A Bit of History
This year I am reviewing fewer games, but going into greater detail on each. I contacted a few publishers, and two were nice enough to send me copies for review, a big thanks to Arc Dream Publishing and Skirmisher Publishing for their contributions to this column. In reviewing these books, I paid special attention to their value in historical games, and less to the individual game systems. System is important, but like most historical gamers (at least the ones I know) translating a setting from one system into another is par for the course. One's favorite system rarely publishes sourcebooks for one's favorite era of history. If you put any of these on your list, make sure to tell Santa you read about it on "A Bit of History", and if you do, please let him know I've been really good this year.
The Kerberos Club, FATE Edition, Arc Dream Publishing
A small caveat, Cubicle 7 distributes this book and I am developing a FATE setting for them, also, the publisher sent me a copy for this review column. When the book arrived, I put on my smoking jacket (a pea coat), went into the study (out on the deck, I don’t smoke in the house), lit a pipe (cheapest cigarette I could find), and rang the servants for a brandy (the wife told me I could fetch my own Mt. Dew when I came in). Unless you missed the allusions, the Kerberos Club is a game about a Victorian era social club, only one that is populated by people who have been touched by the Strange.
The Kereberos Club does an excellent job of conveying the Victorian Era, paying special attention to the common misconceptions about that period, especially the confusion of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. One important point that the book covers well is that the 'proper manners' for which the era was famous for developed during the period, and were in fact the ideal to which people were supposed to aspire to, but rarely reached, and often ignored if indiscretions could be kept quiet. Another nice touch was that differences in expected behavior based on gender and class are thoroughly detailed, especially as these two factors defined a person's identity and role much more during the Victorian era than they do today. Much of this information is presented in a format that makes it easy for the players to learn how their characters are supposed to behave, think, feel, and react, something that helps players stay in period. Also, the role that social clubs play is addressed, something that is often forgotten about the era but is very necessary for this game in that a social club is the center of the campaign.
The shining star in The Kereberos Club is the march of history and progress. All too often a historical RPG presents an era as static and unchanging. Most Victorian era RPGs I have encountered focus on the later decades of Her reign, however The Kereberos Club covers the whole era, from Victoria's coronation to her death, and the changes in society as time progresses. Not just the changes in society are addressed, but the history changes as well, and with Her coronation presented as a change point, a whole alternate history of England, and also the world, is detailed. I am greatly impressed by how the Strange, the supernatural in all its myriad forms, increases throughout her reign. At the beginning, the Strange is largely hidden, and the Kereberos Club attempts to keep it so. By the middle of Her reign, this is becoming impossible to do, and the Strange intrudes on the mundane world on a regular basis. This is where the real history starts to diverge greatly, as Victoria herself begins to display the Strange, becoming like unto a living goddesses (as well as the Queen of Faerie). By the end of her reign, the Strange is commonplace, with automatons working as household servants, faerie industry producing amazing goods for common sale, and airships flying over the skies of London. Battles in the streets between the Queen's own Strange agents and soldiers (the 13th Lupine Rangers, a regiment of shapeshifting soldiers as an example) turn the setting from secret supernatural to full on super heroic.
All in all, I highly recommend this game; it presents the Victorian era in detail, and provides an interesting alternate history as well. One thing to beware of, at no point does The Kereberos Club tell you where they leave off of real world history and enter the alternate history (though this is glaring obvious in most cases). As such, it does not make a good general Victorian era sourcebook, but this is not what The Kereberos Club claims to be. It is a very well done Victorian era campaign, if you are running a supernatural campaign set during that era, Kereberos Club is a treasure trove of inspiration. My biggest problem is that I can’t decide if I want to run this or play it, the Kereberos Club looks like great historical fun either way.
Mythic Iceland, Chaosium
Caveats galore with this one, but it is a good book. I have worked with Chaosium in the past, and they should be publishing my pirates and the supernatural sourcebook for the BRP, Bokors and Broadsides, next year. I picked up an advance copy of Mythic Iceland at GenCon this year, and am quite pleased with it. For those of you who are unfamiliar with my work, I write the Northlands Saga adventure series for Frog God Games (available in both Pathfinder and Swords and Wizardry editions). Naturally a similar sourcebook for one of my favorite systems, the BRP would pique my interest.
Mythic Iceland is a historical sourcebook with some supernatural elements that are not strictly necessary, though they are well done. Whereas other Norse Saga age sourcebooks focus on the more popular Vikings, as well as the exploits of the eastern Norse peoples, Mythic Iceland focuses on just one area, Iceland, and the life of the western Norse. This sets up a campaign that is not what most folks think of when they picture a Saga era game. Ties to society and family are of great importance, as is political squabbling and infighting within the colonies. A 'power gamer' in Mythic Iceland would be advised to put more points into Persuade and Bargain skills than axe or sword. For example, a rather lengthy section deals entirely with how to run the Allthing, the democratic body that serves as both the judicial and legislative body of Mythic Iceland.
As would be expected from a sourcebook that focuses on such a specific time and place, a large part of the text is turned towards describing Iceland during the time between 850 and 1050 CE. The detail is complete, but not so exhaustive as to leave the reader overwhelmed, and is written in a very clear manner. Chapters also cover the greater Norse sphere as well as locations in North America. These descriptions are rife with story hooks, as well as information to help work in the supernatural, should you wish to do so. A system for runic magic is presented, and is a nice departure from other such systems as they have appeared in BRP. The book goes into great detail as to the history of the runes, their use in the setting, and the mechanics of the system. Effects are somewhat variable, with the caster creating a rune-script of several runes, likely over a period of days or weeks that 'spell' out the effect. It is a good system, and lends itself to more creative uses of magic than a simple spell list. A chapter covering the Hidden People and another discussing giants, as well as plenty of mythologically inspired monsters, rounds out the supernatural sections.
In addition to all the above, Mythic Iceland provides chapters on running games set in the era, and a detailed chapter on how to set up a Viking journey and raid. In summation, this is a great resource for someone running any type of campaign drawing on the Icelandic Sagas, or the Norse era in general. Conversion out of the BRP for those who don’t like that system should be easy, percentiles to other dice rolling mechanics are always quick and simple. There are plenty of hooks to make your own fantasy Iceland here, and in my opinion, too many 'viking' rpg products focus on raiding warriors and not the farmers, merchants, and craftsmen that made up the majority of the population of the medieval Norse cultures.
Northlands Roleplaying in Winter's Chill, Open Design
Northlands Roleplaying in Winter's Chill is a sourcebook for the Pathfinder game detailing a region of Open Design's Midgard setting, but it is also a general purpose Nordic sourcebook. Wait a second, some of you might be thinking, doesn’t he write the Northlands Saga series? Yes, I do, but that adventure series and campaign guide are from Frog God Games. Both Northlands Roleplaying in Winter's Chill and Northlands Saga deal with similar sources and themes, and can be used together, but they are different works by different authors and publishers. As it happens, the two projects began about the same time and were developed independently, and neither party new about the other (or the similarity in names) until they reached publication. Suffice to say that we have all discussed this and are very gentlemanly about it, agreeing that things like this just happen sometimes and no one is at fault. Northlands Roleplaying in Winter's Chill is not a true historical sourcebook, but a fantasy setting that blends 'Classic Fantasy' with the myths of the Nordic peoples. It focuses more on mythology, even including a few nods to modern fringe mythologies and pop culture. The culture of The North is derived from historical sources, and the book does a good job of describing the Norse view of life, fate, and honor. Religion, food and drink, and even pastimes are covered in sufficient detail to yield role-playing hooks for players, and story hooks for GMs. This is not your standard fantasy setting, and throughout there is a distinct feel that The North is more wild and less urban than what one sees in 'Classic Fantasy' (that is to say a late medieval/ early renaissance culture). The rules variants for adventuring in the arctic and sub-arctic help to add to this feel, and any GM should be pleased with adding dog sled chases, icebergs, glaciers, and such to his or her game.
Northlands Roleplaying in Winter's Chill sits squarely in the realms of fantasy, with the usual classes and races familiar to those who have played Pathfinder presented with some alterations to help them fit the setting. Four alternate human races are given, though none enjoys a statistical difference from the standard human. A dwarf variant is given, the Reaver Dwarves, who serve as Viking dwarves. New races are the Hyperboreans and Trollkin, both of whom fit the setting nicely. Northlands Roleplaying in Winter's Chill includes a fair number of Traits, the system of character 'half-feats' introduced in the Advanced Player's Guide. I really like these, as they are by far the best means to help a character tie into the setting. A copious amount is given, and for the most part they are dead on for Nordic adventure. Rules for runic magic, a staple of fantasy Nordic era games, and these are a lot simpler than others I have seen. In short, combining knowledge of runes with specific feats, a spell caster can enhance his magic with this knowledge, and gain a small permanent benefit. New spells, equipment, feats, and monsters fill out the remainder of the book.
Cthulhu Live, 3rd Edition, The Old Man of Damascus, Murder at Miskatonic, and Muerte al Chupacabras, Skirmisher Publishing
Caveats with this one, I am working on developing a game (Interplanetary) with the publisher, and my copy was sent to me gratis so I could start a LARP group at our local game store. I am a big fan of Lovecraft and his followers, and although it has been over a decade since I was last in a LARP, the itch to get back into that form of role-playing has been growing stronger over the years.
In addition to the core rules, Skirmisher Publishing sent me three scripts, The Old Man of Damascus, Murder at Miskatonic, and Muerte al Chupacabras. Of these, only The Old Man of Damascus is strictly historical in nature, but the other two are not tied to a particular time period and could be easily adapted to some other era than Modern. In fact, I think Murder at Miskatonic would make an excellent script for the 1920's and playing through Muerte al Chupacabras during the 1950's would be a blast. All three would also make good tabletop adventures with only a small amount of adaptation.
The Old Man of Damascus deals with the siege of a crusader fortress by the forces of Saladin. This in itself sets up a good story, but the script is embellished with a host of secrets both inside and outside the fortress, lending itself to intrigue and negotiation, shifting alliances, and outright betrayal. The setting plays on isolation and xenophobia, as well as showcasing how humanity would be better able to face its problems if it worked together, instead of at cross purposes. Murder at Miskatonic is a straight forward murder mystery intended for novice players and keepers. It can easily take the form of a parlor mystery, and could be set in any time period from the mid-nineteenth century on. It would be a fine script to use with a small group, especially if they are rather new to the intricacies of LARP games. Muerte al Chupacabras is really the beast of the bunch, involving centuries old vampires with ties to the Crusades, a psychopath, and even a Deep One. The script is set in New Mexico, but could easily be transported to any place in the US South West (I think the Australian outback may be a good setting as well). It could even be moved back in time, and an Old West version would take very little (and who doesn’t have a pair of cowboy boots in the back of their closet). It would make a good script to run on a summer's night, especially if you have access to a main house and a few outbuildings. I really don’t want to give anything away, but how Will Thrasher worked a deep one into a script set in the desert has a certain dark humor to it. The pregenerated characters in this and the other scripts make them worth the money, each includes a bundle of characters with hooks, subplots, agendas, and backgrounds that drive the stories far more than the plots do. In fact, the plots seem largely a framework to allow for the PCs to act within, rather than a series of events for them to react to.
Cthulhu Live, 3rd Edition is not itself a historical game, though it supports historical play. One of the biggest challenges in running a historical LARP is that of costuming, the further one gets from the here and now the higher the cost in time and money to make appropriate costumes, something that can dissuade players as well as those who are trying to put on the game. Cthulhu Live, 3rd Edition, although its FX and costuming chapters deal largely with how to dress up sets and monsters, does in its own way show how small things can be done to make historical LARPS a little easier. Most of the artwork in the book consists of very well shot photos of games in play, and one can see how adding a pith helmet to a pair of dockers and a white shirt, or simply painting 'war paint' on the faces of your screaming savage cultists can go a long way towards giving the right feel for the right price (which in my mind is as close to zero as possible).
A shameless plug this month, Frog God Games has released the second of the Northlands Saga series, NS-2 Beyond the Wailing Mountains. The adventure, available in both Pathfinder and Swords and Wizardry editions, follows on the events of NS-1 Vengeance of the Long Serpent and takes the heroes across the Wailing Mountains and into the ice fields beyond to face the avatar of the Demon Lord Althunak. It features overland exploration, a frozen city on a lake of ice, and the battle through the Althunank's home temple.
That's it for this year, we will return next month for a continuation of the Incarnations series with a look at two eras, mini settings that can be used with the Incarnations theme, or as a seed for any other historical game. If you are a publisher and would like to see your work reviewed in the May review column, drop me a PM on this message board (I am Sand Rodent) and we will talk.
Happy Holidays, and may you find a bit of history beneath your tree, and remember, no peeking until the big day!
