“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.

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The Vladaam drug-running operations are woven through their deot and, thus, throughout The Vladaam Affair. This brief summary is designed to tie these disparate elements together, providing both an overview for the GM and some basic guidance if the PCs decide to pursue these leads.

Note: The drug trade also offers myriad opportunities for PCs to get involved with The Vladaam Affair for the first time. Addicts and dealers can be found throughout the city and in every walk of life, making it easy to drop clues into almost any scenario.

DRUGS HANDLED BY THE VLADAAMS

The Vladaam drug trade focuses on three specific drugs:

• Abyss Dust
• Snakeweed
• Liquid Pain (Agony)

ABYSS DUST: Abyss dust is alchemically distilled from snakeweed (see below), although few associate the innocuous effects of snakeweed with this powerful narcotic. Abyss dust looks like ashes, with a rich black and gray color. It is administered through inhalation or smoking. Some hardcore users like to mix their abyss dust with snakeweed, claiming the snakeweed “takes the edge off” of some of the more extreme hallucinations.

LIQUID PAIN: This thickish red liquid, also known as Agony, liquid pain is distilled from the living pain of tortured souls. Through an alchemical law of antagonism it creates a feeling of intense pleasure in addition to its other effects. Recreational users use small, ceremonial knives to cut themselves and deliver the drug. It’s said that the recipe was perfected by demons and stolen from them by a Dark Warrior. (Who may, or may not have been a member of House Vladaam.) It is difficult to say how much truth there is in such tales, as opposed to salesmanship.

SNAKEWEED: The sunburst flower is found growing in many ancient ruins throughout the Serpent Islands. The trances produced by smoking the dried leaves and flowers of the plant became a popular, casual intoxication among the pirates of Freeport and spread to ports throughout the Whitewind Sea. When dried, the stuff is simply called snakeweed by most, and while it can be psychologically addictive it is relatively harmless by itself. When smoked, snakeweed produces a feeling of serene calm, a deadening of pain, and slight euphoria. Heavy doses produce an incapacitating euphoric stupor, and sometimes inspire dreams of shadowy, serpentine forms and vast cities beneath the waves. In Freeport, it is commonly used by the poorer citizens and sailors as an escape from the drudgeries of everyday life.

See Appendix: 5E Drugs for the mechanical details of these drugs.

SOURCES

• Abyss Dust and Snakeweed are purchased in Freeport.
• Liquid Pain is manufactured at the Vladaam Slave Warehouse (Part 16).

RUNNERS

FLEET OF IRON SAILS: The Fleet of Iron Sails (Part 9) smuggle abyss weed and snakeweed out of Freeport.

SURVEYOR APPRENTICES: The apprentices of the Red Company of Surveyors (Part 14), are used to run drugs. Small quantities or secret messages can be placed within the hollow rachis (stems) of their diamond-feathered badges.

SPICE SHIPMENTS: It’s not unusual to mix illegal drugs into shipments of legitimate spices, take the cargo to the Spice Market, and then separate out the illegal drug.

RECIPIENTS

In Ptolus, the Vladaams deliver drugs to both their own Curse Dens (Part 8) and independent dealers.

INDEPENDENT DEALERS:

• Skull & Sword (Guildsman District; Ptolus, p. 180)
• Spice Market (South Market; Ptolus, p. 340)
• Dark Market (Midtown — Undercity; Ptolus, p. 399)
• Vistor Krun (Warrens; Ptolus, p. 381)

TRACKING

If the PCs want to gather information on the Vladaam’s drug trade or put drug-related facilities under surveillance, there are two likely discoveries.

First, runners carrying drugs can be observed coming from any ship in the Fleet of Iron Sails. They can be followed to either the Rivergate curse den or one of the independent dealers listed above.

GM Note: These drugs are taken to the curse den in Rivergate and then distributed to the other curse dens from there.

Second, drug runners can be observed leaving the Vladaam Salve Warehouse and going to a curse den. (1 in 4 chance per day of a drug runner. Determine which curse den they’re heading to randomly.)

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(click for PDF)

Mothership is a sci-fi horror RPG. Think Alien, The Thing, Pitch Black, or Annihilation.

Its calling card is an old school approach wedded to red hot innovation:

• Blazing fast character creation.
• Brutal systems for Combat and Stress.
• Tons of sandbox support and tools in the Warden’s Operation Manual (the GM book).
• An overwhelming amount of adventure support, including both first party books and a deluge of third-party support.

This last point, in particular, convinced me to make Mothership the basis for my current open campaign. Not only is there a ton of adventure support, a lot of it is designed so that you can spend 15 minutes reading through it and — presto! — you’re ready to go. My expectation is that I’ll be able to rapidly build a stable of adventures that will easily let me run the game with minimal or no prep.

I previously shared an alpha version of this cheat sheet. I’ve made a number of corrections based on your feedback, added additional rules (notable the rules for spaceships), and refined the content and presentation to reflect usage at the table.

WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED

These cheat sheets are not designed to be a quick start packet: They’re designed to be a comprehensive reference for someone who has read the rulebook and will probably prove woefully inadequate if you try to learn the game from them. (On the other hand, they can definitely assist experienced players who are teaching the game to new players.)

The Mothership cheat sheet, in particular, works very well in conjunction with the GM screen(s) for the game, which are excellent. (There’s both a standard screen and a larger deluxe screen, which each come with the respective boxed sets.)

The cheat sheets also don’t include what I refer to as “character option chunks” (for reasons discussed here). In other words, you won’t find the rules for character creation here.

HOW I USE THEM

I usually keep a copy of the cheat sheet behind my GM screen for quick reference and also provide copies for all of the players. I have two copies of the Mothership rulebook at the table, too, but my goal is to summarize all of the rules for the game. This consolidation of information eliminates book look-ups: Finding something in a dozen pages is a much faster process than paging through hundreds of pages in the rulebook.

The organization of information onto each page of the cheat sheet should, hopefully, be fairly intuitive.

PAGE 1: Basic Mechanics and Violent encounters. (Most of the core game play loops are covered here.)

PAGE 2: Violent Encounters and the Threat System. (See below.)

PAGE 3: Survival. (Most of the miscellaneous rules in the game.)

PAGE 4: Ports & Medical Care. (Stuff to do in your downtime.)

PAGE 5: Ship Stats & Space Travel. (All the rules for operating ships except for ship-to-ship combat.)

PAGE 6: Ship Repairs & Contractors. (Not a big fan of these two sharing the same sheet, but they ended up being two half-pages without good companion pieces.)

PAGE 7: Ship-to-Ship Combat.

Having run character creation for Mothership a couple of times, the sheer speed at which it happens turns the limited number of rulebooks at the table into a significant choke point. I’m going to continue experimenting with how that should be handled, and probably trying to figure out which pages from the PDF need to be printed out to help everyone zip through. (I’ll report back when I know more.)

CRUXES

This cheat sheet has not quite reached its final form. There are still several elements I’m experimenting with. A few things to note:

First, these sheets include my personal house rules. With the exception of the Threat system (which I’ll discuss in a moment), these are marked in blue. Some of these are original rules, others overwrite the published rules. When I release the final version of the sheets, I may or may not do a version which is strictly the published rules of the game, but for now this is my working document and what I’m using at the table. If you want to strip these house rules out on your own, here’s a copy of the Microsoft Word file I used to create the cheat sheet so that you can easily edit it:

Mothership Cheat Sheet – Microsoft Word

Note that you’ll need to track down the relevant fonts.

Second, the sheet includes the Threat system, which I first discussed in Mothership – Thinking About Combat. Based on actual play, the system as presented here has received some refinement (and I’m still tinkering with it).

For the moment, this has also resulted in the “Violent Encounters” section of the cheat sheet appearing on both the first page (paired with Basic Mechanics) and the second page (where it appears with the Threat system for a complete combat reference). Partly this is because I’m still experimenting with the Threat system. Partly because I’m still trying to figure out the final layout of the sheets. And partly so that those not interested in the Threat system can simply remove that page of the cheat sheet and still have a fully functional packet.

I previously discussed an additional crux:

Androids & Oxygen: The rules state that androids don’t consume oxygen when life support systems fail, but there are separate rules for vacuums and toxic atmospheres (which require rebreathers or oxygen supplies). Should androids be affected by exposure to vacuum or toxic atmospheres? My ruling is No.

I have not included a resolution to this particular conundrum on the sheet. In my personal campaign, we’ve been developing a wide variety of androids and I’m still figuring out if different types will have different features and, if so, how they interact with things like the Atmospheres rules and hyperspace travel.

MAKING A GM SCREEN

These cheat sheets can also be used in conjunction with a modular, landscape-oriented GM screen (like the ones you can buy here or here).

Personally, I use a four-panel screen and use reverse-duplex printing in order to create sheets that I can tape together and “flip up” to reveal additional information behind them. (This simple sheet, however, will simply fit directly into the four-panel screen.)

I think my eyes are bleeding.

Review Originally Published May 21st, 2001

I knew I was in trouble with Galal’s Grave when I read this on the very first page: “Enmity between Elf and Dwarf was laid aside to sunder Evil else all was lost.”

Perhaps I was merely rushing to judgment – and there was, in fact, some perfectly good reason for the elves and dwarves to go around separating “Evil” into pieces (rather than doing more logical things, such as eliminating or destroying it). But if there was such a reason, it remains blissfully undisclosed within the pages of this module.

The mislaid cliché and questionable thesaurus-dipping of that passage, unfortunately, is only slightly indicative of a tone which infects the entire introduction of the adventure. The inexplicable “Evil” makes war with “Elves” and “Dwarves”, which are sometimes referred to as “Good” and, puzzlingly, as the “fey”. We learn that the Elves had a hero in Galal, and the dwarves had a hero in Balor – who were both killed when “Evil surprised the force of Good”. (Strangely this happened at a time when the “forces of Good” were both “poised to eradicate the remnants of Evil” and “in the midst of overwhelming odds”). Galal and Balor were buried in “unknown graves”.

PLOT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for Galal’s Grave. Players who may find themselves playing in this adventure should not read beyond this point.

You know, I don’t really have any objections to alliteration, per se. For example, I don’t have anything against “Galal’s Grave” as a title. But I have to admit that I’m more than a little skeptical about the adventure starting in an inn named “Gulum’s Gullet”. I mean, honestly, people. We’re in the middle of a G shortage.

This is, of course, where the PCs enter the picture: They come to the Gullet through a number of possible hooks – ranging from the cliched (they’re on their way to a “city filled with adventure” when they stop at the inn) to the bizarre: “It is the 79th anniversary of Galal and Balor and strange lights have once again been sighted around Gulum’s Gullet, an inn within a nearby village. Last year was the 78th consecutive year the lights have appeared. Perhaps one of the graves is nearby?” Perhaps. But other questions abound: Why does the 79th anniversary suddenly have people making the connection? Why is Gullum’s Gullet named instead of the village as a whole? If it was “four score and seven years ago” (87 years ago) that the struggle with “Evil” took place (as we are told on page 2), why is it now only 79 years since it took place?

Anyway. Once you’ve got the PCs in the inn (which is frequented by everyone from peasants to merchants to mercenaries to nobles), they’ll hear a gleeman recite a poem about Galal and Balor. Afterwards the gleeman will tell them that “’tis no secret where Galal is buried” – despite the fact that, two pages earlier, we were told that nobody knew where he was buried. (Which is okay, because, quite frankly, it’s pretty silly for the secret to have been “lost in time” when it happened within the lifetime of your average elf and dwarf.)

If they follow the gleeman’s “exacting directions” they will come upon a path, which they can follow. The only trick is that – at one point – the path branches in two: One path (which has been marked by a boulder as the “path of life”) leads away from the grave. The other path (which has been marked the “path of death”) leads to the grave. This was done by dwarves who were asked to aid the elves in their “deception.” Yeah, those tricky elves – marking the path to a GRAVE as a path of DEATH.

Who am I to judge, though? It’s apparently worked for the past 79 and/or 87 years.

At this point there are several keyed descriptions. Unfortunately, it appears that they forgot to print the map for this part of the adventure and it’s practically impossible to render any sort of connected sense out of it. A few choice bits of illogic do appear, though: For example, an orc shaman who believes that a sentient tree holds a legendary blade demands that the tree hand it over. The tree refuses. The shaman responds by killing the tree and cursing it to act as a prison for the legendary blade. Oh, that crafty orc shaman. He got just what he wanted.

…

… wait a minute.

Anyway, things proceed pretty normally once the PCs are inside the prison tree. Maps for the interior of the tree are included (poorly done as they are), and the adventure reveals itself as a fairly boring and cliched dungeon – despite the interesting premise of locale.

To add insult to injury, it turns out at the end of the day that this is just a false crypt. The real grave of Galal is somewhere else entirely. Ha ha. Gotcha.

To which one is forced to reply:

Who cares?

OTHER WEAKNESSES

Galal’s Grave compounds its other problems with a mediocre lay-out and overall design. Adding to this sense of amateurism, unfortunately, is the artwork of Derek T. Stevens. At times Stevens betrays moments of high quality which are made even more noteworthy by the distinctively exotic character of his work (for example, the pieces on pages 11 and 15 of Galal’s Grave). At other times, however, Stevens betrays his neophyte status (most notably in pieces such as that found on page 8 of Galal’s Grave).

CONCLUSION

I would like to say Galal’s Grave is not without its strong points. I hate telling lies, though, so I can’t.

In the final analysis I’m afraid the conclusion is self-evident: The OGL and D20 trademark licenses have produced some products of truly exceptional quality. Galal’s Grave, on the other hand, represents the other end of the spectrum that we all knew would crop up sooner or later: A poor vision, compounded with amateur production values and layers of cliches deep enough to choke a horse.

Style: 2
Substance: 1

Title: Galal’s Grave
Authors: Jamie Lloyd
Company: Fiend Games
Line: D20
Price: $6.00
ISBN: 1-931275-00-9
Production Code: TLG1501
Pages: 22

When discussing the OGL and similar open licenses, some people will point to adventures like Galal’s Grave and conclude that the OGL is a mistake. “Look at all the garbage!”

I have a different mindset: As Theodore Sturgeon said, 90% of everything is crap.

Look not at the worst that the OGL or science fiction or television has to offer. Instead, consider all of the priceless gems and wonders which we would otherwise not have.

As for the rest of it?

Well, that’s why we have reviews.

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

I’ve been thinking about jump travel in Mothership. Here’s a quick summary, as described in the core rulebooks:

• Jump points are rated from Jump-1 to Jump-9.
• Utilizing a jump point requires a jump drive of equal to higher rating.
• For the crew of the ship, the jump always takes 2d10 days.
• Jumps usually seem to take the same amount of time for the rest of the universe, but each jump carries the risk of an unusual time dilation: Ships might disappear for months or even years instead of days.
• The longer/higher rated the jump, the more dangerous and severe the time dilation appears to be. It’s possible that some of the Jump-9 deep space exploration vehicles that have gone missing will reappear a thousand years in the future.

The rulebooks, however, leave these time dilation effects up to the GM’s discretion. I thought it might be useful to instead resolve the mechanically.

TIME DILATION

When a ship performs a jump, roll 1d10 per Jump rating (e.g., if a ship is making a Jump-3, roll 3d10).

For each 1 rolled on a d10, the actual trip duration increases by one step:

• days
• weeks
• months
• years
• decades
• centuries

If you’re making a standard Jump-1, you have a minimal risk of the trip taking 2d10 weeks instead of 2d10 days. If you attempt a Jump-3, on the other hand, there is a 1-in-1000 risk that you’ll roll three 1’s and return 2d10 years later.

Note: This does not change the subjective time experienced by the ship. For the crew, a jump trip seems to take 2d10 days, regardless of how much time passes in the wider universe.

Other Chaotic Effects: At the GM’s discretion, each 1 rolled on the time dilation check instead triggers a different chaotic effect. Examples might include:

• a crew member is replaced by a completely different person
• time dilation is inverted (the trip takes minutes or seconds instead of days) or reversed (they arrive before they left)
• subjective time experienced by the crew is dilated instead
• strange hallucinations or manifestations
• crew is unexpected awoken from cryosleep during the voyage
• the ship arrives in the wrong place

ASTRONAVIGATION

Calculating a jump requires an Intellect (Hyperspace) check. This check is made with [+} if the astronavigator remains awake during the jump, monitoring the astronavigation computers.

Success: You made it!

Critical Success: Roll one fewer d10 when making the time dilation check for the jump. For a Jump-1 trade route, roll 2d10 and only have the ship experience time dilation if both dice roll a 1.

Failure: Something goes wrong! The GM chooses one:

• Double the number of dice rolled for the time dilation check.
• The ship arrives in the wrong place. (1 in 10 chance you arrive back where you started after 4d10 days, having traversed a Calabi-Ricci spacetime loop.)
• The ship is damaged by jump turbulence, roll a Repair (SBT, p. 39).

Critical Failure: You could have killed us all! All three consequences of Failure happen simultaneously.

TRADE ROUTES

According to the Shipbreaker’s Toolkit, “regular Jump-1 trade routes seem to wear down the chaotic effects” of jump travel. Navigational calculations become more precise with each additional jump that’s recorded along a route, and ships traveling through the jump point can effectively wear a “groove” into spacetime.

At the GM’s discretion, ships jumping along a route which has been “worn” by regular travel reduce the number of d10s rolled for the time dilation check by one. For a Jump-1 trade route, roll 2d10 and only have the ship experience time dilation if both dice roll a 1.

UNCHARTED JUMPS

Most interstellar travel happens along charted jump routes: Jump points that have well-plotted navigational solutions (even if they shift slightly due to stellar drift) and are known to be stable.

These are not the only jump points in space, however. Once you’re away from planets, asteroids, and stations, it turns out there are many unstable points in the fabric of space which are constantly being created, destroyed, and shifting according to complex spacetime geometries.

The GM determines the base Jump rating of the uncharted route. (This can usually default to the total value of all Jump-ratings along the known path from the current system to the destination system. For example, if you could normally get to the other system through a known Jump-1 route, the base Jump rating for an uncharted route would also be Jump-1. If you would normally need to make a Jump-1 followed by a Jump-3, then the base Jump rating for the route would be Jump-4.)

Plotting the uncharted jump requires an Intellect (Hyperspace) check. This includes identifying the location of the jump point you need to use, which you will then need to travel to (as shown on the table below). If you’re in the Inner System or in orbit around a planet, increase the time required by one step. (Weeks become months.)

Success: Add 1d2 to the base Jump rating. This is the Jump rating of the uncharted route, which is then resolved normally.

Critical Success: -1 to the base Jump rating (minimum 1). In addition, roll 1d10. On a roll of 1, the jump path you’ve discovered is a new stable route. (Depending on the value of the route, selling the location of this new jump point might be worth thousands or millions of credits.)

Failure: Add 1d5 to the required jump rating. If you roll 5, roll again and add the result to the jump rating. If the result is 10 or higher, you have been unable to find any jump points leading to your desired destination.

Critical Failure: You thought you could get from here to there via a safe jump, but you were very wrong. Your Astronavigation check automatically fails. In addition, determine the jump rating as per a Failure, but you attempted the jump no matter what the result is. If the result was higher than the rating of your Jump drive, your ship suffers 1d2 MDMG and emerges from hyperspace in a completely random and unexpected location. (This is a good way to end up adrift in interstellar space.)