Three Days to Kill, the inaugural product in Atlas Games’ Penumbra line of D20/D&D supplements, was one of the best low-level modules I’ve ever read. It was one of those gaming products that make you instantly eager to call up your gaming group, roll up some characters, and get down to some serious roleplaying.

Thieves in the Forest, the second product form Penumbra, is a little less cool – but, nonetheless, a solid product that’s worthy of your consideration.

Warning: From this point forward, this review will contain spoilers for Thieves in the Forest. Players who may end up playing in this module are encouraged to stop reading now. Proceed at your own risk.

The plot of Thieves is painfully simple: The PCs are in the town of Brandon’s Bridge, which is located in a forest. There are thieves in the forest. The PCs need to track down the thieves.

That’s it. There are no twists here. No intrigues to be unraveled. No tricks up this product’s sleeves: Its called Thieves in the Forest, and that’s exactly what you get.

In general there are two reasons I’ll pick up a module: First, I may pick it up because it looks like it has some creative, intriguing ideas – or at least enough spin on some common themes to give me a unique look at something I’m already familiar with. Thieves is not that type of module. Even the slowest among us, I think, can come up with a plot like “hunt down the bad guys in the woods and kill them.”

However, the second reason I’ll pick up a module is wholly utilitarian: I don’t have enough time to do the actual grunt work of writing up an adventure, and I want somebody to do it for me.

This is the level where Thieves in the Forest is operating: John Nephew may not deliver something as clever or exciting as John Tynes’ Three Days to Kill, but he does deliver a well-executed product. With a little over a half dozen consistent and interesting encounter areas (a couple of which have some nice little twists to them), Thieves is full of all the little crunchy bits which we busy GMs don’t have time to put into practice for ourselves.

Thieves in the Forest also helps further Penumbra’s growing reputation for taking that extra little step necessary to take something typical and make it noteworthy: A full-color poster map is included of the thieves’ lair (located in the abandoned temple of a sun god) – an extremely useful tool when it comes to actually running the final assault.

So, if you’re looking for a product which will stir your imagination and set you mind racing with undreamt of possibilities… Thieves in the Forest isn’t for you.

But if you’re looking for a simple, rock solid module to run on Friday night because you’ve been working overtime all week and haven’t had even one spare minute to prepare your adventure notes… then this is precisely what the doctor ordered. Check it out.

Writer: John Nephew
Publisher: Atlas Games (Penumbra)
Price: $8.95
Page Count: 26
ISBN: 1-887801-95-2
Product Code: AG3201

This review was not originally written for RPGNet. It was most likely submitted to Pyramid Magazine. I’m uncertain why it was rejected. It might have been because Steven Marsh, the editor, was being inundated with D20-related reviews and didn’t want them drowning out the rest of the review section (although I think that was mostly a concern that cropped up later). More likely, it’s because another freelancer had already successfully submitted a review of the book. (This was the most common reason for review submissions at Pyramid to get bumped.)

In any case, the rejection happened and so it was easy enough to repurpose the review for RPGNet. As a result, you may notice that the format and length differ a bit from my other RPGNet reviews in this period.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

In the Belly of the Beast is not only an excellent product in its own right, it deserves to be the template by which other adventures will be written.

Review Originally Published May 21st, 2001

Not only is every Penumbra product from Atlas Games a tour de force of excellence, each betrays an immense talent which is capable of constantly providing a fresh perspective to every aspect of a high quality product. In the Belly of the Beast, sprung forth from the brow of Mike Mearls, offers no contradiction to this rapidly emerging reputation.

PLOT & CONCEPT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for In the Belly of the Beast. Players who may find themselves playing in this adventure should not read beyond this point.

In the Belly of the Beast begins when the players are approached by Bruno Mezzia, son of Hallan Mezzia and heir of House Mezzia – a powerful and wealthy family in possession of a trading empire. He wants the PCs to help him take care of the Ring of Iron, a local guild of thieves and slavers which has been causing problems. What the PCs don’t know, though, is that Bruno is trying to establish his own position of power within the city’s underworld – and is planning to use the PCs to do it.

When the PCs and Bruno attempt to go after a stronghold of the Ring of Iron located in the city’s sewer system, however, things go wrong: Unknown to Bruno (or the PCs), a member of the Ring of Iron has come into possession of a rare and strange magical item belonging to a necromancer. In fact, the necromancer from whom they had stolen it had – in turn – stolen it from a tribe of orcs.

What none of them knew is that the magic item in question was a chrysalis – an egg from which the demon Vog Mor would be born into the world. While located in the sewer stronghold, the egg has hatched – trapping the Ring of Iron, the necromancer’s apprentice (who killed his master and now pretends to be the master), and a war party of orcs who came after the egg inside the belly of the slowly emerging Vog Mor.

Bruno and the PCs, of course, end up in exactly the same place.

So, to sum up:

The PCs, the head of a would-be crime family, a gang of slavers, a war party of orcs, and a would-be necromancer (who is slowly going insane) are all trapped in the belly of a demon who, in a few short hours, is going to wake up and take over the world.

Cool.

SOMETHING NEW IN MODULES

“This adventure is roleplaying-intensive.”

How many times have you seen a module claim that? 15? 50? 500 times? How many times have you read those modules and then found out the author was telling you a bald-faced lie?

Every single time, right?

The problem with writing a “roleplaying-intensive” module is that, by its very nature, character interactions cannot be as neatly summed up as “when you open the door you see 5 orcs in a 10’ x 10’ room playing poker”. Monsters meant for slaying, traps meant for escaping, dungeons meant to explore. These can be quantified, described, and mapped with precision. Negotiations with King Strophius to release the Mycenaen prince he holds for ransom? That’s a bit more difficult to put down on paper – and ultimately relies upon the particular DM and PCs who are handling the negotiations.

So “roleplaying-intensive” adventures are an interesting conundrum: You can make ‘em. You can run ‘em. You just can’t buy ‘em.

Or so I thought.

There are times when I love being proved wrong.

In the Belly of the Beast is a roleplaying-intensive adventure, and it really, really, really works. No, really: It does. Would I lie to you?

So how does Mearls do it?

First, he gives you five different factions of power in the demon’s belly: The PCs (which he, of course, leaves undefined), Bruno Mezzia and his thugs, the Ring of Iron slavers, the Blood Hatchet orc war party, and the “necromancer” and his servant. Each group is detailed, and each member of the group is detailed – giving the DM a full grasp on his cast of characters.

Next, he gives everyone a common goal: Escape the demon belly.

Then, he gives everyone a common enemy: The servants of the demon who are trying to get past the impromptu barricade and kill everyone.

And then, to round out the foundation of the scenario, he gives everyone a reason for distrusting everyone else – and a reason to ally with one another against the others.

Into this potently developed dynamic, Mearls then adds an exhaustively detailed series of events (and potential events) which allow the mutable plot of the adventure to form. Mearls carefully designs this episodic plot so that it can adapt to whatever actions the PCs may take, giving the DM a strong helping hand without forcing them to tie their players into strait jackets. At the same time, he doesn’t allow the episodic nature of his narrative structure to dominate the actual playing experience – tying his events to each other in a variety of ways, so that the underlying dynamic of the scenario will create a holistic and memorable gaming experience no matter who plays it… or how.

CONCLUSION

So, at the end of the day, In the Belly of the Beast lays claim to being something a little different, something a little new, and something which should definitely find its way into your gaming library. In fact, if your players aren’t able to look back fondly and say, “Hey, remember that time we were stuck in the belly of Vog Mor?” then you’ve definitely made a big mistake in not grabbing this module up and running it.

Now, a real quick note on a weakness I think the product has: It is marketed as containing a “tear-out section”. This section contains the stat sheets for the major NPCs, a combat chart, a hand-out, and the adventure’s map. I, honestly, cannot imagine anyone actually bothering to tear this section out of the module – and the net result is that information which could have been presented in a truly useful manner, now disrupts the lay-out of an otherwise excellently presented adventure. While I applaud Penumbra for experimentation on the one hand, on the other I wish that they would focus on producing the high quality product they’ve proven they’re ably capable of producing and leave the gimmicks for when they are truly deserved and needed.

That’s my assessment as a reviewer, GM, and player. Now, if you’ll indulge me for a moment, I’d like to pass my judgment on this product as a freelancer who has written or contributed to roughly half a dozen D20 products:

In the Belly of the Beast establishes a paradigm for developing roleplaying-intensive modules. Mearls is, of course, building upon design tools which have been developed before, but, to my eyes, he has done so by creating the ground floor of something that deserves a very close look. I, personally, am already working on a module which will play around with and develop these concepts – and, once I’m done with that, I’m probably going to take a look at combining it with an old idea of my own and seeing how they can be combined to enhance a dungeon environment. I encourage other freelancers (and GMs) to look at Mearls’ work in this light as well – not only to duplicate what he has done, but also to open your minds to doing things using new tools and methods.

Okay, I’m off my soapbox. You can stop reading and go out to buy your own copy now.

…

No, seriously. I’m done.

…

C’mon. Get out of here.

…

Look, I’m going to call the cops if you don’t leave!

…

Okay, that’s it. You’re in trouble now, big guy! You just wait and see!

Style: 4
Substance: 5

Author: Mike Mearls
Publisher: Atlas Games
Line: Penumbra
Price: $8.95
ISBN: 1-887801-96-0
Product Code: AG3202
Pages: 32

This adventure had a HUGE impact on me as a GM. I’ve previously discussed its influence on the Universal NPC Roleplaying Template, and you can trace its impact all the way into So You Want to Be a Game Master. I think it would be fair to say it’s directly or indirectly impacted almost every single roleplaying scene I’ve run in the past quarter century.

I also remember it being incredibly effective in actual play. The faction setup, the flexible diplomatic relations, the event sequence, and the looming threat of Vog Mor all combined beautifully. (Although, if I recall correctly, I souped things up with some material from The Book of Fiends.)

So, yeah, this one is a certifiable classic. Really deserves to be on more Best Adventures of All-Time lists.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

The Paranoia of fantasy, Ork! is unashamed satire – targeting Tolkienesque tropes and gamer culture with equal parts aplomb and ruthlessness.

Review Originally Published May 21st, 2001

I’ve been trying to think up clever ways to introduce the concept of Ork!. Here’s one:

Last year I wrote a review of John Wick’s Orkworld — detailing its lavish (and loving) detail of orkish culture, and lauding it for providing a remarkably complete picture of orkish life. Ork! is not that game. Ork! is, in very large part, a satire of Orkworld which managed to get published before Orkworld itself.

Here’s another one:

Ork! is the Paranoia of fantasy. It’s unashamed satire targeting Tolkienesque tropes and gamer culture with equal parts aplomb and ruthlessness.

And here’s the last one:

The concept behind Ork! is simple: You play an ork. An ork is big. An ork is dumb. An ork likes killing and smashing. If you play Ork! you will spend a lot of time saying things like, “Me am ork! Me am kill you!”

Half of Ork! is spent raising the stereotypes of orks specifically (and fantasy in general) to the level of comedy. For example: “An Ork earns respect from his peers by slaying his enemies. Should another Ork come along and call him a coward, that Ork will feel his honor is being attacked. A fight will break out, and someone will lose an eye.” Or: “For Orks, remembering what happened this morning is an exceedingly difficult task. It’s almost impossible to recall the events of yesterday, and last week might as well have been millennia ago.”

The other half of Ork! is spent winking its eye at the stereotypes of gamers (and game designers more particularly), and raising those to the level of comedy. For example: “As we’re sure you’ll be shocked to find out, every Ork has a set of skills that define what he’s good at. Equally shocking is the revelation that these skills are based on the attributes you’ve already chosen. Yes, that was indeed a bolt from the blue, as old Gary would say. A rare moment of genius, we assure you, and certainly not swiped from every RPG of the last 15 years.” Or: “Time in combat is divided into rounds. Yes, that’s right, rounds. We would have invented some clever acronym like TKU (Time Keeping Unit), but we know you’d end up calling them rounds anyway.”

In short, Ork! finds a set of solid themes (“orks are dumb”, “orks are violent”, “game designers do silly things”) and then plays them out over the course of 64 pages.

Oh, yeah, there’s also a game in there. Let’s take a look at that.

SYSTEM

Ork! is a simple game. Which is good, because, as the saying goes, comedy is hard and you don’t need the rules hassling you, too.

The rules of Ork! are also fun – which I also like to see, because it extends the fun environment of the game concept throughout the gaming experience. The one thing that always drove me nuts about Paranoia was the fact that you had this really hilarious game world coupled with a rule system which was just trying too damn hard.

To sum up Ork! in brief:

Character Creation: You have four attributes (Meat, Bones, Twitch, and Mojo) measured in die types. You choose between sixteen skills, which determine how many dice you roll.

Skill Resolution: “Many RPGs use what’s called a target number system. In these games, the benevolent GM decides on the difficulty of a given task, and the player only needs to exceed this target number to complete task. Such systems are for the weak, since they allow the GM to show the horrid trait of mercy while assigning target numbers. In Ork!, the GM represents Krom himself and even the simplest task requires the player to dice off with Krom!”

The GM does have some control over the situation by determining whether Krom approves of the action (2d6), doesn’t care (3d6), is annoyed by it (4d6), or hates the orc trying it (5d6). Beyond that, however, action is simply resolved by the GM rolling and the player rolling: If the player rolls higher than the GM, he succeeds. If the GM rolls higher, the player fails.

(This system created a bit of a soft spot in my heart. The first RPG I ever read was MERP. I didn’t get it. Then I bought Batman, based on Mayfair’s DC Heroes game. I didn’t get it. Frustrated because I thought this whole “roleplaying game” concept was really cool even if these games I were buying might as well have been written in Greek, I created my own Batman RPG – which consisted of me (the GM) rolling 1d6, and my brother (Batman) rolling 1d6. If I rolled higher, Batman would crash the Batmobile while driving back to the Batcave. If my brother rolled higher, Batman would get back to the Batcave successfully… although he might still slip and fall while getting out of the car.)

Combat: Combat resolution works just like normal skill resolution – except the role is contested with another character, rather than with Krom. Damage is handled through a wound level system (Right as Rain; Just a Scratch; Oww, Quit It!; Arrrrgghhhhhh!; Call the Sawbones!; and See You In Hell).

CONCLUSION

The only real downside to Ork! is a couple of spelling errors scattered spasmodically here and there through the book (given the subject matter, though, you could consider this a feature rather than a bug). And, of course, the fact that – like most combat-heavy comedy games — Ork! is most suitable for the occasional one-shot (rather than any sort of prolonged campaign). Not a big deal when you look at the Big Picture:

Ork! is fun. It’s fun to read. It’s fun to play. It’s fun to joke about with your gamer buddies.

So if you don’t pick up a copy of Ork! at your earliest opportunity, I have only one thing to say to you:

Me am Ork! Me am kill you!

Style: 4
Substance: 4

Author: Todd Miller and Chris Pramas
Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing
Price: $12.95
ISBN: 0-9701048-0-4
Product Code: GRR1001
Pages: 64

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

Review Originally Published May 21st, 2001

Mystick: Domination takes a different approach to the card-building games: A “premium card game”, Mystick encourages “customizability without collecting” by selling only complete decks (with every deck including every card).

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Getting introduced to Mystick requires a steep learning curve which is – thankfully – lessened considerably by the thoughtfully included and well-executed Basic Tutorial pamphlet. Essentially the game boils down to this: With a Tarot-inspired card- and ruleset, Mystick allows you to play out Pawn cards. Pawns are then used to obtain Power, either from a central pool or from other Pawns. This basic mechanic is complicated with various action and environment cards, and a set of elegantly interlocking rules which give rise to a number of tactical possibilities.

The game can be played by 2-5 players. The Basic Deck only supports play by two players, however, and, unfortunately, I find the game to be severely lacking in two player mode: It is far too easy for the player with the first turn to build an unassailable lead, and the game’s mechanics generally seem to become either too simplistic or catastrophically clogged. On the other end of the spectrum, playing with 5 players also seems to strain the game (the round advancement mechanic – based on how times a “draw” action has been used – seems to speed play up too much with this number of players).

THE DEAL

Mystick: Domination has a sweet spot of 3-4 players, but when you’re at that sweet spot the game behaves like a well-tuned Ferrari (and its not exactly a Yugo at the extremes, either). The game is gifted with evocative and beautiful artwork which, in its classical stylings, is a refreshing breath of fresh air in the current card game market. Its playable straight out of the box. And it appears that Anoch is dedicated to giving all of this the support it deserves. Give this one a try.

The Verdict: B+

Publisher: Anoch Game Systems, Inc.
Category: Fantasy Premium Card Game
Release: August 2000
Format: 78 card Basic Deck; 78 card Power Deck
Suggested Retail: $19.99

In response to the rise of collectible card games, Mystick: Domination was experimenting with a form factor that Fantasy Flight Games would later call a Living Card Game (LCG). Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite perfected here: The Basic Deck and Power Deck were basically indistinguishable from each other on store shelves and, as noted in the review, if you only bought the Basic Deck, the game wasn’t terribly good.

(In point of fact, it turns out the designer of this game — Eric Lang — a bunch of LCGs for FFG.)

This review was originally written for someone other than RPGNet, but I have no memory of who that might have been. Since I have no record of its publication elsewhere, it must have either been rejected or the magazine it was intended for went out of business before printing it. Either way, I salvaged the piece by publishing it on RPGNet. And now, many years later, I’m salvaging it once again.

I debated whether to actually post this review: It’s for a fairly obscure game that’s long out of print. But the whole goal is to archive all of these older reviews, and I also have a lot of fond memories of this game. So if it encourages even one person to maybe go grab a used copy off eBay, it’ll probably be worth it.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

“More chaos on the chessboard.” A sequel to the classic Knightmare Chess, Knightmare Chess 2 can be used independently of the original or as an expansion.

Review Originally Published May 21st, 2001

My review of the original Knightmare Chess can be found here. If you are unfamiliar with that game, you should probably check that review out first, as I give a more detailed overview of the mechanics and gameplay therein.

“Move a piece. Play a card. Chess will never be the same…”

This was the tagline of the original Knightmare Chess.

“More Chaos on the Chessboard.”

And this is the tagline of Knightmare Chess 2.

The game found in Knightmare Chess 2 is identical to the first game. In fact, Knightmare Chess 2 is designed to be totally independent of the original – including all of the rules, and requiring none of the cards, from the original. It can also, of course, be played as an expansion set.

Once again, Rogério Vilela is responsible for the haunting, evocative, mesmerizing, and unquestionably gorgeous illustrations to be found in elegant display upon each and every card in the set – granting Knightmare Chess 2, like its predecessor, a unique and memorable visual presence at the game table.

The sole detectable difference between Knightmare Chess and Knightmare Chess 2, in my opinion, is one of degree: In Knightmare Chess 2 you will find cards haunting the extremes. Whereas the majority of the cards in Knightmare Chess were fairly predictable and understandable variations upon the rules of chess, in Knightmare Chess 2 you will find that many cards will have only an extremely subtle effect upon your strategy – while others will have all the tactical delicacy of a jackhammer.

But after playtesting these games extensively – both in isolation and in various combinations with each other – there is no doubt in my mind: Knightmare Chess 2 measures up to the immense quality of its predecessor in every way. Although I’d still recommend picking up Knightmare Chess first, but Knightmare Chess 2 should find its way to your gaming table soon after.

Style: 5
Substance: 5

Designers: Pierre Clequin and Bruno Faidutti
Publisher: Steve Jackson Games
Price: $14.95
ISBN: 1556343485
Production Code: SJG1322

The current edition of Knightmare Chess from Steve Jackson Games includes both the original Knightmare Chess and Knightmare Chess 2.

I quite like the “expansion pack which is also a stand-alone version of the game” model. Steve Jackson Games has used this for a number of different games going all the way back to OGRE and GEV. More recent examples include the various Dominion games. I think it’s a model that could be very profitable and useful for RPGs (albeit not ones with 300 page rulebooks).

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.