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SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City - Core Rules
Publisher: Bloat Games
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/13/2022 11:51:25

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/review-vigilante-city-1-core-rules.html

Vigilante City has been sitting on top of the computer I use as a home server forever. I figure now is a great time to let everyone know about this great street-level supers game.

Vigilante City #1 Core Rules

PDF and softcover book. 292 pages. Color cover, black & white interior art. For the purposes of this review, I am considering the PDF from DriveThruRPG and the soft-cover books I picked up either via Kickstarter or from Bloat Games' own store.

Vigilante City, or more accurately, SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City #1 Core Rules, is a street-level supers game for the SURVIVE THIS family of games from Bloat Games. The same folks that gave us the awesome Dark Places & Demogorgons and the amazing We Die Young RPGs. So right away these rules feel familiar. But this game is more about teenage angst in the 80s and 90s. There are mean streets out there.

The game really is a great starter for anyone that has played D&D/OSR-like games and wants to get into a supers game. Like all SURVIVE THIS!! games this one in class and level with levels topping off at 10.

Right from the start, this game lets us know what it is all about. These are street-level supers. While there might the occasional mutant, anthropomorphic otter, Super Soldier, or power suit we will not be seeing the likes of Superman or Wonder Woman. This is Batman, Captain America, and Tony Stark down all the way to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and some guy with a baseball bat. If this sounds like your kind of game (and really who wouldn't want to play this?) then buckle in, because this is going to be fun.

The Core Rule book covers the basic hero classes (this is a class/level system derived from the SRD) and basic rules. I am going to point out here that the rules are very much the same as other Survive This!! games with notable areas to aid heroic play. While in the past I have pointed out that teens of the 80s in Dark Places & Demogorgons can grow up to become the young adults of the 90s We Die Young, there is no logical progression here from those games. To be fair that is also not the designer's intent. I can see a world that involves all these games (that and their newer What Shadows Hide line) but let's first appreciate this game for what it is right now and not what inhuman creation I'll make with it later.

The Basics

We start off with the basic rules, or maybe I should say "Basic" rules since these rules are designed from the d20 SRD to feel like old-school D&D, D&D Basic in particular. As mentioned before it shares this design with all the other Survive This!! games. You generate attributes, the usual six plus a seventh "Survival," you generate your saving throws, pick your alignments, calculate your Vigilante Points, work out your Origin/Background (every good hero has a backstory!) and then comes the time to choose your class.

Human Classes

Basic D&D's DNA is peaking through here. You have your normal human classes and then a section on "Mega Humans." But let us talk about humans first. Essentially these are the roles that an everyday, but not really average, human could pick up and say "I am going to fight crime as a ..." Yes a lot of these require training and/or to be born with the right genetic lottery (smart, rich, or both).

These classes are: Athlete, Crime Fighter, Dark Avenger, Gadgeteer, Genius, Hardboiled Detective, Knight Nurse, Martial Artist, Mentor, Mercenary, Protégé, Sharp Shooter, Street Preacher, and True Vigilante. Most, if not all are fairly self-explanatory. Each gets 10 levels of advancement where they gain certain advantages. Like the comics that inspired them the character classes are fairly 2-Dimensional. THIS IS APPROPRIATE. You fill in the blanks with your backgrounds and skills. You can choose "Street Preacher" but you have to figure out if you are Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel's character in "From Dusk til Dawn) or Jesse Custer from Preacher.

Mega-Humans

Much like the split between Demi-humans and humans in D&D, and Meta-humans/Mutants and humans in comics, we get our section on Mega-Humans. Mega humans are both a "species" and a "class" they can pick up skill packages to differentiate themselves, but largely this is what they are. Again, this fits the tone of the X-man comics.

Our Mega-Human classes are: Anthropomorphs, Borg, Mutant, Mystic, Powered Armor, Psion, Super Soldier, and Super Speedster. Lots of choices here.

These classes and their powers (spells for the mystic, psionics for the psion) cover the first 210 pages of or 2/3rds of this book. That is expected really.

The classes are followed with Skils & Skill Packs, XP/Leveling, Gear, Vehicles, Game Terms and Critical tables.

There is a solid index and the PDF is bookmarked.

The game has a feel of Villians & Vigilantes mixed with Mutants & Masterminds with the difficulty of Icons. Any veteran of either of those games will pick this one up fast. Anyone that has played D&D or other Survive This!! games will pick it up even faster. That is already given the fact that this is a quick and easy game to learn and play. There are groups out there that are searching for the perfect Supers game and this could very well be it for them. I find it very, very appealing.

Like all games from Bloat Games, there is a lot of support online and in other books for this line.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City - Core Rules
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Otherworldly Invocations
Publisher: Necromancers of the Northwest
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:30:40

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/100-days-of-halloween-otherworldly.html

If you are like me and love witches then Pathfinder is the system that just keeps giving and giving. A case in point today is one of many products I have picked up from Necromancers of the Northwest.

Otherworldly Invocations: Advanced Witch Patrons

PDF. 51 pages. 1 page each for cover, back cover, title, and credits. 2 pages of ads. And 2 pages of OGL. 43 pages of content. Color cover and interior art.

This product contains 10 HIGHLY detailed witch patrons for Pathfinder 1st Edition.

Each patron is given some history, how they most often appear to mortals and witches, their goals, their typical followers and witches, as well as what sorts of familiars they have.

There is "mechanical" information as well. This includes what spells they offer with their pact, pact boons, and Pact Prices. Think of these as "anti-boons." Often these are tied to the boons they grant.

They are all great, but for me the section on Baba Yaga is worth the price of the PDF alone. The rest are gravy. Though Thyrvinistar, Don of Dragons is also rather fun.

Obviously, these are for use with Pathfinder. BUT a little tweaking would make them work well with my own OSR witches or even D&D 5e's Warlocks.

The artwork is largely stock photos but they make them work for this. Again the text here is what is important to me.

It is just under $8, so figure about 80¢ per patron. Not bad really.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Otherworldly Invocations
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Witches and Pagans
Publisher: White Wolf
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:28:31

Orignially posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/100-days-of-halloween-witches-and-pagans.html

I adore the RPG Mage. Mage: The Ascension, Mage: the Awakening, Dark Ages Mage, and most of all Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade. The witches of Mage, the Verbena, get special treatment and I am here for it. The Witches & Pagans book covers them in detail.

Witches and Pagans

PDF. 96 pages. Color cover, Black & White art.

The cover art is by Christopher Shy who practically defined the look of many occult and supernatural RPGs of the late 90s and early 2000s. So regardless of the actual game, this looks good on my shelves; both real and virtual. All the interior art is by Richard Kane Ferguson.

Chapter I: History

This chapter covers "pagans" as they might have existed in the World of Darkness if they had survived to the Renaissance. If this is a bridge too far for the history buffs out there a quick reminder this is a game of world-changing magic in the hands of mortals.

There is a collection of various "famous" pagans, but no stats to start with.

Chapter II: Knowledge

This covers the pagan magics including all the spheres and how the pagan mages would use them. Note it is not just the Life sphere that the Verbena are traditionally drawn to. Additionally, there are new rotes for mages as well.

Given all the spheres and combinations of magic this chapter is fairly long.

Chapter III: Wise Craft

This chapter covers how the witches/pagans see their magic. Central to Mage's theme is that each mage sees how magic works differently. The witches of this time rely on these tools and the ideas in this chapter because that is how their magic works for them. A member of the Hermetic Order or Cult of Ecstasy has access to the exact same spheres of magic, but they approach them very, very differently. This is the heart of Mage. The pagan witches of the Sorcerer's Crusade are even more locked into this frame of mind. While this means this chapter is the least connected, game mechanics-wise and more like mechanically supported fluff, it also means it is what makes this book the most interesting AND makes it the most useful for me in other games.

Chapter IV: Weavings

This chapter gets back to game mechanics in a bit but also covers the roles of the various pagan "witches" that go beyond "The Old Crone," "The Bestial Hunter," "The Alluring Temptress," and "Dissenfranchished Warlock."

I also found this chapter useful for other games to be honest.

One of the themes I like to play with in my games is the sunsetting of paganism against the growth of Christianity. This game plays that out, though 500 years later than I typically do. Still for Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade this is a wonderful theme and a good one. It is not just Pagan vs. Christian, but Magic vs. Science. Makes for a wonderful interplay of forces.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Witches and Pagans
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Witchfinder - A Swords & Wizardry Class
Publisher: MonkeyBlood Design
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:25:49

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/100-days-of-halloween-witchfinder.html

PDF. 2 pages. One page content, one page OGL. Price: Free.

Let's hit the big points first. This PDF is small, BUT it is for Swords & Wizardry so a page for a class is good really. My own class books notwithstanding. The second one is this PDF is free.

For the price the click you have a new class. Is it worth it?

The class has flavor and enough crunch to make it worthwhile. The details work for me. The XP calcs feel right, the powers they get also track. I would switch the 17th level Holy Word power to 14th level myself. Clerics of 14th level can cast Holy Word so it tracks for WitchHunters to be able to do the same. I would also have given them some sort of, well, witch-finding ability. But this was written likely with no specific witch class in mind.

If you are using this with one of my S&W Witch classes then I would rule that Witchfinder can spot the magics of one of my witches and identify them.

So yeah, I rather like this one.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Witchfinder - A Swords & Wizardry Class
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Legendary Villains: Wicked Witches
Publisher: Legendary Games
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:24:12

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/100-days-of-halloween-legendary.html

PDF. 36 pages. 1 title page, 1 table of contents, 1 page OGL. Color cover and interior art.

I went into this expecting some NPCs, and I got that, but this is also more here.

There are three new archetypes presented here, the consort of fiends, the curio collector, and the shadow sister.

All are presented as being evil, which is great fun really. I do love an evil witch. All of these are quite fun too, but it is the consort of fiends and shadow sister that have the most of my attention.

Each archetype has appropriate powers to call on. The Consort of Fiends for example has powers and fluff thatmake it feel like a 5e Warlock. The Shadow Sister works with any of the various Shadow prestige classes we have had since the early 3e days.

Speaking of which there is also a prestige class offered here, the Hag Matron, which makes the connection between witches and hags stronger. The witch in question actually transforms into a hag as she gets stronger. This reminds me a bit of the old Van Richten's Guide to Witches from the AD&D 2nd Ed Ravenloft days. This would certainly fit in well with that. Also different sorts of hags have different powers.

We also get a bunch of Patron Oaths, which are different ways at looking at the patrons.

There are new witch hexes, new magic items, and a lot of "lesser" familiars.

All in all a very fine addition to the trove of witch related material available for Pathfinder. The focus on evil witchcraft is a great bonus here.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Legendary Villains: Wicked Witches
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OSR Alternative Classes
Publisher: Third Kingdom Games
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:22:43

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/100-days-of-halloween-osr-alternative.html

PDF. 48 pages. 1 table of contents page, 3 pages of OGL (which could have be brought down to 2 with better formatting), rest content.

Ok the PWYW suggestion is 50 cents. That puts this book at 1 cent per page practically. Easily the best page-to-cost ratio here.

The layout is basic to point of non-existence really. Not to be to judgemental but it looks like a PDF save of an MS Word document. There is very little art.

The 13 classes are Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User, Thief, Assassin, Scout, Dervish, Berserker, Cerves Brave, Witch, Ironskin (Siderenos), Sorcerer, and Bard. All the classes are presented in B/X style; levels to 14th limited spells. The classes have some connection to an existing campaign setting that is not explained well here. Moreover they are also compared to other people's IP/Copyrights that really you can't do with the OGL. Each class also has a set of alternate rules that are interesting and would likely work well in Old-School Essentials or B/X game. The company behind this document has gone on to do other OSE-compatible products.

All of the new classes have quite a bit of detail which is good. A few notes. The Assassin and Scout get arcane dabbling which I like. The Cerves are Deer-folk and has one of the few examples of art. Though I would not use the word "Brave" to describe a warrior type. The Ironskin is a neat idea. The Sorcerer here follows the 3.x mold and that is a good thing in my mind. The Bard looks like it would play well, to be honest, but there are so many out now you can usually find one that does exactly what you want.

The Witch

Let's get why I bought this. These witches are divine casters, so wisdom is a prime along with Charisma. XP values are similar to clerics as is spell progression, though they do get spells at 1st level. This witch has various powers. They can use animals to see at 2nd level, brew potions at 3rd, craft fetishes at 5th level, dominate animals at 7th, scribe scrolls at 9th level, and at 11th create magic items. They form covens at 9th level and can curse or bless others.

This witch has a spell list, drawn from Labyrinth Lord, but no new spells. There are also a fair number of optional powers.

Ok. So there are a lot of good ideas here that are almost lost due to the sub-par layout and formatting. I am betting that newer books from the same publisher/author are much better. This one could go for an upgrade to be honest. There is a designation of Open Content, but it also seems to be from another book. So I am not sure whether or not it is for this book or not.

For the price though it is good. Even if you only ever use one class here, or even just the additional ideas for the basic 4 classes it is totally worth it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
OSR Alternative Classes
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Witches of Porphyra
Publisher: Purple Duck Games
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:21:08

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/100-days-of-halloween-witches-of.html

I bought this one as soon as it came out. Purple Duck Games does a lot of great stuff so I had very high expectations for this one. This is for Pathfinder, but likely it would work for any 3.x d20 OGL game.

Witches of Porphyra

PDF. 52 pages. 1 cover, 1 title, 4 pages OGL. Rest content. All text open gaming content. Color covers and interior art.

A bit about the art. We have seen a few of these pieces already. The cover by Gary Dupis, interior art from Brian Brinlee and Brett Neufeld. I mention it because I really want to collect all the products that use the same art a build something, maybe an NPC witch using that Gary Dupuis art and all of these books. So yeah, for me this is all a value add.

We start with an introduction to Witches and Witchcraft in Porphyra. A nice little extra that many books do not do.

We get right into the archetypes next. The Blooded Hag, the Brewer, the Impetuous Dervish, the Insufflator (a "breath" hag), Legionmaster (lots of familiars), Mentor, Polytheistic Witch (many patrons, nice idea), Sanguisuge (feeds on their familiars), Sightless Seer, Warweaver, the Whitelighter (!), and the Wood Witch. All are fantastic and I'd love to try them all to be honest.

We get some new familiar archetypes. As well as new familiars (4). Our cover girl is set for example with the new Hoop Snake on pages 31-32. If you want something a bit more classic there are winged monkeys too.

Of course, with a new world, there should be opportunities for new types of Patrons. This book delivers on that with 13 new patron types. I say new because I have seen these Patron types in other books. That is not a slight against this book. It just means the authors all had similar ideas.

Hexes are one of the Pathfinder's witch's biggest features. So this book does have some new hexes as well. Nine hexes, six Major hexes, and three Grand hexes.

There are also nine new feats.

There is a section on new materials and a sample witch.

The book is great and if I were to say it was missing anything it would be spells. But there is so much here that I didn't even think about it in my first read-through.

So for just under $4 you get a lot.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Witches of Porphyra
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Heroes Weekly, Vol 5, Issue #3, Witchcraft
Publisher: Avalon Game Company
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:19:07

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/100-days-of-halloween-heroes-weekly-vol.html

Some more Pathfinder tonight. This time for the Heroes Wear Masks RPG.

Heroes Weekly, Vol 5, Issue #3, Witchcraft

PDF. 13 pages. Color covers and interior art.

This one is a bit of a mixed bag really.

I love the idea of having an evil witch class. This one is also different enough from the base Pathfinder witch to make it worth a look.

I don't love that they chose to call their evil witch a "Wiccan." After all no one would make an evil cleric class and call it a "Catholic" or anything like that.

These witches get powers but no spells to speak of; though the powers take place of the spells.

There are some print and fold minis near the end. The art is mixed. I am not a fan of the cover. If this was for a modern sort of game it feels out of place. The witch on page 2 would have been a better choice.

In the end, there is not enough here for me to recommend it.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Heroes Weekly, Vol 5, Issue #3, Witchcraft
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Bloodlines & Black Magic - The Witch
Publisher: Storm Bunny Studios
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:17:09

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/100-days-of-halloween-bloodlines-black.html

Back to a little bit of Pathfinder tonight, though with a modern twist.

Bloodlines & Black Magic - The Witch

PDF. 21 pages. Black & White art.

This is a supplement for the Bloodlines & Black Magic RPG. A dark modern RPG based around Pathfinder. This one presents a witch class.

It is largely the Pathfinder witch class with 5 levels. There are some new hexes presented here so that is nice.

The art is really nice. Black & white, but fits the mood and tenor of the game, so it works here. Color would be a distraction.

It could work with Pathfinder proper or even with D20 Modern 3rd edition as a Prestige or Advanced class. Personally, that is what I would like to try with it.

I'll have to check out the full Bloodlines & Black Magic RPG.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Bloodlines & Black Magic - The Witch
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Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Wampus Country
Publisher: Daydream Tiger
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:12:19

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/100-days-of-halloween-limited-edition.html

For the most part, my 100 Days of Halloween has been about all the witch or spooky stuff I need to get some reviews done or just stuff I like. Typically everything has been languishing on my hard drive for years. But not tonight's entry. I bought it just for this because it looked fun.

Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Wampus Country

PDF. 30 pages

From the product page,

A Halloween-and-Harvest compilation of articles from the Wampus Country blog, suitable for use with classic fantasy games and related nonsense. Within, you'll learn the dark arts of sucromancy, punch ghosts, explore death masks, and more. Yeah sounds like something I would like really.

These are all articles collected from the Wampus Country Blog which has been out there doing its thing for 11 years. So they are quite upfront with what to expect, but the new format and layout of this PDF is worth the price really.

The articles are a mixed (Halloween) bag, including Candy Magic and Bone Magic. There is a great section on creating random witches, which I really liked. A Ghost Hunter monk subclass.

The art is Halloween ephemera so it is all rather appropriate.

It is a rather fun collection of articles to be honest and to have them all in one place for an easy download is worth the price of the PDF easily.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Wampus Country
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Clipart Critters 338 - Witches Trio
Publisher: Postmortem Studios
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:10:48

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/100-days-of-halloween-clipart-critters.html

If you are beginning to think I bought every bit of clip art or stock art with "witch" in the title, then you would likely be right.

Clipart Critters 338 - Witches Trio

Another great one from Bradley K. McDevitt. It features a trio of witches over a cauldron under a full moon while a cat looks on.

Very spooky and puts me in the mood for fall.

I have to admit I enjoyed it so much it is going to be in my very next project. But more on that one later.

UPDATED: It is now part of my A5 version of my Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition book.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Clipart Critters 338 - Witches Trio
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Witch
Publisher: Artikid Arts
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:03:19

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/100-days-of-halloween-witch-from.html

I bought a lot of stock art. Some I have used, some I haven't. I am really, really disappointed in myself that I have not used this one anywhere yet. I need to fix that.

Witch from Artikid Arts

From Luigi Castellani. It features a dead or zombie witch on a broom. Love it. Has a real "American Witch" meets "Living Dead Girl" vibe to it.

The cat and the ripped fishnets are a nice touch.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Witch
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BlaszczecArt Stock Art: Halloween Witch
Publisher: BlaszczecArt
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:01:50

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-blaszczecart.html

This one features a long-haired witch riding a broom. Had to grab it. I am not sure where I will use it yet, but I will certainly find a spot. Even if I never use it I am a sucker for good witch art.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
BlaszczecArt Stock Art: Halloween Witch
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Troll Witch
Publisher: Daniel Comerci Stock Art
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/12/2022 17:00:13

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-troll-witch.html

A cool bit of art from Daniel Comerci. It is labeled as a "Troll Witch" and that works for me.

I used this one for my Winter Witch book and it is rather perfect to be honest. The pale skin sort of screamed "snow troll witch" so I had to buy it and use it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Troll Witch
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Swords of Cthulhu
Publisher: BRW Games
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/01/2022 09:14:09

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/review-swords-of-cthulhu.html

Nice mail call last week and I got my copy of Swords of Cthulhu from BRW Games / Joesph Bloch. As always BRW fulfills its Kickstarters in record speed. There is a lot to unpack here so lets get to it.

Swords of Cthulhu

For this review and deep dive, I am going to focus on the PDF and the Print on Demand hardcover, I got from DriveThruRPGvia backing the Kickstarter.

The book is set up much like all the Adventures Dark and Deep books for "1st Edition." This includes his Book of Lost Beasts and Book of Lost Lore. One might wonder why this isn't the "The Book of Lost Cthulhu."

The book has the "1st Ed" Orange spine and layout and is a proper 128 pages. If the goal here is to feel like a book that would have been in your book bag in 1986 then I would say it was a success.

Like the BRW's previous "Books of" this one is for 1st Edition AD&D but no mention of that game is found here. There are oblique references to it, but nothing say to the level we saw in Mayfair's AD&D products of the 80s and early 90s. Though like those previous two books there is no OGL and no Open Gaming content. So here are my thoughts on that. One, it doesn't affect the game playability of this book. Two, given that much of the Lovecraftian mythos are in the public domain this feels like a slight really, I mean using essentially IP for free but not giving something back. And three, there is so much of this already in the public domain AND released as Open under the OGL from other publishers it my all be a moot point. Still I am sure some OSRIC, Advanced Labyrinth Lord, or Old School Essentials Advanced might want to do some Lovecraftian-style adventures for "1st Ed." and this would have helped.

But enough of that. Let's get into what is in the book.

If you are familiar with AD&D 1st Ed, any part of the mythos, and/or BRW's Adventures Dark and Deep books then you could likely predict with a high degree of certainty of what is in this book. This is not a bad thing.

The Scholar The spiritual godfather here is the Unearthed Arcana. The book gives us new races; the Deep One Hybrid and the Degenerate. These feel like they are right out of Lovecraft books, though I would argue that both races have issues moving outside of their realms. Deep One Hybrids away from water and Dagon for example. We get level limits for the new races with old classes and old races with new classes (not introduced just yet).

The new classes are the Cultist and the Scholar. The cultist gets different abilities depending on which cult they are in. Scholars are a "split class" starting out as Magic-users and then switching over to scholars. If you have the Book of Lost Lore then you can split class with the Savant. I would even argue that the Cleric would be a good choice if the cleric has a high Intelligence.

The is a Skill system, the same found in the Book of Lost Lore, and this recaps some of that and expands it. While again overtly for 1st Edition it could work anywhere, also it can be ignored for folks that do not want to use skills for their games.

Up next are spells. In the Cthulhu mythos books and tomes of occult lore and knowledge never lead to good things. These spells are part of that yes, but this is also an "AD&D" game and not "Call of Cthulhu" magic serves a different purpose here. We get about 36 pages of spells. There is even an optional rule for human sacrifice that fits the tenor of the tales well.

There is a section on running a "Lovecraftian" game along with the tropes found in an AD&D game. These have been covered elsewhere, but this version fits this tome well. In particular how to mix demons in with the Lovecraftian mythos creatures. Something I have covered in my own One Man's God.

Sanity in Swords of Cthulhu

You can't do the Lovecraftian mythos and not deal with sanity. Now. I am going to be honest. The overwhelming majority of RPGs get sanity and insanity completely wrong. I say this a game designer and as someone with degrees in psychology (BA, MS, Ph.D.) and who spent years working as a Qualified Mental Health Professional for the State of Illinois who specialized in treating schizophrenics. How does this book do? This one introduces a new saving throw versus Insanity. Not a bad solution really. I will point out that "Insane" is largely a legal definition. "Madness" would be a better term of choice here.

The definitions and descriptions used for the various modes of insanity (keeping with the book) are fine. We are not trying to emulate the DSM here. Though "Schizoid" is off. What is described there is more of a compulsion disorder. The Mulitple Personality one is always going to be problematic and I personally would drop the occurrence to more like 1 or 2%; even 3% is too high. I would re-do it as something akin to a "fractured" personality. It is a usable system, but it lacks the integration of the SAN system of Call of Cthulhu. Though this is understandable. Side note: I always look for "dementia praecox" in the list of insanities. When I see that and it is used properly I know the developer did their homework. It is not here and I had hoped it would be.

Up next we get to what is really one of the big reasons people want a book like this. The monsters.

Monsters in Swords of Cthulhu

There are about 30 monsters here in AD&D 1st Edition format. If you use nothing else in this book then this is pretty fun stuff. The art is good and works well here.

This is followed naturally by the magic items. Plenty of books and tomes to terrify players and delight GMs. Yes, the Necronomicon is here.

Ah. Now we get to the stars of the show. The main course of this seven-course meal. The gods.

Gods in Swords of Cthulhu

All the usual suspects are here and the format is familiar to anyone that has read the Deities & Demigods. IF playability is your largest concern then yes this book WILL replace the 144-page Deities & Demigods for you. No more having to lurk on eBay or hope for that rare score at Goodwill. The stats are not exactly the same, nor should they be, but they are what I think many would expect them to be.

We end with an Appendix of suggested reading (a must really) and lists of random tables.

The PDF is currently $9.95 and the hardcover is $24.95. Perfectly within the price I would expect for this.

Now before I render my final judgment on this one a few more things.

I don't think it is unreasonable to ask "What does this book have that others do not?" For starters, it is developed specifically for AD&D 1st ed. I will point out that we do have plenty of other books, games, and resources that also do this for other OSR games and their relatives as well. Conversion is a matter of personal taste.

Briefly here are the main Lovecraftian/Cthulhu Mythos-related games/products I pulled from my shelves for this and how they compare. I am going to focus largely on the monsters and gods since that is the most common element.

Table of Cthulhu

(Please click on link for full table and explinations)

It looks like Swords of Cthulhu fares pretty well, to be honest. No one book has everything. Now comparing anything to Deities & Demigods is a touch unfair since space in the D&DG was limited. Likewise comparing to Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos for 5th Edition (or Pathfinder) is also unfair for the opposite reason; it has so much and few people have written or said as much about the Cthulhu Mythos as much as Petersen has.

But comparing Swords of Cthulhu to say Realms of Crawling Chaos or Hyperborea is appropriate.

Swords of Cthulhu in the Realms of Crawling Chaos

These two books complement each other well. While there is a very, very slight difference in underlying system assumptions each one offers something the other lacks in terms of gods and monsters.

Swords of Cthulhu and Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea

Formerly Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea, this game is closer to AD&D than it is to Basic D&D and the tone of the world fits well. Where Hyperborea stands out in the inclusion of and the predominance of Howard and Ashton-Smith mythos as they relate to the Lovecraft ones. So lots of the same monsters and gods, but more Clark Ashton Smith. While Swords of Cthulhu gives advice on how to integrate the mythos into your "AD&D" world, Hyperborea gives us a world where they are integrated. What is the difference? In Hyperborea "sanity" is not really an issue since the mortals here already know of the gods and these creatures. Still, Hyperborea is not everyone's cup of tea.

I would argue that the combination of the three would give you the best Mythos game. Or maybe it would give me the best mythos game since I tend to lean into more Clark Ashton Smith tales than H.P. Lovecraft's alone.

Conclusion

Swords of Cthulhu is a great addition to the already crowded field of Mythos-related RPG books. No one book seems to have everything, and maybe that is fine really. If your game is AD&D 1st Edition and you want something a bit more than just what you get from the Deities & Demigods then this is your book.

If you play a lot of OSR games including their spiritual ancestors and you like the mythos, then this is also a fine book, but check with my table here to be sure you are getting what you want.

For things like "which is better 'Swords of Cthulhu' or 'Realms of Crawling Chaos'" it is a draw. Both do what they are supposed to do well. Both are good resources. SoC looks a bit better on the shelf next to all my AD&D books, but likewise, RoCC looks good on my Basic-era OSR shelf.

I vacillate on whether we have too many mythos-related RPG titles to thinking one more book won't hurt. Currently, the word "Cthulhu" produces over 5,450 titles on DriveThruRPG. So there is a market.

With so many choices you need to decide what fits well for your games. Swords of Cthulhu is a great choice but it is hardly the only choice.



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Swords of Cthulhu
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