StevenGEmsley

So I thought it might be fun to share our homemade factions. I'll start! The Bookmen · Certain grimoires are too dangerous to be in the wrong hands – there are books of ancient secrets which contain works of magic outside the ken of alchemists. Some of these books contain spells of Necromancy, or of summoning demons. · Some books are too dangerous to exist – and must be destroyed for the good of all humanity. · There is still valuable knowledge contained within their pages – although some grimoires contain unspeakable evil, there is often useful information contained within. For this reason, some books should not be destroyed, but kept safely and access strictly limited. · Theft is justified in order to keep dangerous grimoires out of the wrong hands – The Bookmen are happy to steal grimoires from their rightful owners for the good of all mankind. Allies: Varies (some members of the Church, some Rosicrucians, some members of the Invisible College) Enemies: Satanists, some alchemists Zeal: 30 Bonus Skills: Lore (Grimoires) +25% The Bookmen are a faction which may act as patrons for player characters, or which PCs may indeed join, depending on the thrust of the campaign. There are certain magickal effects in the game which I wanted my NPCs to have access to (such as raising the walking dead or summoning demons) which fall outside the scope of alchemy or witchcraft, and I decided to introduce grimoires – magickal texts which could be studied (with a Lore skill for individual grimoires) and their secrets learned in the form of new spells or magickal effects). The Bookmen have existed in some form since the 13th Century, but it is only with the introduction of the printing press and subsequent rise in literacy that they have become more organised. They seek out grimoires which are in the wrong hands (i.e. any hands which aren’t The Bookmen’s) and either hide them away in a rumoured secret library (known as Alexandria, though it is not located there) or destroy them. They will allow scholars to study certain works in their possession, but the scholar will never be taken to Alexandria, the book will be brought to a neutral location and the scholar will be supervised by a Bookman at all times. When a dangerous grimoire is located, the Bookmen will surreptitiously approach the owner in the guise of an agent representing “an interested party” and make an offer to purchase the book – their pockets are deep, but not limitless – or if this is refused will make plans to steal the book. This is where non-Bookmen PCs may be hired for a heist scenario. In extreme cases, the Bookmen will resort to murder and/or arson to ensure the book is destroyed.

Also, thanks to all respondents for taking the time to look things up for me!

Funnily enough, it is for an upcoming Renaissance game - see my recent review of the Renaissance: 1520 setting in that subforum! Mechanics-wise, if there was no great existing system to steal, I was planning on adapting the mechanics for dispelling ghosts from the Renaissance Creatures chapter, but I do like the sound of the Mongoose RQ rule, which I'm sure I have somewhere.

Does anyone have any experience of Aquelarre? I seem to recall it's BRP based?

That's a great start Nick, thank you. Now to recall whether I have MW in pdf anywhere...

Any good rules kicking around in any BRP iteration anywhere? Looking for a similar vibe to the classic Exorcist movie (but in late-medieval Europe) Thanks in advance!

And the hardcover has arrived today. It's a handsome book and sits well with the Renaissance rulebook on the shelf. The colour maps look really nice, but I haven't has a response as yet on DriveThru as to being able to print a map - the download link still links to the wrong files. I am extremely happy with my purchase! As an aside, last week I received a book that I'd kickstarted (not a RPG book) on German mythology. I predict a fabulously-dressed-Landsknechte-versus-German-folk-monsters game in my players' imminent future!

Thanks for the kind words on the review @Nozbat and @Lofgeornost, and I know what you mean about another game book that sits unplayed, but having read it I really fancy running a Landsknechte campaign now!

This review is based on the pdf version. I purchased the colour hardcover (in the post at the date of writing) + pdf option, and the pdfs included are: · the full colour version · the B&W version · 4 colour plates for insertion into your GM screen of choice – public domain period pieces, but good art. · a period map of the city of Lüneburg · a map of the Holy Roman Empire · a map of the administrative circles of the HRE There are a couple of issues here. The B&W version (which most of us would turn to as the “printer friendly” version contains ink-guzzling background images on the page. If there’s a way to print without these, I can’t find it. Secondly, when I try to download the map of the Holy Roman Empire what actually downloads are the GM screen inserts in black and white. I haven’t yet reported this to the publisher, but shall shortly. Fortunately, there is a map in the colour version of the book itself, though this is split over two pages, making printing a map a bit of a problem. The book itself is 128 pages including the cover and the OGL. It’s published under the Open Game License version 1.0a. Enough has been written about the OGL over the last few months, so I won’t add my opinion here. There is a three-page introduction to the period and to historical gaming in general. The introduction speaks more about the appeal of a game grounded in history than in fantasy, but does point out that by definition historical gaming is historical fiction and not historical fact, but that very few characters will do anything which significantly changes history. The author has clearly never met my players… It reminds the reader that there are laws and social norms in place which will render the character’s mindset very different to that of the modern player, and that random acts of murder will be punished by the powers that be. A short section on myths and superstitions, that even if the campaign contains no magic or monsters the characters may well believe in their existence, followed by an invitation to throw them in if you want to. Finally a list of commonly used German terms, which is a list of social titles. Chapter One proper is on character history. This contains tables for height and weight, based on the SIZ attribute, complexion, hair and eye colour, physical traits and so on. It mentions two appendices which allow random generation of name and birthplace, which can be a godsend for the harassed GM needing an NPC in a hurry. No need for every peasant to be called Hans! There are tables to generate a character’s family which can give lots of playing hooks – how does the widower with three children manage their adventuring career? – and what varying levels of education (Lore skill) actually mean, as well as a list of noble titles and suggests that no PC be ranked higher than a count, which is sensible. The social class of Knacker is introduced (to much sniggering from British readers) which are those on the very bottom rung of society – here’s your ratcatcher, all you need is that Small But Vicious Dog! – but points out they may not be suitable characters for many campaigns. I’ll digress slightly here. It’s kind of inevitable that there will be echoes of Warhammer FRP in a game supplement set in the HRE in the early 16th century – WFRP wore its influences on its puffy sleeves after all. Lots of background tables are reminiscent of the old Character Pack in 1e which contained similar tables for a character’s background. This may be a good or bad thing in your eyes. Personally, I enjoy their inclusion, more for generating NPCs on the fly. Of course, one of the most popular features of WFRP was those random starting career tables, and R:1520 incorporates a version here too – easily ignored if you like, but again, a welcome option to have (or ignore, as you see fit). These are split by social group, so no vagabonds from the gentry and no peasant alchemists. The next 9 pages are welcome indeed. These have notes on the various professions in the context of the region and time period. No changes to skill bonuses, but telling you what, say, a scholar’s life would be like in the period. What do they study, and where? All very useful information! Conspicuous by their absence, however, are entries for the witch and the alchemist, for those who wish to include an element of fantasy. Beliefs about witchcraft can be found later in the section on religion, and one can say that an alchemist is a very specialised scholar, but their absence reinforces the preferred campaign style – this is historical fiction, and not historical fantasy, which personally I’m fine with. If you wanted fantasy elements in your game it’s easy enough to add them from the main rulebook, or from a plethora of Lovecraft-inspired games. There follows some information on common crafts of the day and a note on languages. Whilst good general information, it’s a well-thought-out entry applicable to gaming in the period, which is what I find throughout. It’s not just a book of general information on the HRE in the 16th century, it’s a guide to gaming there. Chapter 3 is factions. We all love a faction, don’t we?? For me, factions are what differentiate Renaissance from all other games, and inter-faction conflict should be the meat-and-potatoes of a campaign. Some are repeated from the main rulebook, but as with professions they are given additional background information specific to the milieu. From family clans, through settlements, trading companies, criminal gangs, a plethora of religious factions, military factions (yes, Landsknechte!!!!), ships companies, guilds, a duelling society, noble houses and my favourite – rebellions!!! Many of these list members of note, which again is useful, gameable information. And there are LOTS of factions – 18 pages! Short shrift for the historical fantasist, mind. You have the Rosicrucians for the alchemists and for the witches…well, they have Satanism in the main rulebook. If you wanted pagans in the deep dark woods who cling to the old faith, you’re on your own, but in fairness, this is 1520. Europe’s been Christian for a loooooong time!! The next chapter is on campaigning, and is rather short. Not a criticism, but there’s not a lot required, to be fair. Most of the salient rules are in the core rulebook, so here we have the “tweaks” required to make your campaign feel like the HRE in the 16th century. There is a section on currency, one on firearms and a really interesting one on antidotes (which I guess means that poisons and infections are a major part of the author’s campaign??). Most of this section deals with the antidotes which don’t work, but a short rule covers creating the ones which do. The section is wrapped up with a random encounter table (in which it is possible to encounter Black Sabbath. I doubt it’s an early European tour from the Birmingham heavy rock combo…) The next section is a brief and incomplete history of the Holy Roman Empire (the author’s own words), which contains a reasonably succinct essay on the region’s history, followed by a timeline of important events (always useful in a RPG campaign), taking you through to 1555 and the Peace of Augsberg. The nominal campaign start is 1520, prior to the coronation of Karl V and after the publication of Luther’s 95 theses. An 8 page section on Laws and Government follows, containing information on the Electoral system – which can be baffling at first encounter, but is explained well here – crime and punishment, executioners, sumptuary laws (not just dress, but who has the right to bear arms. It seems there are more people allowed to arm bears than bear arms…). There are also sections on ranks of nobility, administrative circles in the Empire and city alliances, which are ripe for conflict and roleplaying opportunities. Section 7 runs to 11 pages and covers religion and the church. Lutheranism is in its infancy – Luther’s 95 theses are printed and disseminated, but there is no major schism at this point – and so the chapter concentrates on Catholicism – it’s history, hierarchy, fundamentals of the faith and so on. The Holy Inquisition is covered, witchcraft and paganism mentioned and the Hexensabbat receives a text box before a lengthy section on holidays and saints. More than comprehensive enough to run a Church-centred campaign, although the section concentrates on presenting facts than giving roleplaying hooks. Unless I’ve missed it, there is no mention of benefit of clergy which I was almost sure applied in the HRE, but enough sources exist online for this if it’s an issue. A section on religion which was completely comprehensive would dominate the book entirely! The Military is an 8-page section on the organisation of the fighting forces in the Empire and the wars they fought in. More than enough information here to run a Landsknechte campaign (and who doesn’t want to play in a campaign where the characters dress like they’re headed to a Pride march straight after work?!) or any other military or mercenary campaign for that matter. Again, not a lot of roleplaying hooks, but enough background to provide verisimilitude. Chapter 9 covers the city of Lüneburg. Covering history, geography, NPCs and factions, this is a big chunk of the book (18 pages, as long as the chapter on factions) and here is where the gaming lies – plenty of hooks, plots and conflict to keep a campaign going for a good long while, and this is where the book really shines. No specific scenarios, but every page drips with opportunities for PCs to get involved in all sorts of shenanigans in and around the city. It comes with a rather nice period map, cunningly annotated with locations covered earlier. There is a page of further reading, followed by birthplace generation tables and a table for generating German-sounding placenames (because not every hamlet is on the map). The second appendix covers naming conventions for German, Venetian and Slavic names with accompanying tables to create them randomly. To wrap up, we have a nice colour map of the Empire, another covering the administrative circles, a Julian calendar for the year 1520 and a serviceable index. My overall impression is overwhelmingly positive, and to be honest I thought we’d have seen a good few third-party books like this for the Renaissance system since its publication, concentrating on various eras and locales. There’s enough here to get a good handle on the HRE in the 1520s even if you knew nothing about the period before you picked up the book, and aside from a few details I can’t think of any glaring omissions. The only things I would really add are a handful of adventure seeds for a Church campaign, a mercenary campaign, a noble campaign and so on, but that’s a relatively minor niggle. This is a sandbox campaign set in an interesting period full of various conflicts which is ripe for any variety of adventures, and the author should be congratulated. I’m still probably gonna add Skaven though…

So I've finished reading the pdf. I've made some notes and will probably type up a full review. Snapshot review - I like it!

Link here I was surprised to see no mention here. I ordered the hardcover on impulse, so waiting with bated breath for that. Skimmed the .pdf and it looks like a very serviceable sourcebook for playing in the HRE in the early 16th Century. No fantasy elements, which is good - I'd rather add them in than have to take them out, personally! But good to see 3rd party support coming through.

He avoided asking us for Sanitary checks, but at one point last night asked a player if he was dogging this round. I hope he meant Dodging!! Dogging would be a very different proposition! (If you don't know what dogging is, DO NOT google it at work!!) 😁

When The Stars Are Right...

The Curse of Seven brings to mind Mark Frost's excellent Victorian occult adventure novel The List of Seven. Is there a link?

And we're playing again on Friday, and it will only take one of us to say it and he'll be doing it all night! 😁

Agreed on the cover Kevin, it's a beautiful (and very fitting) piece! Delighted to hear of a future reprint, too, it deserves a wider audience. Did it ever see a pdf release?

Check out the Lovecraft Investigations podcasts on BBC Sounds. Updated takes on classic Lovecraft tales (with additional conspiracy theories) which would be perfectly runnable as adventures straight out of the notebook. The podcasts themselves aren't perfect, but are very entertaining!

And, I will put this proposal to Chaosium. If you have slipcase sets in stock, you could unpack on demand, sell the slipcase box separately and then put the two books and screen into inventory to sell separately. Looks like a win-win to me!

And as I bought my Masks of Nyarlathotep set from a friend and it came without its case...I'd buy one of those too!!

I would

Having recently acquired a copy of this boxed set, I thought it might be fun to do a public WIR thread to record my impressions. I know a couple of other posters recently got hold of copies too, so their comments are more than welcome, as are any other readers who have the set. Back in 2013 Cubicle 7 announced a Kickstarter campaign for a boxed set covering London in the 1920s. back in't day, I was a huge fan of the old Green and Pleasant Land supplement written and published by Games Workshop when they had the license. As a Brit, I enjoyed setting games in my homeland. Whilst Arkham, Miskatonic University, Innsmouth and the like had their charm, they were too unfamiliar to the players in my group, many of which only had experience of the Mythos via the RPG and not having read the original works by Lovecraft. As a result, saying "this game takes place in the USA in the 1920s," often led to assumptions that appropriate characters would be gangsters and G-Men. So out went Miskatonic and in came the Comparative Theology Department of Ebor University. No, they were too poor to have a Necronomicon in the library. But I digress. At the time, I lacked the disposable funds to back the Kickstarter Campaign, figuring I would pick up a copy when it was released. Little did I suspect that in the intervening time, Cubicle 7 would lose/surrender (no-one outside the two companies is completely sure which) the license to produce and distribute works compatible with the Call of Cthulhu RPG. Fast Forward to now, when I do have the disposable income and I finally have not only the box, but all the stretch goals in my grubby little mitts! For this thread, I will just concern myself with the core boxed set. The first thing which struck me when the Postie arrived and handed over the parcel was the weight. I knew there were extras in there (the Curse of Ninevah campaign, the two journals, pad of character sheets and two packs of card, but this was a hefty box. On opening and picking out the core box, this too was weighty. There was a lot of paper in there! The box itself is beautiful. Not too deep (an inch or so), deep red in colour with a high-quality matte finish. The logo is a superb art deco style affair which looks like it could have been designed in the day, but with added tentacles. The back gives an overview of what the contents are about - and as you would imagine from the title, this is about London. Not the UK, not even England, but London (the Greatest City in the World, according to the blurb on the back). As I am not a Londoner, this will need to be comprehensive. Having visited London just a handful of times, I am not very familiar with the geography. So it's not Green and Pleasant Land, but its a start. There are other supplements in the Cthulhu Britannica line covering a couple of areas of the UK (Scotland and Somerset) and another covering Folklore to add non-Mythos beasties. These books were for 6th Edition or earlier, but conversion to 7th is a breeze. So what's in the box? The largest is An Investigator's Guide to London, which appears to be a completely Mythos-free guide to the city, A Keeper's Guide to London (added weirdness and gribblies) and Adventures in Mythos London, which is a book of scenarios. There are also 6 sheets of die-cut handouts and 4 poster maps. On opening the box, it's full. No spare room for even a bunch of character sheets! Next time, I will give my first impressions of the maps and handouts.

Well don't forget to share the contents of your next clearout here mate! 😁

@AtG_Toby you're welcome...not sure what inspired me. After trying all.my usual places and posting here, someone pointed out eBay, which I hadn't even considered! @Ejlertson I explained myself badly, my apologies! 'Where I Read' threads are when a number of people read the same thing at the the same time and post their comments. ...and there are three of us now...

We should do a "where we read..." thread!

It's beautiful...very much the successor to the old Green and Pleasant Land supplement. So glad I managed to score the Pearly King in Yellow bundle too. Thanks again @deleriad