each. The catch? They aren’t allowed to discuss what your clue they’re trying to spell. The first time you have a perfect clue in mind, but the person next to you says a letter you weren’t expecting at all… well, that’s Jibber Jabble.See The Gen Con Preview “Phantom Ink has gone down brilliantly every time I’ve played it, and it may even replace our other similar games… Teaching the game takes a matter of minutes and it plays well with a wide range of player counts and ages”
– PROFDECUBE, Zatu GamesPhantom Ink – Commune with your clue-givers to decipher a secret word before the other team! Answers from beyond the grave are public, but the questions are private. If you’re on the same wavelength as your spirit, stop the answer mid-spelling.See The Gen Con Preview Manipulate the meme market in real time in Stonk Market. Run the best television network in The Networks: Primetime. Frantically yell breakfast items at your teammates in French Toast.

You know that we always come to Gen Con with a truckload of new titles. We can’t wait for you to try them!See The Gen Con PreviewLet’s all play.

 Integrating Dave Hargrave's Arduin (a chaotic, techno-magical, multi-genre playground) with ACKS II (Adventurer Conqueror King System II, a hyper-detailed, mathematically airtight simulation of medieval demographics and domain management) creates a fascinating campaign style. While ACKS II assumes a relatively grounded world where human kingdoms use strict economics to manage standard Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

The monsters keep getting bigger, and we’re running out of time…
Soothwardens by Navaar Seik-Jackson is in its final 48 hours on BackerKit! Back now You are receiving this email because you signed up, made a purchase, or have been part of a crowdfunding fulfillment campaign. What is Soothwardens? Navaar Seik-Jackson brings his renowned love of larger-than-life fights and his fascination with the unique connections that bind both communities and individuals together to Soothwardens: 200+ pages of rich, vibrant non-Eurocentric fantasy worldbuilding and deep-layered mechanics around tracking, learning about, and battling the mysterious colossal monsters who keep forcing their way into the realm. 
Protect against colossal monsters In Soothwardens, you play as one of the many gifted protectors of reality. Traversing Nyobekeer, a world split apart and reshaped into a ring-like continent by mages long past, you will encounter the many peoples and creatures of the land. Like you, monsters on a separate plane of existence roam, looking for cracks in reality to break through. When these Breakers find their way in, it is your job to hunt them down alongside your partner. Together you will protect, together you will fight, because what you do cannot be done alone. 
Rely on skill, connections, and resources, not luck
Soothwardens is a Luckless game, meaning there are no dice, no cards, and no random outcomes. Using two resource tracks, you will investigate, hunt, and fight Breakers. Throughout every aspect of play, Wardens will also deal with the Link to their partner(s), explore the world, and help communities along the way.  Explore the strange magic connecting you to each other and the realmWardens operate through an intense and intimate magick called a Link. This connection allows for two things that a Warden needs. One: it is a tether to reality, allowing them to return safely while fighting in the Break. Two: it allows the Linked Wardens to sense how the other is faring in their fight. They feel their pain, they sense their emotions, and they use this Link to heal and care for each other. Wardens are each other’s spear and shield. A confidant for the words they’ll never say. A union, and one no Warden would wish to have ripped from them in the midst of a fight against the Breakers.
Brought to life with a powerhouse teamAdditional story writing by award-winning horror and TTRPG creator Josephine Kim. The bold and colorful afrofantasy art of Barbados-based illustrator Joshua Clarke. The evocative set design inspired the architecture and textile renderings of LA illustrator Zakiya Goggins. 
 

PLEDGING OPEN: GURPS Ring of Fire Steve Jackson Games
Pledging has begun for a new GURPS book on BackerKit

AUSTIN, TX 6/10/2026 – The year is 2000, and the residents of the quaint and quiet town of
Grantville, West Virginia, are in for the surprise of their lives. On what they assumed would be a
normal day, the town was suddenly surrounded by a mysterious, otherworldly ring of fire that
transported everyone to 1630s Germany and the Thirty Years’ War. The residents survived –
and changed the world.
GURPS Ring of Fire, created with Baen Books, is based on the collaborative Ring of Fire
series initially penned by Eric Flint. The largest alt-history setting ever created, it encompasses
hundreds of books, anthologies, and magazines. GURPS Ring of Fire draws on these sources
to create a thrilling TTRPG experience featuring contributions from a number of writers of the
series – Griffin Barber, Charles E. Gannon, Walter H. Hunt, and Robert E. Waters. William H.
Stoddard, a fan-favorite award-winning GURPS author, edited and adapted the Ring of Fire
series to be compatible with GURPS Fourth Edition, while Larry Elmore created the cover art.
The timeline runs from 1632-1637 and includes descriptions for nine famous organizations and
dozens of notable individuals. Character-creation rules will help players to explore this new
frontier of unlimited possibilities. A system is in place for reinventing or copying uptime gear, and
players will find notes on weapons, vehicles, and key equipment. The book is visually enhanced
with maps of important regions, not only in Grantville, but also beyond.
The BackerKit campaign for GURPS Ring of Fire is now open for pledging. GURPS Ring of
Fire requires GURPS Basic Set to play, and players who do not have a copy or wish to upgrade
can secure their copy of the upcoming GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition Revised book in the
campaign, but it will also be available late this summer on Warehouse 23.
About Steve Jackson Games: Based in Austin, Texas, Steve Jackson Games has published
games, game books, and magazines since 1980. Its catalog of hits includes Munchkin, Zombie
Dice, Car Wars, the GURPS roleplaying system, Ogre, Illuminati, and more. Munchkin, Ogre,
and Illuminati also have digital versions on Steam and other platforms, bringing tabletop
classics to a new generation of fans. In 2025, SJ Games welcomed Possum Creek as an
imprint. Possum Creek has created the award-winning Wanderhome, Yazeba’s Bed &
Breakfast, and the upcoming Seven-Part Pact.

This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and setup is what happens), but it covers our ongoing games.

They Also Visited the Iudex

18/02/2026 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! A small group of adventurers hatched a plan to kidnap the city’s most powerful nobleman, Mornalt Tamburello, and deliver him to his sister, Lucia, the bringer of the Doom Beneath the City. At this time, Mornalt was throwing a grand garden party and masquerade, just the night after his last rival, Gordisio Pamfile was mysteriously assassinated. The company spent the day in preparation. The stealthy characters secured an escape route from the palace gardens from an abandoned apartment, while Giacomo went and bought costumes. More than that, he ordered an extra set from an expensive tailor, to closely resemble the crow costume Mornalt had bought. At night, with Giacomo leading the company as a balrog, followed by a cuckoo, a dryad, a skunk, and a rabbit (Septimus only wearing his chameleon armour), they entered the lamplit gardens of Villa Tamburello. The city’s nobility and hedonists were engaged in decadent partying centred on a stage offering risque and blasphemous comedy, while others snuck off on twisting paths for amorous trysts and intrigue. Aufidia started looking if any masked assassins were to be found, and spotted a masked person dressed in form-fitting black, stalking into the garden. Septimus followed in his camouflage, and saw that the person was a woman, looking down a round pit leading to the thermal pool below, and smiling. Following in her tracks, she was seen to converse with a man wearing a vulture costume. Septimus and Eriberto Barrella followed the vulture-man into the palace banquet. They found him in the kitchen ordering a large quantity of the finest wines for the underground revellers for his personal care. As he was leaving, they ambushed him in the torchlit corridor and dragged him into a side-room. The man proved to be Puccio Malatesta, a minor noble and gadfly they had met before, and he was found to be in the possession of a pouch of powdered poison.

In interrogation, Puccio spilled the beans rather than be exposed publicly. He acted on behalf of the dark-clad lady, Iacynthe Tamburello, Mornalt’s wife, with whom he was madly in love with, but did not know her reasons for wanting the partygoers poisoned. The hapless fellow was left tied up in a cupboard, while Eriberto took on his buzzard costume. Heading out to the garden, Giacomo found his love, the maiden Hestia Tamburello, who, being disgusted with the assembled guests, had only agreed to come down to the fête to dance with him. In doing so, she could pinpoint her father, Mornalt, a dark bird of prey standing aside in the company of four loosely dressed ladies wearing mice costumes. He approached, and invited him for a garden walk to reveal a deadly danger – where the head of the house was slept and black-bagged. A random, charmed partygoer was given the copy of his costume to serve as the impromptu master of Villa Tamburello for the night, which the fellow gladly accepted. Carrying the sleeping malefactor to the Pickled Carp, they donned adventuring gear and descended deep into the Underworld with their unconscious baggage. At last, deep beneath the city, they entered the mighty volcanic cavern spanned by a dark basalt bridge above roaring fires. Lucia Tamburello was there, and Mornalt, who had instigated her murder with poisoned words among the city’s mobs, was given over to her. Mornalt tried fleeing, and as Lucia advanced on him, fell over the bridge into the fiery depths. With this, Lucia agreed to forgive the city, her revenge satisfied, and departed this world. Thus passed the Doom from Beneath the City, the second of the four.

The company chose to return to the surface, but their adventure was not yet over. They took a wrong turn in the passages, and were well and truly lost. They encountered a group of adventuring barbarians, who were impressed by Giacomo’s fire sword, a group of sackcloth-robed undead, who were turned, and four minotards, who were blasted by Aufidia’s fireball. Their way finally led to a great columned hall decorated with inky drapes, and furnished with bare wooden benches. A group of skeletal lictors in the garments of the old Empire and the helmets of Legion III demanded their purpose in petitioning the Iudex, the Judge of the Underworld. They said they brought a case, and, in keeping with the court’s rules, had brought petitioners’ masks to ensure the court’s impartiality, as well as a donation to pay the court costs. The Iudex received them on his bench, a dark-cloaked, masked figure. The Judge confirmed that the Doom From Beneath the City – brought on by Mornalt’s act of fratricide, – and the Doom From the Forests – brought on by the city’s godlessness, and failure to perform their annual sacrifices to honour the gods, had been made right and lifted. Two more remained. As the Iudex explained the cases, the Doom From the Seas was caused by the breaking of divine commandments not to build on certain sacred islands, and would be punished by a flood of poisonous gasses from the volcano on the Isle of the Black Dogs. As for the Doom From the Mountains, its cause was Thisium’s treachery to break the bonds of love between the knight Sir Rapax and the forest fairy Niabex, whose split caused the downfall of their tiny mountain kingdom. For this reason were the invincible orc armies allowed to march on the city. Hearing the Judge’s words, the company returned to the surface, to plan their actions against the remaining dooms. At this time, the city had 18 days left.

A Pleasant Excursion

19/02/2026 KASSADIA

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! Returning from a deadly but lucrative adventure, the Lion Pack delivered the healing herbs to Senator Porfirio Holden, who gratefully offered to instruct Martus the Opiate in the magical arts, and to owe them a favour in the future. Selling off their loot at the jewellers and trying to buy pearls for identify, they learned that all in town were bought up by Messer Barcello Cadorna for an expensive dress for his daughter, Gundelinda. First contemplating burglary, they remembered the name of Guetto the Leech, an underworld figure who was supposedly able to get „anything” in town. Inquiring at Renaldo’s delight, the proprietor’s eyes darkened, and he warned them Guetto was an assassin, a blackguard, and a dangerous man to deal with. At their dinner, they were also approached by Septimus Regulus, a cheerful old gnome, who sought travelling companions to take a trip to scenic Wailing Lake, located among Sormadium’s mountains, and known for its picturesque cypresses and antique grave obelisks. The next day, they decided to visit Penitents’ Plaza, where Guetto owned a restaurant/brothel. Jovial Faustulus went on horseback befitting a great lord, drawing impressed and fearful looks (rumours in town took him for a pirate captain travelling incognito). The plaza was a small round place, its sides lined with cages serving as Sormadium’s jail, a scenic view from the brothel’s upper balcony. It turned out Guetto was a prisoner himself for now, after insulting Messer Verenzio Altieri, the lord of Fiolaga. They discussed the matter of the pearls, and he agreed to try his best by evening. Returning after sundown, Guetto was now indoors, enjoying dinner in his establishment next to a company of his own jailers. He had the pearls, and in his upstairs office, bought the party’s supplies of refined purple poppies, also offering exclusive poisons for sale.

Declining this offer, they left satisfied, although not before Faustulus bumped into Charming Valentino Viselli, a haughty young rake who was just about to challenge him right there and then. For now, it did not come to blows, and they retired to Renaldo’s Delight. Fearing Valentino’s assassins, they set a watch, but what came instead was a cat-burglar descending from the rooftop on their balcony. Publius Varro, on watch, fired his crossbow and missed, upon which the thief retreated, the affair resolved reasonably amicably between two professionals.

The following day was heavy with late autumn rains, but Septimus Regulus was enthusiastic about the trip. They mounted horses, and – after scaring off a band of mercenaries trying to rob them on the bad side of town – headed for the mountains. In dark rainfall, they followed the old imperial road, then a mountain trail from the Monastery of Kurlakum of the Seven Misfortunes. Beyond a pass, at dusk, they found Wailing Lake with its sinister grave obelisks and gloomy cypresses. Entering the neglected graveyard, shadows rose from the burial mounds, which were mostly turned, and a few killed. Septimus Regulus loved the atmosphere, and went skinny-dipping. It was dark, and they feared more undead were about, so they urged the gnome to be done with it and leave while they could. In constant rain, they retreated a little to set up camp. Alas, the shadows followed them, and it was only Jovial Faustulus’ alertness which saved them from a nasty surprise. They quickly mounted their horses and rode off in the darkness... getting lost in the mountains. Below a rocky ledge, they heard the woosh of large wings, and 11 griffins descended on them to feast on their horses and themselves! Martus the Opiate threw his fireball, catching four and scattering the rest. In blind panic, they fled on horseback, cold and soaked by rain, among the dark peaks of Sormadium.

Cisterns of Death

22/02/2026 KASSADIA

News from the fallen Empire of Kassadia! I, Valerius Artorius, messenger of the God Apelles; and my companions, Cymbrix the Druid, Ilvar Goron the Grave-Robber, Bartavir the Fighter, Gaunt Gerald the Illusionist, and Petronius the Fighter, gathered at the call of Collino the Vulture, who had a lucrative tip for us. He wanted us to venture into the Cisterns of Death, and retrieve a set of building plans from the tomb of its architect, Gaius Licinius Profundus – in particular, a map of the podesta’s palace. I had adventured in the area before: on the outskirts of Cassidum, still within the old walls, but within the modern city, among the ruins of the old empire now used for pasture and orchards.

We set out with five hired men and an empty purse, until we found the broken aqueduct which led to the site we were seeking. What were once splendid baths were only outer walls now, with hovels and shacks built among them, and ruled by Old Bertoni, a local crime boss whose son I and my companions slew an adventure earlier. Thus, we persuaded a local urchin to lead us in safely; and he mentioned an old trapdoor in his mother’s cottage which dropped into the depths. Sneaking into the ruins, we descended by rope into a vast, lightless columned hall. Dark, brackish water was found 80’ below, shallow enough to wade in. Orienting ourselves, we saw a tall tower rising to the ceiling to our NW, stairs climbing around it to double gates. We checked this first, and behind, discovered an abandoned shrine to Cloacina, Goddess of Sewers. A tangle of skeletons in rotted togas were prodded and slain in battle. Here, alas, we lost my spearman, Vinicio, whom I accidentally shot in his back (he had 1 Hp, and I did the same in damage), and I myself almost died. The shrine had metal rungs behind the statue leading to another trapdoor, from beyond which we heard heavy footsteps. Instead, we made a sacrifice to Cloacina in Vinicio’s memory, and were rewarded with her favour.

We returned down into the cistern. On its southern side, frescoes depicted the bathhouse’s construction, and we found a secret door next to the depiction of Gaius Profundus. Stairs led up to a chamber with three walled arches and three secret buttons. Only one was hollow, however, and this proved the correct way into a splendid hall. We were in an under-temple of Gladuor, God of Aqueducts, with golden treasures heaped on his altar, a side-treasury with locked chests, and further ways out. Nearby, we found the body of a thief clutching a sack, and he came back as a spectre whom Petronius slew single-handedly, winning a sack’s worth of small jewellery. We now turned to plunder the treasury, whose chests were laden with coinage, gems, and more jewels. We took as much as we could carry, happy to return outside. However, as we would depart the temple, the statue of the god spoke, and we were crushed by the weights of invisible pillars, killing Gaunt Gerard, Baldo the Porter, Roderigo the Porter, and August the Legionary. We survivors dragged out the treasure chests, and took them to the shrine of Cloacina, making another sacrifice of the coins we could take no further. Alas, trying to climb out, we were greeted by Old Bertoni and his men, who demanded our treasures for letting us leave. Cymbrix hid in a mostly empty chest, while some of us snuck off for the shrine exit. The druid could make terrible havoc upstairs by conjuring thick fog, and using a heat metal spell on Bertoni, who ended up grilled in his banded mail as his men fled. Those left down fared less well, as we were attacked by ghasts, and poor Bartavir was dragged off as we fled. Three of us made our way out, finding ourselves in Bertoni’s gaudy hut, and taking his treasures for our own. Alas, the vagrants’ settlement burned due to Bertoni’s heated armour, and its inhabitants fled to the four winds as we returned to the city to sell off our loot, rest, and prepare for a return trip.

Now better outfitted, we headed back. The entrances had been sealed and guarded on the podesta’s orders, and Captain Barduccio Blackeagle saw through our ruse to present ourselves as official exorcists. However, he smiled as he did, and allowed us in for a cut to „the Podesta” (widely known as “Signor 10%”). We descended, and now headed east. Stairs lead up to a long balcony above the cistern, and more splendid rooms. In one with two fonts (one offering water making us get recognised as undead, and another detected as poison). Behind a secret door, we found the survivor of another expedition sponsored by Collino the Vulture, the thief Giordano. We headed east, into a large underground forum, and down some stairs into a room with a gold-covered fountain and a statue of a maiden with her cat. The latter proved a mimic, and was slain (revealing a treasure-pit); the fountain’s golden sheen yellow mould, which fortunately killed none of us. Westwards and even further down, we found a dressing room with curiously intact togas, and – after checking for cloakers – we donned them, remembering Giordano’s words about getting attacked by patricians’ spirits for dressing as a plebeian. We found the patricians fairly close, in a steam bath, and could converse with them as equals, learning some more of the dungeon. Following their leads, we pressed on; encountering the ghost of a poet, a dead member of Giordano’s expedition, and another who was alive, just about to be drained of blood by six deranged „vampiric” cultists. These we slew, and headed back to the exit, satisfied with our take. We paid off the captain (concealing some smaller gems and jewellery), and headed back from the field of ruins to the centre of Cassidum.

No Privaet Entrie

23/02/2026 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! A reconnaissance party set out towards the northern mountains to spy on the orcs, and learn of the fate of the knight Sir Rapax and the faerie Niabex, separated by Thisian intrigue. But first – following a treasure map, they halted in Mouseshire, and took sledgehammers to a secret chamber in the crumbling old belltower, gaining 12,000 gp in old Imperial coinage. ¼ was given over to the Majordomo to use in the war effort, while the rest was to be transported to Thisium. The company rode north, reaching the mountain pass above the fortress of Castrum Rapax by dusk. They observed the orcish forces carefully, taking stock of the castle’s strength and weaknesses. They also noted a hidden trail descending from the pass, and seemingly going around the castle. This piqued their curiosity, and next dawn, Amedeo, Poucas Trancas, and Don Arduino Spezzaferro made a three-man detour. The route led above a deep ravine next to the castle walls. The two thieves descended by rope, spotting a mighty wooden gate under a rock overhang. An enormous and very ugly troll was slumbering next to it with a massive mace, and a large wooden sign read in bad lettering: „NO PRIVAET ENTRIE!” Noting this way in, they returned to the rest of the party. Travelling north along a desolate seacoast, and returning to the mountain-cradled valley where the castle stood, they rode up to a saddle on the valley’s western side. This was a garden long gone wild. Statues of courtiers stood in the tall grass in dated finery, with expressions of sadness and sorrow. There was nothing else here, and no person like Niabex was found. Now they travelled back south along the peninsula’s western coast, reaching the swamps by dusk. They were surrounded by a group of bedraggled men, who turned out to be escapees from the orcish mines producing iron for Castrum Rapax’s forges – some 150 slaves, many of them halflings, under the yoke of 80 orcs and Troglont, one of the orc lords.

The next day, they escorted the escapees back to Mouseshire. They stopped at a clearing south of a lone mountain peak, where, in the middle of nowhere, stood the statue of the Philanthropus, Thisium’s mysterious and much-hated benefactor. The statue kept its secrets, and they marched on, arriving in the evening, where 22 men of the 40 immediately signed up as recruits to fight the orcs. The next day, they explored the northern areas of the Forest of Verrilli. First they found a garden where the spirits of nymphs were taunting the statue of a particularly sinister-looking satyr. Its gaze was terrifying, but Amedeo stood his ground, which the figure seemed to like. He could tell of Niabex, whom he named a trollop (and more foul things) for leaving the faerie court and marrying a human – as the satyr added gleefully, things ended badly for her, and she died of a broken heart after Sir Rapax cheated on her. They rode on, finding a different garden with the statues of animals, a votive column with a mysterious inscription, and the bodies of people turned into flowering earth on marble benches. The road continued, leading to the ruins of a small barbaric village on the edge of the woods, destroyed in some old battle. The sole standing structure was a crumbling garanary, where wild wheat grew on piles of earth. Bregor stepped in to search for treasure, and did not watch out for two giant crab spiders, which injected him with deadly poison. In the fight, the campaign’s unluckiest Fighting-Man was hit twice by his own company’s slingers firing into meelee, suffering organ failure, and finally dying of spider venom. Some coins were recovered, however, from buried clay pots under the pile of rotted grain. Some more exploration in the forest found a sinister-looking dead area, but the hour was late, and they needed to ride back to Thisium, so this place they skipped, riding across the land to reach the gates at night. At this time, the city had 16 days left...

Against the Flying Gods

02/03/2026 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! The Comely Lass sailed out from port to explore the Isle of the Black Dogs. However, before making landfall, the company took a look at the smaller island to its south, and decided to explore it more thoroughly. The place was covered in thick jungles not found in this clime. They followed a river to one of the cliffs rising from the wilderness when they found themselves greeted by 6 lizardmen – unexpectedly friendly, and asking the assistance of mighty heroes! In broken speech, the lizards explained they were being regularly preyed on by two „flying demi-gods”, which the company soon guessed to be the two black dragons they have known to lair in this part of the isles. They followed the warriors to their primitive village, located among crumbling ruins. Consulting with the chief, they agreed to help out, and decided on setting a trap. With the lizards’ aid, they headed for the island’s central group of cliffs, where rose „the Hand”, a plateau ringed by stone outcroppings. They ordered their allies to build a great beacon, and smoke much of their rotting meat supplies to draw in the beasts. The women and young fashioned large nets from lianas, and they also prepared a big pot of glue wrapped up in the juiciest strips of meat. The lizards were ordered to dance around the fire, while they hid themselves in an ambush among the stones. After nightfall, the dragons came, swooping down on the campsite, and blasting the lizardmen with their breath. Many were killed, and the battle was on! Arrows and javelins just bounced off of the beasts’ hardened scales, and both nets missed. The lizardman warriors were decimated and ran for shelter, along with the chief. The battle was the company’s to win or lose! Lemmy the heavy footman charged, and died heroically in a dragon’s jaws. The other dragon was (very luckily) entrapped in a web, and brought down.

The other met the charging attackers with a stream of acid, and Quayin Torchbearer, the southern prince seeking his inheritance, as well as Opiter Torchbearer (both named for light-casting magic swords), died, while Racha Ducka barely survived with 2 Hp. It was finally Maglor the Elf who saved the day, snatching the cowardly chieftain’s magic spear with a spectral hand [my SVoZ version], and attacked the dragon, killing it with a critical hit. The battle was won! The lizardmen saw what was well and truly a miracle, and from now on, the characters were considered demi-gods, or at least divine messengers. A great feast commenced on the clifftop, and one brave lizardman, Hisss, endeavoured to join the group. In the morning, before parting, the lizards brought their treasures to gift their liberators; gold, a few gems, potions, and the magic spear. Now it was time to plunder the dragon lair! They sailed for the neighbouring island, a place of mangrove swamps and water channels leading to a dark lake in the centre. A cave mouth opened to a network of foetid passages with deep pools of brackish water. Strange, eerie string music came from the depths. This would have been a nasty place for a dragon fight, but they were already dead. Thus, the entrance trap and the giant frogs lurking in the passages were no match for the adventurers. In the depths of the lair, they found the source of the music: an old, chained man playing a golden harp on a massive pile of treasure. He introduced himself as Nicanor Philocrates, who was imprisoned here by the evil wizard Prospero, known to dwell deep beneath Thisium. Liberating Nikanor (who joined the company), they could now load the dragon hoard on their ship – 30,000 gp, a wealth of 46 gems, and a cache of magic items, including a staff of healing! Thus they sailed back to Thisium. At this time, the city had 17 days left...

The Kidnapping

12/03/2026 KASSADIA

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! Separated from his companions in the mountains of Sormadium, and fleeing from Death Griffon Doom, Martus the Opiate finally found a campfire in the wilderness – it was not his previous party, but Aristeo Guarini, Arden Oakbark, and their follower Albred the Grey, just as lost in the wilds as they were. They spent the night in the storm, and on the next rainy late Autumn day, followed a valley westwards. Travelling through untamed wilderness, they finally found an overgrown stone path leading to the town of Sambuci, and Villa Bonnacorsi. They received hospitality from the landlord, Quirino Bonnacorsi, as well as his son Alvaro and daughter Mercede, telling of their adventure in Ucria, where they destroyed the drug plantation and found the body of the slain Paolo Viglione. True to his word, Quirino gave them his heirloom magical seal, and they spent a nice evening dining and drinking wine. Then, disaster struck. There was a crash of splintering glass from Mercede’s room, and arrived just in time to see her abducted by four gargoyles – no doubt the minions of her obstinate suitor, the sculptor and impoverished nobleman Edoardo Memmoli!

Edoardo lived on the isle of Fiolaga to the south of Sormadium, and the next morning, they sailed out on the Lydia, the family’s pleasure ship. Alvaro brought his arms, and four guards: Ugo, Clodoveo, Asterio and Adalfredo. They reached the shores of Fiolaga by mid-afternoon with fortunate winds. Deciding not to land next to Villa Memmoli, they instead found a little bay close by... and a recently landed ship! A mountain trail led up to a rock formation resembling a hand with broken-off fingers, and a scene of horror. 20 axe-wielding cultists in rag-masks, 4 bodyguards, and a cowled figure had just finished sacrificing four goats, a youth, a maiden, and a chest of treasure to Titus Malformatus, the evil god whose cultists the Lion Pack had already fought previously! The cult leader called on the god for help, but as the cultists rushed forward to slay the interlopers, Martus threw his fireball, scoring a lucky 28 Hp on 5d6, killing the leader, his bodyguards, and half the cultists. The rest were killed without mercy, and Alvaro Bonnacorsi proved his skill with the blade. 

Looting the bodies, they continued to Villa Memmoli, reaching the estate’s crumbling walls by a moonless night. They entered through a gap, near a glass-topped greenhouse. Westwards, they saw a very large statue and an obelisk crowned by a recently lit flame, but decided to move towards the dark villa. The overgrown grounds held statues: the first, a guardsman, issued a cryptic warning, while a stone dog rushed them before turning into an armoured knight who slew Clodoveo with a single strike, before being himself dispatched by the vengeful Alvaro. They crept closer. They found a small back entrance, and after confirming the building was dark and silent, entered. Avoiding an open central courtyard, they entered the main hall, dusty and cobwebbed, with ragged tapestries and strange statues... the statues animated! A troll, a faceless man, and a demon marched on them, striking Aristeo before they could flee, but did not pursue outside. Choosing the villa’s eastern side, they now approached a terrace overgrown with vines which, contrary to their expectation, did not attack. The body of an adventurer rested before a door, badly burned. As it was inspected, there was the sound of wings, and 4 gargoyles descended from the rooftops, avoiding Martus the Opiate’s web spell. The horrid creatures fell on the party and slew Albred the Grey, while taking little damage from the party, which lacked magic weapons in its current composition save for Arden’s slave in stone spell. They fled the house, sustaining wounds from the pursuing gargoyles, and seeing more of them circling above the sagging roof. They contemplated their plans, lost in the moonless night.

The Spiralling Temple

15/03/2026 FOMALHAUT

News from Fomalhaut! Lost in the massive city of Diomira, the company chose to hit up Eldoxos, an old acquaintance, and one of the merchants/smugglers operating out of the Plaza of the Gloomy Wells, dealing in goods and foodstuff from the outside world. The plaza was also one of the places in Diomira where the faceless statue had its head missing, and only the rim remained of the dark metal mirror on the facade next to it. Eldoxos was not in his store, and as they were informed by his protégé, Polemon, who was specialised in outside liquors and narcotics, he has moved up in society thanks to their previous visit. They hit him up in the House of Broken Locks, a warehouse complex to the SE, guarding the entrance to the monorail station, and thereby controlling Diomira’s illicit trade. Eldoxos was happy to see them – he had greatly expanded business after his predecessor, Boss Twand, met an „unfortunate accident” at the characters’ hand – but grew a bit concerned when he was told of the Uttermost Masters, and their plans which would disrupt his lucrative smuggling operation. The men had been seen twice in the city: once emerging from a nearby cistern shaft, and once lurking near the Spiralling Temple, a sealed building north of Diomira’s central plazas. He also told them of the great stone face they had seen in a back alley – he had once followed one of the „False Men”, the brainwashed servants of the powers ruling Diomira, and heard him receiving spoken instructions from the visage.

They enjoyed an evening of fine food and drink, and early next morning, set out for the Spiralling Temple. Off the main plaza, at the foot of the octagonal spire of the Radiant Pyramid, they were approached by an elegant young woman, Alkithoë. She came at the behest of Eldoxos, her lover, to bring news that he had seen something interesting at a nearby location. While the others were conversing with her, Bocephus furtively cast true seeing to check her out. There was something very wrong with Alkithoë, a gaping piece of emptiness in her personality, and a strange tic around the eyes; and Bocephus saw that she was deadly with the concealed dagger and mini-crossbow she was carrying. They told her they would follow her suggestions, then quickly went the exact opposite way towards the temple.

The great front doors, bearing a massive disk embossed with a spiral, were sealed, and dark mirrors were mounted on the front facade. But the side had open windows, and as the area was deserted this early, they quickly climbed inside with ropes. The abandoned interior was a massive columned space with suspended glass prisms, openings to side-chambers, and a great stone face. As they advanced, the face spoke one word: „KILL!” The prisms started to rotate, hypnotising Lilith, Ion, and Itestra. With clanging steps, six mechanical men bearing battleaxes came from the side-chambers. A fight ensued, in which the city’s crossbow-wielding assassins also made an appearance through the windows on the other side, but a judicious application of spells and violence defeated them. The place was empty, but narrow spiral stairs led down. They descended into a chamber of strange, defunct machines (Pausanias identifying them as devices for complex calculations and decision-making), and found a cabinet with a spare energy cartridge and a handful of healing dermal patches. From the south came sounds, belonging to 17 of the shaggy, brutish Underdwellers, with murderous intent. They fought bitterly, but Bocephus’s wand of paralysation proved useful, and they were killed off. To the south, they came to a small monorail terminal with a crashed vehicle, a massive gong (which the Underdwellers were too stubborn to ring), and a passage from which came an even rumbling. They chose to follow the westwards monorail passage instead, through the crashed metal gates.

The tunnel brought them to a station, and a SW passage, through which they entered a familiar place: a massive circular hall, with a tall towering structure standing in the middle of deep shaft. Bridges connected from the outer rim to the central building. Remembering how they had run into formidable opponents here the last time, and knowing they did not have a way to get in yet, they withdrew. The next objective was to find an alternate exit. They followed the monorail tunnel a long way NW, finding a station, and stairs up. Stepping out through a secret door, they saw daylight, and emerged in verdant gardens on the edge of the city, with Diomira’s people engaged in picnics and enjoyment at various spots. An inscription running along the small structure they came from read: : : KEEP US SAFE : : KEEP US NOURISHED : : KEEP US VALUED : : It was still early in the day, but they knew Eldoxos must be in danger, as the city’s masters must have known of their contact if they used Alkithoë’s lure like that. They followed side-streets back to the warehouse, but even so, they ran into a group of people looking at them suspiciously. „It is them!”, screamed a colourfully dressed man, and the mob grew into a size of 40. Pausanias colour spayed five of them, upon which they got cold feet. „Someone’s got to doooo something!”, whined the man, but didn’t dare to mess with a group of well-armed killers. They quickly got lost in the alleyways, and made their way back to Eldoxos. The news of the discovery were bad, and the master of the smugglers was in danger. They suggested he should skip town through the monorail system, and gave him a few identifiers to let him meet Tyraxus Tharg, the wizard-tyrant of Glourm, and establish even stronger trade deals with the outside world. Their next aim was to find a special mirror, somewhere in the city, which contained a passcode of sorts to the underground tower... and courtesy of Eldoxos, they now had a few leads to follow!

Plateau of the Amazons

18/03/2026 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! On Day 81, the Comely Lass sailed out to sea, carrying the heads of two black dragons. They headed for the island ruled by a terrible demon who had long ago ordered them to slay these creatures – and now that the deed was done, they went to claim their reward. They landed near a ruined, archaic village, whose inhabitants had gone feral, but were overawed by the adventurers’ display of power. They climbed massive old stairs to the plateau, then even further up to the island’s peak where stood a massive marble dome. Inside, in a wild garden, the winged demon awaited. Giacomo offered the heads, and the demon agreed to let them to pick as much as they could carry of its treasure – a magical axe, a potion and a scroll, and about a tenth of its 100,000 sp. Afterwards, it ordered them to leave him to contemplate the dooms of men, which were sure to come!

Returning to ship, they sailed north, finding a mostly sunken island where suntanning mermaids lounged on the rocks remaining above water, above beautiful coral forests. Hiss dived down to take a sample, then they approached the beauties, ears plugged for most and Giacomo tied to the ship’s mast. The beauties were cheerful and inviting, remarking that the dooms were not so bad – after all, the city of Wiorak had already sunk, yet there was life after that too! When Giacomo asked them of the corals, they noted some of them were horribly poisonous. This was a good time to take their farewell without bothering the underwater formations.

Now they headed for the Isle of the Black Dogs. Sailing along its northern coast, they discovered the entrance of a sea cave among the cliffs, wide enough for a small ship. The sounds of revelry and music came from beyond a bend, and after some recon by Hisss, they sailed inside, into a large limestone cavern occupied by a lake. Dining tables stood on the shore laden with food, drink, and precious silverware, but the dining guests were not to be seen. Introductions were made, and the apparitions – who turned out to be invisible fairy-folk – turned out to be welcoming hosts. Giacomo challenged one of them, Fern to a dance-off and lost his wager, but won the fairies’ admiration (the 18 CHA helped). The fairies thought the doom a minor and insignificant issue but told them the cavern below the wizard’s tower on the island was the lair of what they figured was a red dragon. As they much disliked Pantomorphus, the master of the tower, they agreed to a future prank if the company came up with a good plan. They parted on amicable terms, and as it was getting late, spent a night on their ship.

The next day, they investigated the island’s northern tip, spotting the ruins of a primitive village, and finding three half-submerged colossi in the sea. Further in the forests, they also discovered a massive stone gate next to an altar of burning fire. Something gleamed in the flames, but it reeked of being a trap, and they decided not to risk it. They headed to the ruined village on the northern slopes of the broken volcano, finding it long deserted. However, somewhat further, they discovered something more interesting: a narrow, barely visible trail heading for the steep cliffs below the inaccessible mountain plateau, and a treacherous way leading up. They climbed up in single file, and emerged on the top, a grassy land of small glades and a bronze-age village. Large herds of sheep grazed on the grass. Assuming danger, Kaeso scouted ahead, camouflaged in his chameleon armour. The shepherd he spotted was a girl-child of thirteen, and the village was populated solely by women, many well-armed. A crude idol of an owl decorated with golden plates stood in the middle of the settlement. He returned to the group, and they chose to announce themselves. The shepherd girl gave a cry and fled. Out of the village came a host of 60 women with bows and spears. Belloza the Archer was picked as the company’s spokeswoman as the only female member. In an archaic dialect, the amazons demanded their purpose, obviously displeased by their arrival. They were faithful followers of the gods, and of the Wise Owl, their messenger, who had come to them in ages past. They outright refused to help unless the adventurers would bring news of their lost leader Thisbe, who had gone missing while hunting with her precious armaments, and a light-casting magic sword.

This was familiar, as the party owned two such weapons, one of which was found on this very island in a clearing with some bones, the prey of a spotted smilodon. Thus, they left, and decided to return the remains to the amazons along with the sword. They descended from the plateau, and investigated its other end. Here they discovered a very well-hidden little bay, and a splendid longship with golden sails bearing the mark of an owl, as well as a golden figurehead depicting a mermaid. Deciding to leave it be for now, they headed back to their own vessel, and rounded the island to find the clearing with Thisbe’s remains. Three owlbears were fought and killed in the isle’s forests, but the bones were found, and after resting on the ship again, they made their way back to the plateau again. The amazons were now slightly more friendly. What they could offer as help was to suggest that the company find Kadorto, another messenger of the gods, who was known to carry messages from mortals to their presence, and had once had a fondness for the island of the sorceress Daphne di Leonti. They outright refused an alliance against the red dragon, proving once again that in SVoZ, women roll their WIS on 3d6, not 2d6 like men.

Unfortunately, men do truly roll it on 2d6. For the adventurers, overcome by greed, decided to steal the amazons’ enchanted ship on their way back, and doing so, sleep overcame them. They awakened in the morning, but what day? Trying his beard, Giacomo thought it was longer than it had been. With these doubts, they sailed back to Thisium, and arrived on the noon of Day 86, having slept three whole days. While they were out, the orcish armies had advanced across the Thisian plateau, slowly encircling the doomed city. A rain of blood had fallen the preceding day, and the previous night, some 1/20 of the citizens had been turned into lycanthropes, massacring many innocents before they could be cut down at great cost. At this time, the city had 11 days left...

The Eye of the Pyramid

21/03/2026 FOMALHAUT

News from Fomalhaut! The company continued exploring the massive city of Diomira to find the special mirror containing the code glyph to the underground tower. The first one they heard of was close to their present location, in an alleyway off of the main avenues. A large statue stood there, its face replaced with a mirror, and the inscription „THE MYSTERY OF MAN” chiselled on the plinth. A group of fancily-dressed poets admired their own reflections on the surface. Ion gazed inside, and was fascinated by himself, having to be dragged away by the others. They decided to try their next known option. They moved through the massive crowds, which seemed to be on edge this day. NW of the main plaza, in a run-down area with a lake, they ran into a mob gathered below one of the city’s omnipresent black mirrors. A young woman called out: „It is them from the outer darkness! They who bring want and the spirit of strife!” They ran back into the maze of streets as the mob gave pursuit, but ran into another mob coming from another direction, closing in. They escaped to a side-street, and found themselves in a plaza surrounded with old houses and a lake. They found refuge in a house, waiting for the murderous crowds to disperse. They decided to check one of their three sites, the Radiant Pyramid, but the way was blocked by surging masses of thousands. The colourfully dressed citizens gathered before the Spiralling Temple, on the edge of a nervous breakdown, weeping and shouting in a weird collective ritual. After some thinking, they made a wide detour to the north, through less populated areas, until they arrived at the base of the pyramid.

The eight-sided structure rose to 90’ with multiple balconies near the top, and a purple-robed figure standing on one. Entering from the base, they found themselves in a mirror maze with private rooms occupied by people enjoying drugs, gossip, or amorous pursuits. Murat expertly navigated the maze, finding a secret door near the middle. There were steep stairs, and a 10’×10’ room with buttons on its metal walls that did not work no matter which button they tried. They climbed, emerging in a comfortable suite near the top. Pleuron, the master of they pyramid and a contact of Eldoxos and the Handymen, was friendly in receiving them, although behaving a bit oddly as if coming down from his own drugs.

They decided to go with the open strategy and explain it all about there being some great danger to the city, now working from an underground tower, a cabal of evil infiltrators from the outside! Pleuron was surprised by the revelations (he only knew of the Cannibalistic Human Underdwellers prowling the underground areas), but agreed to assist them. He didn’t have the magic mirror, but suggested Akrasios, who ran an atelier for avantgarde art close by, had recently acquired one that was said to be special. He also mentioned a previous encounter with a mirror which created a hostile duplicate of whoever looked inside it several years before, but didn’t know what had happened to it. They took their leave from their helpful host, and walked over to the atelier, a white marble building in the side of the eastern cliffs. The guards admitted them at once when they told they were from Eldoxos, and, passing through a collection of modern art, entered Akrasios’s suite on the top. A group of scantily dressed, tipsy ladies were enjoying drinks and drugs in the company of price cats (no doubt imported from the outer world, as there were none others in Diomira). Akrasios was in a side-room, and was quite taken aback when the mirror was brought up, claiming he didn’t have any such thing. As the adventurers’ interrogation grew more insistent („You are not in trouble, but...”), he started to panic, insisting on his innocence and appearing more and more guilty, offering to show his safe to demonstrate there was no mirror in there in a growing panic. That’s when things went sideways.

A barrage of crossbow bolts came from behind them, and an invisible spellcaster covered their room in sticky white webs, trapping them all. The voice was familiar – Pleuron, the man on top of the pyramid! It was a desperate struggle at first. Akrasios’s doxies fled in panic, and the atelier’s master was in complete shock. Through superhuman effort, Kleombrotos freed himself enough to chug a potion of giant strength, allowing him to escape the webs. Pleuron cast more spells, remaining invisible. „You shall not prevail over the City-Machine!”, he spoke evenly, as his assassins attacked in an oddly mechanical fashion. Finally, as Kleombrotos fended off the men, Ion could set the webs on fire, and let them escape with some burns. The assassins were cut down, Pleuron remaining invisible for a while. On his person, they found a poisoned dagger, bracers, some edible cubes and colourful candy, as well as half a pouch of dust of disappearance. Akrasios was still shocked at the assassination attempt, as he had known Pleuron, but he noted he had started behaving oddly in the recent months. He helped the company as he could in saving his city, providing them with a rare vial of imported potion of spider climbing.

They returned to the top suite of the Radiant Pyramid, liberating Pleuron’s spellbooks, valuables, and a round mirror similar to, but also different from the dark disks on the streets of Diomira. They returned through the now dark and deserted streets to their apartment hideout – now luckily meeting nobody – and having Bocephus, who was immune to mind-control, gaze into the mirror. He did so, and he saw flashing patterns, geometric forms, and finally, a complicated and intricate glyph which sunk into his mind as an exact memory. The way to the underground tower lie open, but the masters of the city were aware of their presence, and had taken steps to destroy them. The game was on!

The Underground Tower

11/04/2026 FOMALHAUT

News from Fomalhaut! Having found the mirror with the weird glyph displayed therein, the company decided to strike the underground tower immediately. They followed through the dark, deserted streets of Diomira, passing by a handful of corpses beaten to death recently. At the entrance to the Eternal Gardens, they found a young man looking over the bridge, contemplating a leap, but Lilith talked him out of it. They proceeded to the „doorless” marble pavilion, and entered through the secret entrance. Following a side-passage, they heard approaching Underdwellers, and drew back, while the bestial men were also reluctant to engage. Following the monorail tunnel, they made their way to the great circular hall of the underground tower. A dark abyss opened before them, the central metal cylinder connected to the surrounding ledge with metal bridges. On its northern side, they discovered double gates with no opening mechanism but a round mirror to the side. Bocephus recalled the glyph from Pleuron’s mirror; and as he did so, the mirror by the entrance also flashed with its pattern. The door hissed open, and from a dusty corridor came a barrage of crossbow bolts – they were awaited! The green-cloaked, oddly mechanically moving False Men were defeated, each falling without hesitation to defend the tower. Beyond the entrance hall, they found a chamber with a small rock garden, lit from above by dull grey ceiling panels, and surrounded with colourful benches. All was dusty and abandoned. In a nearby passage was a metal door. Opening it up revealed a ransacked room with badly damaged panelling, and a half-collapsed ceiling exposing intricate pipework. Disregarding marks of corrosion on the panels, Lilith stepped in, and two ochre jellies dropped on her from the pipes. These gelatinous horrors were only divided up by weapons, but eventually, fire proved useful, although wounds were also sustained.

A side-room proved to be a former storeroom, most of its crates emptied of all contents, but one still bolted shut. For now, they just pushed it into the portable hole for later opening. They continued exploring a side-corridor. Rhythmic, heavy metal footsteps came from ahead. Bocephus crept forward invisibly, looking into a dimly lit, marble-covered hallway decked with large mirrors displaying odd landscapes. A massive metal guardian covered in riveted yellow plates lumbered along, much like a sentry. As they were discussing how to ambush it, it heard the conversation, and came at them, firing off its laser, and then pummelling with its fists. It was brought down, Bocephus using his ring of the ram* well. Prying off the destroyed automaton’s chest plate, they extracted an intact energy cartridge.

They now returned to the rock garden. Kleombrotos, who has been increasingly fascinated by this strange location, dug through the mineral samples to find something good. He did find the sharp-edged rock sample containing deadly poison, made his saving throw, and wrapped up the deadly rock in a piece of cloth, satisfied. As they were wounded [and a player had to leave early], they decided to return to their apartment before going deeper. Back in the city, the metal crate brought along in the portable hole was opened up with a knockspell. The container offered up a good amount of valuables: electrum sheets, gold coils for an unknown purpose, two large industrial diamonds – a total value of some 30 thousand altogether – and a mysterious bakelite box stamped with the inscription „HYPERVORTEX”. „I am feeling a lot better about those ochre jellies!”, said Lilith.

Infiltration

23/03/2026 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! A large company rode out of Thisium to destroy the orcs’ military operations in the Northern Wilderness. Messengers were sent out previously to Mouseshire, the Imperator, and the military school of Ramondo Montefeltro to mobilise their forces for a campaign, and make a landing on the western shores of the mountainous peninsula. The adventurers themselves followed wilderness roads: there were signs of large-scale orc troop movements all around the Thisian Plateau, and they encountered a smaller force of 30, blasting them with a fireball. At the gateway of the mountain valley where rose Castrum Rapax, they found a small glade with the overgrown statue of a stone knight, identified by an inscription: „A GALLANT KNIGHT WAS SIR RAPAX / AND A WOOD NYMPH EVER-FAIR NIABEX / THEIR CASTLE’S WITNESS TO THEIR LOVE / AND TO THEIR SPLIT STONES WORDLESS”. There was a recently used campsite nearby, and on a hunch, Aufidia Corvina looked around to see if there were any tracks to pick up. They led to a nearby stone, and underneath, they discovered a rich cache of recently hidden treasures! Happy with their discovery, they rode along the eastern seacoast, and climbed up the hidden path to the pass above Castrum Rapax.

After establishing camp, they descended the mountain trail, surprising and killing a group of orc special forces. Next to the castle, they entered the ravine leading to the side-gate they had found previously, guarded by Hellafinet the troll. Clotilde advanced, using her potion of giant control, to no success. Hellafinet was thus slain in combat and his remains torched. The gate was wizard-locked, but Maglor dispelled the magic with his wand, and a knockspell threw it open. They entered an abandoned old cellar, overgrown with moss. At the end, an ancient old tuatara lizard stirred, chained to the wall. Failing to succumb to poisoned food, it, too, was killed in combat. At the end of the cellar, spiral stairs ascended upwards. A door led to a throne room, where sat a mummified king wearing a golden crown. He spoke, introducing himself as Strozza Bragadin, offering his boon if they defeated his hated rival, Cipriano Barbani. For now, they gave a non-committal answer, and quickly filed out.

Up the stairs, they found a secret door. It led to a prison cell whose only occupants were petrified courtiers wearing antiquated attires. Beyond bars, a torture chamber was lit by flames, a minotaur torturer preparing a glowing iron for his work. They killed him, and freed the prisoners in the other cell: a badly wounded legionary named Varanthus, and a merchant named Iblogan. As they were too weak, they were pointed to the exit and told to wait there. The captives’ cell hid a secret exit behind a loose stone block, with a crawlway leading to a small grotto. The statue of a hunched jester studied his own features in a silver mirror. Narvi removed the mirror, animating Arlecchino the Clown, who attacked him in a crying, laughing fury. The horrifying entity was put down and his gemstone tears collected. Beyond the grotto, a vertical cavern shaft dropped into darkness. They climbed up with ropes, eventually emerging in a dusty secret corridor. This led to the more regularly used passages. The first chamber was a council room, where five tromes were defeated, and a magic shield they were talking over taken. A set of stairs led to a kitchen operated by ogre cooks and several orcs, but they left this one alone. Now orcs were coming down the stairs, and using the cover of darkness, they made their exit from the dungeons. Varanthus was there, with Iblogan’s bloody corpse: the merchant, a spy from Arak Brannia, had tried to assassinate the young legionary, but failed in his treacherous work! With their new ally, they returned to the mountain pass to develop new plans. At this time, the city had 14 days left...

Confrontation

15/04/2026 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! The day after a successful recon expedition, the time came for an assault on Castrum Rapax. Varanthus the legionary, freshly rescued from the dungeons, was chosen to deliver a message to the assembled forces on the other side of the valley. Varanthus swigged a potion of polymorphisation, transformed into a majestic imperial eagle, and flew off. The adventurers descended towards the castle to wreak havoc, and open the gates from the inside. In the forest on the mountain slopes, however, they heard flapping wings, and a manticore attacked from the air. The beast killed Toecutter the bowman and Ozzy the light foot with its tail spikes. Maglor cast darkness 15’ radius on the company to provide cover; the beast came down, and was cut down as it charged into the darkness.

They continued to the castle, and the lower side-entrance in the ravine. With Hellafinet gone, a small group of orcs served as a guard, and were quickly dispatched. They entered the underground passages, fighting a giant tuatara, then climbed upstairs. A secret door led to another set of spiral stairs, and a cellar well stocked with foodstuffs, as well as animated frescoes depicting a harvest. The supplies, it seems, were mainly from the island republic of Arak Brannia. Going higher up, they heard snoring from a side-room, opened it, and killed a sleeping goblin. This was another storeroom, filled with casks of lamp oil, again with Arak Brannia’s seal. Poucas quickly rigged a simple trap so opening the door from the outside would combust the whole place, then they headed up. The stairs emerged in the castle’s gatehouse. The outer gates were partially open, guarded on the outside by a group of orcs, while stairs led up to a locked iron door to the bastion, where the orc archers were in wait. As the adventurers were discussing their options, five from the outside guard came in. They were slept, but not soon enough to prevent an alarm.

Orcs started pouring in through the front gates, and more came from the tower. Orders were being shouted and horns blown. A vicious melee developed in the wide gatehouse corridor. Maglor read a scroll of monster summoning III, and at once, two shriekers appeared, hooting loudly. Now even the orcs drinking in a nearby dining room heard the commotion, and came up from the back, followed by 7 tromes from deeper in the dungeons. Some of the orcs ran upstairs to bring further reinforcements. As the orcs came down from the bastion, Aufidia cast pyrotechnics inside their stairwell, flooding it with smoke. The characters in the gatehouse fought valiantly, holding back the orcish foe. Aufidia’s fireball blew up the orcs advancing from behind, but this was only temporary relief. From beyond them came a great orc in plate mail, with two ogre bodyguards, announcing himself as Troglont, one of the orc lords leading the campaign against Thisium! He was upon the back guard, destroying Maglor’s animated spear. Aufidia threw another fireball from her wand. Dead were the orcs and tromes, dead was Dio the light foot, and dead was Septimus (Fighter 3), Aufidia’s faithful companion! Troglont, wounded but strong, went for Aufidia, swinging his magic longsword. Aufidia stood her ground, swung her staff, and with a critical hit and 10 Hp damage, killed the surprised orc lord in one stroke! The remaining orcs ran where they could, and those in the bastion kept dead quiet not to be noticed. They killed off the remaining shrieker, picked up what they could, and marched out of the castle gates. Gargoyles dove down from the parapets, but were killed. Through the drawbridge, they headed to the wilderness to meet their army on the valley road, led by the Imperator, Sir Egmont Mouseburg, and Ramondo Montefeltro. They were hailed as victors by the assembled host, and started to plan their next stratagem against the orcish foe. At this time, the city had 13 days left...