Crypts and Things on sale

Until midnight (GMT) on Monday the 21st (February 2022), there is a sale at the D101 Games web store. Everything is 25 percent off if you enter the code "shakespear" when reviewing the cart before checking out.

 

A golden opportunity to obtain the premier swords and sorcery role-playing game Crypts and Things!

 

By Crom!

OpenQuest SRD now available from D101 Games

OpenQuest is the "rules light-ish" sibling of Mythras (and both are descendants of RuneQuest and Basic Role-playing). It's a great system, one that I've played in the past and would be happy to do so again in the future (although I haven't been able to read the 3rd edition version yet). Based on my experience with it, I highly recommend OQ for anyone who wants a simpler d100 fantasy system alternative to Mythras.

And now D101 has made available for all the OpenQuest SRD. Enjoy!

 

 

Mythras (RuneQuest 6) and OpenQuest Developments

I’m a bit late in reporting on this, but the good people at the Design Mechanism have been producing monthly adventures for their superb Mythras role-playing game (formerly RuneQuest 6). This strikes me as a great thing to do for any game, but especially a rather ‘crunchy’ one like Mythras. This kind of regular support helps people try Mythras—including different variants and settings—without too much work or cost. I’ve already obtained two of the adventures, and look forward seeing more.

One adventure in particular warrants special mention. It’s called The Colour of Madness, and has a very strong ‘swords-and-sorcery’ flavour—with a distinctly ‘Moorcockian’ accent. This is no coincidence, as an earlier version of the adventure was written by Lawrence Whitaker for the ‘Young Kingdoms’ fantasy setting. (Whitaker wrote Mongoose’s MRQII-based Elric of Melniboné line; he also wrote a lot of material for Chaosium’s Stormbringer and Elric! games back in the day.) If you own (or can track down) Whitaker’s Elric books for Mongoose RuneQuest II, especially the core book and the Cities of the South supplement, then this module will help you run a rather cool Young Kingdoms campaign with Mythras. (For a sense of what such a campaign might be like, check out this—sadly not-yet-finished—campaign log. I believe that one possibility for that campaign was the Colour of Madness adventure, but our characters decided to flee, er… travel to the East instead…)

Since I’m writing about my favourite fantasy d100 games in this post, I should also mention that D101 Games has updated OpenQuest. The ‘new’ version (really a fixed up and mildly improved version of the 2nd edition) is called OpenQuest Refreshed. It features a nice cover by the talented Jon Hodgson:

OQ author Newt Newport summarizes the main changes in this blog post. If you want a fantasy BRP/d100 system that is somewhat lighter than Mythras, I highly recommend OpenQuest as the way to go!

Curious about OpenQuest?

There is a very good OpenQuest ‘bundle of holding’ deal available until April 4th.  It consists of four PDFs – the 2nd edition rules and three adventure packs – for only 8.95 USD. 

So if you’ve been curious about OQ, the ‘rules-light-ish’ OGL version of RuneQuest published by D101 Games, then this would be an excellent opportunity to satisfy that curiosity! 

And for some interesting background on OQ – why and how Newt Newport created the system – check out this post at Newt’s ‘Sorcerer Under Mountain’ blog.

Interview with Cakebread and Walton

There's an interesting interview with game designers Peter Cakebread and Ken Walton of 'Cakebread & Walton' over at the Precis Intermedia blog.

I'm a big fan of the Renaissance system (which is a 'blackpowder' variant of Newt Newport's OpenQuest RPG) that Cakebread and Walton use for many of their settings, including the superb Dark Streets.  In fact, Dark Streets, which involves investigations into unnatural crimes in mid-18th century London, probably is my favourite non-1920s 'Cthulhu Mythos' setting.

Return to the Savage North

I’m delighted to note that D101 Games recently has released a revised version of their excellent campaign setting and adventure pack, The Savage North, by John Ossoway and Newt Newport.  Designed for use with OpenQuest, it should be easy to run with other d100/BRP systems. 

I purchased the original version (both print and PDF) back in 2010, and thought very highly of it then.  The revised version retains all what was fun about the original – including a modified version of Jon Hodgson’s wonderful pulpy cover (the savage barbarian now has a crown!).  But the revised version of The Savage North also includes some new stuff.  Especially helpful, I think, is the section that discusses how to reconcile the ‘swords-and-sorcery,’ ‘Conan-esque’ vibe of the setting and adventures with the OpenQuest mechanics.  Additional advice on creating OQ characters appropriate for the setting also is provided.

So, if you’re a fan of OQ, or d100/BRP games more generally, and love the swords and sorcery genre, then consider a journey into The Savage North!

Cakebread and Walton February Sale

I'm generally not much inclined to promote sales here, but I'm a big fan of many of the RPG products of Cakebread and Walton, and think that they deserve a larger audience.

C&W are having a February sale on their print and PDF products, so if you're a fan of d100 games and/or the Cthulhu Mythos, check them out.

I especially recommend Dark Streets!

Dark Streets

Speaking of Cthulhu-related gaming stuff, I wanted to mention that my favourite RPG book of 2013 so far is (hands down) Dark Streets from Cakebread and Walton.

Dark Streets is a setting supplement for the Renaissance RPG (which is based upon OpenQuest, adapted for ‘black powder’ era settings).  However, Dark Streets should be easy to use with Call of Cthulhu (Renaissance  and CoC share the same d100/BRP ‘DNA’, after all), and most other d100-based systems.

The setting itself is London in 1749 -- a dynamic, rapidly growing city, but also a den of iniquity and crime.  The historical information is well presented and (thankfully) not too overwhelming.  There is just the right amount of information for non-historian Game Masters to run adventures in this setting with aplomb.

The players’ characters are members of the Bow Street Runners, London’s first police force, run by chief magistrate Henry Fielding (with help from his blind brother, John Fielding, who occasionally receives ‘visions’ in his dreams that help him anticipate highly unusual crimes).  The premise of the setting is that, in addition to all the prosaic crime to which Londoners are victim, there are darker, eldritch things going on as well -- things that threaten the very future of humanity.  (I guess there is no need to be coy here: I refer, of course, to assorted ‘Cthulhu Mythos’ creatures and associated human cultists, all of which are up to no good.)

One way to think about Dark Streets is that it is, very roughly, the Laundry (or perhaps Delta Green) set in the mid-18th Century.  The PCs work for a government authority (with hopelessly inadequate resources, of course!), investigating things about which the public must not know, but from which they must be protected at all costs.

In short, I strongly recommend Dark Streets to anyone interested in running a Cthulhu Mythos game in a great, flavourful setting that is a little different from the standard 1920s one.

(The RPG Pundit also likes it.)

OpenQuest 2 Preview

Newt Newport has posted a preview of OpenQuest 2 -- in its full colour glory -- here.

OQ2 promises to be one very attractive book!

My Most Played Role-Playing Games

Over at the RPGsite, there recently was a thread devoted to lists of folks’ ‘most played’ role-playing games.  Here is my own list (slightly modified from the version I posted at the RPGsite, as I previously had underestimated just how much AD&D/D&D I had played during grades 5-8, and had forgotten about my rather zany Thieves’ Guild campaign).

The list of my all time most played RPGs from 1980 through 2012 (in order from ‘most played’):

01. AD&D (1e) and Basic (+ Expert) D&D [mixed them together]
02. MERP (Middle-earth Roleplaying)/Rolemaster (2e) [mixed them together]
03. D&D (3e)
04. Call of Cthulhu
05. RuneQuest
06. Hawkmoon (BRP)
07. Thieves’ Guild
08. Swords & Wizardry
09. Star Frontiers
10. GURPS (3e)
11. DragonQuest

All of these games I have played at least twice (and some, like MERP and AD&D, probably over a hundred times, albeit decades ago).

RuneQuest (which includes RQ2, MRQII, and RQ6) is ranked number 5 largely thanks to my participation in a campaign that Lawrence Whitaker ran during the winter, spring, and summer of 2011 (part of which is summarized here).

(Still dreaming of that RuneQuest 'Elric' campaign...)

Swords and Wizardry, despite being so recent, makes the top ten list as I ran a (sporadic) campaign during 2008-2009, in which most of my house rules were forged.  Many of those of house rules later were incorporated into Crypts and Things.

Although I played some Call of Cthulhu decades ago, I quite recently ran it again (namely, my sporadic ‘Cthulhu Canada’ campaign, as well as a game at OSRCon II), which gave it a bump in the rankings.

Since I haven’t played any MERP, AD&D, and most of the other games listed in years, if not decades, here is my ranking of my most played RPGs over the past 3 years:

01. RuneQuest (MRQII/RQ6)
02. Call of Cthulhu
03. Crypts and Things
04. OpenQuest

Obviously, I have drifted markedly toward BRP/d100 games of late (though I certainly retain a fondness for the D&D-inspired framework, as shown by the ranking of Crypts and Things).

2013 Stuff for RuneQuest 6

Over at the Design Mechanism website Lawrence Whitaker posted this interesting announcement:

As we hurtle towards Christmas, I'd like to begin by thanking everyone who's shown us support during the past 18 months or so, since Design Mechanism began and we announced our revival of RuneQuest. Your support and custom has enabled us to produce two books for early 2013 release and confidently build on our promise to make RQ - and Design Mechanism - a growing system and company. Its great to have your confidence here on this forum and in the wider community.
 So, now to the news. If you can't wait for the Big Reveal, scroll down now. Otherwise, here's where we are. 

 Monster Island
Cover art is with us, Russ Nicholson and others have provided illustrations, and Pete continues to refine the text (with a tiny bit of input from me). The book is getting ready for editing, and Colin Driver is hard at work on the maps. 

 We're going to make 'Monster Island' something special. It deserves it. Pete's worked hard to create a really evocative, fun, setting/sourcebook/creature digest and he's more than succeeded. We're looking at 256 pages filled with scenario ideas, scenario cameos, a full setting to be dropped (literally) into any ocean in any campaign world, and more monsters than you can shake a spear at. To this end, we're going to include a full-colour, pull-out map of the island with the book, probably in A3 or A2 size, and done by our good friend Colin, the genius cartographer behind the bulk of the maps in Moon Design's 'Guide to Glorantha'. 

 Monster Island really does take its cues from Chaosium's masterful 'Griffin Mountain'. Its a living, breathing place populated by bizarre and interesting fauna and flora that will provide months of great
adventuring. Its the kind of place GMs can strand their characters upon, and structure an entire campaign around their survival and escape. Its a place where you can play one of the different indigenous races and treat it as home - to be explored and endured. Its the sort of place that some dastardly sorcerer like Kratos or Jedakiah (see Book of Quests) will send characters to, in return for money or secrets (or maybe as punishment), so they can quest for the rare and precious items that will fuel their sorcerous schemes. 

 Its going to be a great book. 

 Book of Quests
This compendium of seven scenarios is completing editing and now into layout. All the art is in, and I'll be previewing the cover in the next couple of weeks. All the scenarios in BoQ are penned by relatively new authors who worked to a light brief provided by me. The idea is to offer a loosely detailed region where the adventures take place, but keep the scenarios as flexible as possible so they can be used in any fantasy world. The writers have done an excellent job of taking my rough ideas and making them into a series of terrific, exciting scenarios. There's something for everyone: a caravan guarding job that turns horrific; a city-based intrigue concerning a tragic countess; a rescue mission into a murky swamp; an investigation into shady dealings in the king's court; a race to find an ancient artefact of dreadful power; a quest into the remote mountains to thwart an evil plot; and a showdown with the nefarious sorcerer, Jedakiah, at his mountain lair. Each scenario can be played standalone, or the whole lot forms a complete campaign. Couple this book with Monster Island and you have years of adventuring. 

 It'll be about 200 pages and, once again, Colin Driver has done all the maps and floorplans - and in a splendid style too. 

 Hardcover Kickstarter
In 2013 we will launch a Kickstarter or Indiegogo project to produce the core rules and, depending on stretch goals attained, Monster Island and Book of Quests, published in hard cover. We're looking to produce the very best hardcover we can - dustjacket, bookmark, stitch casement... its not cheap to do, and we also want to offer the book at a reasonable cost. More on this in January next year. 

 Mythics
During 2013 Pete and I will be working on Mythics Greece and Briton respectively. I've already started my Briton research and notes. These will not be straight historical books, but will contain magic and heroics too. Of course, we'll produce the books in such as way that magic can either a) be dispensed with or b) treated as vague superstition that may or may not work, depending on your point of view.
 We will also be commissioning Michael O'Brien (Sun County, River of Cradles and Mister Maximum Game Fun) to write Mythic Constantinople. This is a pet project for Mike and knowing his approach to game writing, it will be worth waiting for. 

 And now the reveals... 

 Age of Treason: Shores of Korantia
We're delighted to announce that Design Mechanism will be publishing Jonathan Drake's superb Age of Treason setting for RuneQuest 6. Jon is writing a completely new core book, focused on a different region, Korantia, which we will be releasing late summer 2013. Those of you familiar with the first Age of Treason book, focusing on the Taskan Empire, will know what a great and original world Jon has created. The Korantia sourcebook follows in this vein but is a completely new area with new gods, magic, cultures and adventures . We heartily welcome Jon aboard the Design Mechanism galley (and he's already working out where, in the nearby ocean, Monster Island fits)... 

 Luther Arkwright
Design Mechanism has licensed the exclusive rights to produce a brand new version of Bryan Talbot’s acclaimed graphic novel series ‘The Adventures of Luther Arkwright’. For those unfamiliar with the character, Luther Arkwright is a trans-dimensional troubleshooter working for WOTAN, the agency that monitors the myriad parallel worlds of the multiverse. The first graphic novel series focuses on the attempts by the sinister Disruptors to unleash the Firefrost weapon and so cause widespread destruction and chaos across the parallels. Luther, working in a variant Earth where Cromwell’s descendants still hold power, goes to extraordinary lengths to thwart the Disruptors’ plans. An excellent overview of the Luther Arkwright saga can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Arkwright And Bryan’s own site at: http://www.bryan-talbot.com/arkwright/  

‘Luther Arkwright: Roleplaying Across the Parallels’ will see Bryan’s iconic character and setting powered by the RuneQuest 6 rules. The game will focus on WOTAN’s attempts to police the multiverse and prevent the Disruptors’ (and others’) schemes. Characters will each have a unique ability that has brought them to WOTAN’s attention, including psionics, mysticism and other talents of the kind found in the Arkwright multiverse. The game takes RQ in a new direction: rules for the modern era, along with mechanics for Steampunk concepts, travel between parallels, and even maintaining the same character across multiple worlds, will be included.
  

The game will be written by myself and Pete, collaborating with Bryan: indeed, some work has already started. Arkwright is a perfect background for RuneQuest Science Fantasy/Steam Punk/Fin de Siècle adventuring. Some of you may recall that 23rd Parallel Games produced the first Arkwright RPG in the 1990s and that, too, used a d100 resolution mechanic. This, though, will be an entirely new game. We intend to support the setting with Parallel books, detailing a particular variant Earth complete with a set of scenarios or campaign arcs included. 

 Bryan had this to say: “2014 is the 36th anniversary of the beginning of the original serialization of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright graphic novel, and it's never been out of print since then. In the summer, Dark Horse books are releasing a large format, hardback prestige edition of the book, which will also include the sequel, Heart of Empire, an extensive illustration gallery and a ten page interview. It's so very cool that this brand new Luther Arkwright role playing game is being published in this same year. I'm very excited about the project". 

 At this stage, its too early to predict page count, but its likely to be 256 pages. It won’t be a standalone game; you will need the RuneQuest rules, but it will be a complete treatment of the Arkwright multiverse so you can expect a lot of depth, new rules, and new concepts. 

 As you can imagine, we’re very excited about this project. Pete and I are long-time Arkwright fans and, with our deep love and affection for multiverse-spanning concepts, eternal champions, and the whole Fin de Siècle vibe, this is a perfect setting for us. We’re very much looking forward to starting the work proper and getting the Luther Arkwright game finished for the end of 2013. 

 Happy Holidays!

This line-up looks very promising!  I’m especially interested in The Book of Quests, Monster Island (which includes some Russ Nicholson art!), Mythic Briton, Mythic Greece, and the hardcover version of RQ6, although I certainly will check out the other products as well.   

2013 promises to be an exciting year for RQ6!

Plus, RQ’s younger cousin, OpenQuest 2, will be published in colour…

Good times. 

OpenQuest 2nd Edition

Newt Newport of d101 Games is working on OpenQuest 2, and has set up an indiegogo site in order to fund the project.  More information on OQ2 can be found there.  The proposed changes strike me as all quite good, and I am looking forward to owning, at last, a hardcover version of the game.

I just donated at the 'Hero' level, and am delighted to report that my contribution pushed the project over the $1000 threshold!  So it looks like OQ2 will be happening.  Everything else is gravy.

300

This is my 300th post!

I'm somewhat amazed that this blog is still chugging along.  Its focus has changed slightly over the past three years.  Lately I've been posting somewhat more on various d100 games (RuneQuest 6, OpenQuest, Call of Cthulhu, BRP, Renaissance, etc.) than on classic D&D and Swords & Wizardry (the games that inspired me to start this blog in the first place).  But I remain as committed to DIY, 'old school' style gaming as always.  And I certainly haven't forgotten about D&D or S&W; after all, I'm a contributor to d101 Games' excellent S&W-based Crypts and Things role-playing game!

Looking forward to another 300 posts...

Oh yeah: another cool RuneQuest 6 preview is available here (this one focuses on magic).

The Retired Adventurer is Active

Despite it's name, the blog 'The Retired Adventurer' is very active!

Author John Bell (whom some of you may know as 'Pseudophedrine' from various gaming fora) has been extremely prolific since starting up the blog just over a month ago.

I urge anyone with an interest in OpenQuest, RuneQuest (viz. MRQII/Legend/RQ6), and/or Swords and Wizardry to check it out. There is a lot of interesting stuff to be found there.

Clockwork and Cthulhu

Well this certainly looks cool:

From here:

Horror Roleplaying in the world of Clockwork & Chivalry

“Then she did confesse that she gained her powers from a Devill which did come to her out of the baye on moonless nights. And upon examination, we did find the markes of evill upon her, for she bore scales like unto a fish about her bodie. And so was she hanged as a witche, and upon the scaffolde she did crie out “Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!” and those who did witnesse this were sore afraide, but her Devill answered her not, and she did die in that place.”

– Fear-the-Lord Grimshaw, Witch Finder, 1645

England has descended into civil war. The earth is tainted by alchemical magick. Giant clockwork war machines lumber across the land. In the remote countryside, witches terrorise entire villages, while in the hallowed halls of great universities, natural philosophers uncover the secrets of nature.

War, plague and religious division make people’s lives a constant misery. But even greater threats exist. Witches whisper of the old gods. Royalist alchemists pore over John Dee’s forbidden translation of the Necronomicon, dreaming of powers that will allow them to win the war. Parliamentarian engineers consult with creatures from beyond the crystal spheres and build blasphemous mechanisms, unholy monuments to their alien overlords. Vast inter-dimensional beings seek entry into the world, while their human servants, corrupted, crazed and enslaved, follow the eldritch agendas of their hidden masters.

Clockwork & Cthulhu brings the horror of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos to the 17th century alternate historical fantasy world of Clockwork & Chivalry. Inside you will find:

· Mythos creatures and gods, cults and secret societies for 17th century England.

· New rules for Mental Damage in the Renaissance system.

· Three complete scenarios which take the Adventurers into the rain-shrouded Coniston Fells, the shifting sands of Morecambe Bay, and the corridors of the Royalist court at Oxford.

I've been intrigued with Clockwork & Chivalry for well over a year now, as it was, in my opinion, the most novel setting produced for the (short-lived) RuneQuest 2. And my fondness for Call of Cthulhu is longstanding.

So once I get my hands on this book and the second edition of Clockwork & Chivalry (which employs the Renaissance system, which, in turn, is based upon OpenQuest), I plan to inflict some 1645 eldritch horror upon my players!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Cakebread & Walton have taken Newt Newport’s excellent OpenQuest system (essentially a ‘rules light’ version of RuneQuest, with some bits from Stormbringer thrown in), and retooled it for Renaissance-era fantasy role-playing. Their new system – called, appropriately enough, ‘Renaissance’ – will fuel the second edition of their excellent campaign setting, Clockwork & Chivalry.

Today Cakebread & Walton announced some exciting news concerning Renaissance and Clockwork & Chivalry at their website:

Cakebread & Walton are pleased to announce the launch of the Renaissance System Reference Document, available for free download. The Renaissance system is a new D100 system based on Newt Newport’s OpenQuest, and is designed for historical and fantasy gaming in the age of black powder weapons. Released under an Open Gaming License, which allows companies and individuals to incorporate the rules into their own games, it features familiar mechanics, grim and gritty combat, extensive period weapons and equipment lists, dozens of professions, and rules for factions and belief systems. It also includes two magick systems – the powerful battle alchemy first introduced in Clockwork & Chivalry 1st Edition, and a streamlined and expanded version of the witchcraft rules from the Silver Oggie Award-winning supplement Divers & Sundry.

Renaissance can be downloaded in two forms: as a zip folder containing all the Word files needed to introduce the rules into your own system, or as a printable PDF for use at the gaming table.

Also released today is a 40 page preview of the forthcoming Clockwork & Chivalry 2nd Edition Core Rulebook, due out from Cubicle 7 Entertainment in January. This 400 page rulebook incorporates the Renaissance system into a fantasy world of mud, blood, mayhem and magick, in an alternate 17th century England where the giant clockwork war machines of Oliver Cromwell do battle with the battle alchemists of the Royalists, and Adventurers struggle to survive in a world of religious persecution, splintered politics, corruption, ghouls, witchcraft and chaos.

The Renaissance system will form the engine for all future Clockwork & Chivalry releases, as well as other exciting new Renaissance products for 2012 and beyond. Products in the pipeline include the first four volumes in the Kingdom & Commonwealth campaign re-released in two omnibus editions (currently in preparation), followed by the final two adventures in the series, Hobbes: Leviathan and London Calling; a series of “pick-up-and-play” books for the Renaissance system, including Clockwork & Cthulhu and Clockwork & Deviltry; and a new “airships and flintlocks” fantasy world, Realms of Gold, featuring, faeries, shape-changing lizardmen, plunder, pirates and revolution in a world almost, but not entirely, unlike our own.

I’m especially intrigued by the reference to a ‘Clockwork and Cthulhu’ book, which is something that I would snap up in a second!

Overall, I must say that it is good to see that Cakebread and Walton not only have survived the unexpected early end of MRQII, but now are authors of their own destiny with Renaissance!

Clockwork and Chivalry Second Edition Cover

Quite Pretty!

(From here.)

The OpenQuest ‘Renaissance’

An OpenQuest ‘Renaissance’ is coming soon!

No, I do not mean a ‘rebirth’ of interest in the OpenQuest FRPG (the game was only recently ‘born’!).

Rather, I refer to the new system that Cakebread and Walton will be publishing in December. The system, entitled simply ‘Renaissance’, is based upon OpenQuest, but has been adapted for Renaissance-era games.

Cakebread and Walton plan on using this system in order to re-launch their brilliant Clockwork and Chivalry setting, as well as to complete the C&C ‘Kingdom and Commonwealth’ campaign. Fortunately, for those who already have purchased the MRQII C&C books and/or who plan to continue to use MRQII for their games, Cakebread and Walton promise to make available helpful conversion documents.

Here is the full announcement:

Mud, Blood, Alchemy and Clockwork in a 17th Century That Never Was

1645: England has descended into civil war. Prince Rupert and his Alchemist-Cavaliers fight on behalf of their exiled king against the clockwork war machines of Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army. Between them, a host of political and religious factions struggle for survival.

First launched to critical acclaim as a series of supplements for RuneQuest II (“The best British fantasy setting since WFRP 1st edition” said Newt Newport), Clockwork & Chivalry now returns in a standalone 2nd edition featuring the new Renaissance rules, a D100 open gaming system based on OpenQuest and compatible with 1st edition supplements. Fast, brutal, and geared up to a world of black-powder weapons and political machinations, the new rules will also be the bedrock of a series of RPGs forthcoming from Cakebread & Walton: Purveyors of Fine Imaginings.

Alchemists, diggers, dragons, engineers, mercenaries, puritans, ranters, royalists, satanists, thieves, witches, zombies... which side are you on?

***

As many of you probably know, Mongoose Publishing will cease to support the RuneQuest II license in the autumn, and this has left us with a big decision to make regarding the future of Clockwork & Chivalry. Giving up on the line was never an option – we were determined to finish the Kingdom & Commonwealth Campaign, and have other ideas we want to develop for the game world. At the same time, we value our autonomy as a small independent games company. The new Renaissance system will be based on OpenQuest and will aim to be as compatible as possible with existing C&C supplements. At the same time, this rule-set, stripped of the C&C background but incorporating some of the rules (such as Righteousness Points and Factions) will be released under an Open Gaming License as a free download. The rules will be aimed squarely at role-playing in the age of black powder weapons. The creation of Renaissance will give Cakebread & Walton a solid rules set for the development of further games in the future, as well as allowing others to use it in their own games under the terms of the OGL.

Once Clockwork & Chivalry 2nd Edition is released, we'll be re-issuing the first 4 parts of the Kingdom & Commonwealth campaign with minor tweaks to fit the new rules, and then the last two books in the campaign, Hobbes: Leviathan and London Calling. We'll also release a small conversion document so that those playing C&C with the existing RuneQuest II Core Rulebook need not change rules to finish the campaign.

C&C2, a 400 page core rulebook including all the rules you need to play as well as all the background in the original worldbook and then some, will be out in December. The other revised volumes and new C&C2 supplements are to follow in 2012. As usual, our games will be distributed by Cubicle 7 Entertainment and will be available from all good game stores!

It’s good to see that Clockwork & Chivalry will continue, that the Renaissance FRPG will enable Cakebread and Walton to be ‘masters of their own domain’, so to speak, and that OpenQuest will enjoy some excellent support!

OpenQuest and RuneQuest II Reviews

I’m sure that most readers of this little blog are familiar with 'Grognardia'. But in the unlikely event that you aren’t (or don’t visit it regularly), I thought that I would link to two very good recent reviews posted there.

➢ Review of OpenQuest

➢ Review of RuneQuest II

The reviews are quite fair and informative. (However, I think that I’m much more fond of both games than is reviewer James Maliszewski.)

If you don’t own either OQ or MRQII, but are interested in either game (or both), these reviews are well worth reading.

Gorgeous Map for ‘Here Be Dragons’

I love maps. I enjoy drawing my own maps for my homebrew campaigns (like this one, this one, and this one, for my setting ‘Ilmahal’).

I’m always happy to use maps created by others, especially if they are attractive and inspiring. The ‘gold standard’ for fantasy map art, in my opinion, is Peter Fenlon’s amazing work for ICE’s old Middle-earth line. Another fine map is this classic one of the Young Kingdoms by William Church.

Simon Bray’s map for ‘The Lands of Pherae’ is another wonderful piece of work:

(Taken from here.)

This is the map for the ‘sandbox’ adventure setting called ‘Here Be Dragons’ by Bray and co-author Paul Mitchener, forthcoming from D101 Games for the OpenQuest RPG.

Just looking at this map makes me want to use it to run a few adventures!