This an amazingly detailed book and it has great info on the galaxy that Dune takes place in and the Houses, that I really just bought it for that. Its also very pretty :)

From the first time I played Modiphius' Conan 2d20 system, I thought it would be an excellent system for a medium-crunch superhero game. Titanic Triumph does a great job of utilizing the core mechanical elements of the 2d20 system (like Momentum and Doom -- here called Chaos -- and the dice system) and intergrating them into the genre and super powers. The book itself is well-written and very well organized with a nice, clean layout that is easy to read. I like how the powers are organized into physical, mental, meta, and talents. The inclusion of meta powers that lean into the 2d20 system mechanics is very clever, and if it doesn't suit your particular approach as a GM, you can just disallow that section of powers (although I think that would be a shame).

It's hard to find good medium-crunch ttrpg systems in the superhero genre space imo -- they tend to be too rules light or heavy crunch like the classic games in the genre -- but Titanic Triumph lands nicely in that middle space, and I think the system is fast and easy to learn for people new to it. I've played a lot of 2d20, and it doesn't take long for players to get the hang of it and enjoy fast-paced, fun combat. The term "medium crunch" shouldn't scare you -- it's not overly fiddly in combat as D&D-type games tend to be, and you can build a cool superhero using these rules in less than an hour without needing a spreadsheet.

Along those lines, this is very much a roll-your-own system at this point. There are a few example characters for reference and a brief adventure outline, but if you're going to run Titanic Triumph, you're going to have to build your own villains and craft your own adventures (although adapting either from other systems is a breeze compared to other high-crunch superhero systems). Anyway, I definitely recommend this game, which lands at a great price point for the amount of fun it delivers, if you like 2d20 or are looking for a good medium-crunch superhero game that combines gamist, narrativist, and simulationist approaches in a nice, balanced way.

This supplement for the UK-centric modern fantasy Liminal presents their version of the city of London. This book is full of interesting plot hooks and NPCs for a Liminal game set in London. The writing and characterization in the book is top-notch. One difficulty with the book, which the book acknowledges, is that it offloads a lot of the heavy lifting about the city of London to other sources. As an an American who's only been to London for a single day, there was a lot about London I simply don't know and this book is no help with that. Even geographic designations or descriptions would have been useful.

In summary, I highly recommend this book for Liminal adventures set in London. It is even useful for other modern fantasy games. However, the buyer unfamiliar with London should be aware that they will need to do some outside research on the city of London to make full use of this book.

This might be one of the best expansions that Modiphius has ever released. It builds on the base Fallout RPG system in interesting and flavorful ways, and the core campaign of the book is an amazing read. It successfully builds on the Commonwealth setting without leaning too hard on the big factions of Fallout 4, giving the players, minor characters from Fallout 4, and the new NPC's introduced a chance to shine. The new NPC's and settlements are the real meat of this book, and Modiphius knocked it out of the park. Information is provided in clear and concise ways that makes it easy reading for me as GM, and they hit the sweet spot of providing enough details that I feel I understand characters and places really well while also leaving room for me to introduce new elements that I'd prefer or that result from player actions. The advice they offer for everything from the best way to describe horror elements depending on your audience to the "fallout" from the player's actions during quests is really great.

If I had a quibble with thos book it's that it does leave some important parts of the Commonwealth out. Most notably Bunker Hill is only mentioned in passing, which seems odd for a story that deals a lot with supplies in the Commonwealth during winter. But this is a minor quibble for me, and the books is overall well worth its price of a little over twenty bucks.

Recently, I soloed my way through Cohors Cthulhu RPG Quickstart (82 pages) which does include an awesome adventure that could be modified for any RPG.) For the solo engine, I used a yes/maybe/no oracle. I did use the six PCs that are included in the quickstart. The adventure started right after an attack on a caravan. The caravan master is in a fight to the death with a dream-frenzied villager. The PCs kill the villager and the caravan master is wounded. The PC Egino casts one heal spell on him, but technically, all of the PCs have “scrapes and bruises”. So, the PCs loot the bodies and then escort the caravan master to the nearest village.

They meet the village leader and at dusk, they all go into Miltrude’s Hall and bar it from the inside. They sleep for two hours and then they hear a commotion outside. They open the door and then find themselves in combat with a dream-frenzied berserker. They kill him, bar the door again, and sleep for another five hours. In the morning, three cultists are harassing a villager. The PC Gerfrid scares them off. The PCs figure out that the trouble seems to be coming from a nearby farmstead. When they get there, they have an encounter near the barn. They are forced into combat against a dream-frenzied villager, a cultist protector, and a drude. The three enemies are defeated, but Herodion the PC also goes down. Egino attempts to heal him with a healing spell but the botches the attempt which kills Herodion (Oops!).

There are now five PCs left and they have not even entered the manor yet. So, Egino casts The Gods Guide You. It is successful and the PCs can now get to the troublemakers without worrying about the cultists (the cultists are occupied with barriers and complications). At this point, the PCs kill Gislin, Ingolf, and Lao-Ur. When Lao-Ur is being killed, it brands the PC Cossus with a brand/tattoo. The cultists run off, the PCs loot the bodies and then go back to Miltrude. She thanks the PCs but her face goes pale when she sees the brand on Cossus.

Give this Quickstart a try!

Amazing game! But the fact that the PDF doesn't come bookmarked is, to be frank, silly. Easily a 5 star game but in this day and age bookmarked PDFs are the norm, especially a game with this level of production. I wrote Modiphius to double check I had purchased the correct, most up to date, verision. No response.

This is a very intruiging document which covers many optional rules besides its core, which enables you to create your own settings from elegant Achtung! Cthuluh to rather crunch heavyweights like Conan and Infinity. I would love to see a polished and layouted version of this SRD as a properly published book, because it has much potential to be used as a generic system for homebrew settings. If you like the style of 2D20 games, this document is an invaluable asset to realize your own setting ideas!

Ahris Fantasy Roleplaying Game is exactly what I have been looking for!

If, like me, you wanted to keep playing D&D type games and settings, however your interested in a system beyond the regular rules we have used for years and especialy if you like the 2D20 core system by Modiphius games as found in Conan or Achtung Cthulhu for its cinematic flare, then this is for you.

Built with the 2D20 World Builders Community Content Program, this system and setting fills a niche that Modiphius has yet to tackle, one of traditional fantasy RPG. There are over 60 of the traditional fantasy monsters stat blocks included, everything from bandits to goblins, medusas to undead, slimes and of course Dragons! If thats not enough you can use the monster/npc creation system to build your own. Magic, the most difficult of subjects to get right in game design, is thoroughly covered with four unique types of casters and again, with a create your own tool kit. You can also just jump right in with over 20 spells statted up and ready to sling!

I have already used the rules as GM for an older and venerated wildernes exploration/dungeon delve scenario and it worked as advertised. I have played in several sessions as well. It felt like my old days of discovery when I first entered the hobby, yet with an updated and sleek engine running the mechanics. Prep was easy. My players thouroughly enjoyed the session as well.

This game is sleek and well thought out, a great balance of rules that dont get in the way of the action as you play.

As an RPG GM and player since 1983, this set of RPG rules and setting is as professionally writen and put together as anything currently or previusly on the market.

I've been an avid tabletop roleplaying gamer since the Satanic Panic, and while I'd played with using random tables or oracles to try to run solo games to feed my thirst to play, they didn't flow well or reproduce the thrill of "playing to find out". The closest I came to solo roleplaying success might have been old Traveller's character generation, where as I rolled the career that the character went through, I imagined what each roll of the dice meant. What happened during that period of service to get the character that +1 in Bribery? Of course, the fact that a character could die during character creation added some of the surprise or thrill that seemed to be missing from other attempts at solo play.

Fast forward to the pandemic in 2020, and even though I had been playing games online for years, I found that because of work and the pandemic, I couldn't often seem to find the time or energy for online sessions. This has made me think about solo gaming both as a form of entertainment and as a way to prep for running games for others: what better way to learn the ropes of a system than to try it out solo first?

Geek Gamers, on the other hand, came to solo roleplaying as a natural step from a childhood: "the way I make up stories comes from years of spending time alone as an only child and using my mind to create other worlds. Often those places had magic. They were always escapes." (p.2)

Later, their love of interactive fiction games (such as Zork), loving RPGs but not having a group to game with. Having a degree in Victorian Literature also seems to have informed Geek Gamers development as a solo RPGer in that they have a solid understanding of how plots develop and scenes are written to be engaging. In their own words, the purpose of this book "is [to] explain some basic tenets of storytelling and narrative and apply them to working with RPG rules, mechanics, and constructs. These are the strategies I turn to in my mind when I’m playing. These are what give my sessions the compelling stories you see developing. And these concepts are what I’ve put into words for you, here in this book." p.2

Even Character Creation is Play Geek Gamers definitely delivers on laying out how to make solo gaming compelling and entertaining. First, they lay out that "Solo RPGing is what you want it to be, not what someone tell you it is." (p9) In other words, they give you the permission to bend or ignore rules in order to make the game entertaining. Some may think this strange, but for many following the rules is seen as being true to the game or author, so explicitly being given permission to do that in order to make a solo game fun is necessary for those people. Solo gaming is, after all, "all about story." (p.10)

How do you make solo play interesting? This is the meat of the book. It is not full of oracles / random tables to help you along. Instead, they lay out the approach to setting up the scaffolding for a good story. Going against how the majority of RPG rulebooks are laid out, they say to start with the setting and hook over character development. Many of the tips are ingenious in their simplicity, such as:

• Setting a rule for when to cut a scene after 1d6 actions, which helps keep the story moving along and keeps scenes from stagnating
• How to avoid using dice when just picturing yourself in the scene could give you the answer.
• Don't start with character creation, but build the setting first, so that you're setting the stage for the story. What's the history of the place? You don't need it all, just the big picture or most relevant/interesting, of course.
• Start with a trinket to "anchor your character to the physical world." What's its history? Why is it important to the character?
• "[A]llow random table results to be interpreted as thematic results, not just literal ones." This helps to create a story with an arc and richness, rather than a cluster of random events and places.
• Use non-gaming books, such as novels to generate ideas by randomly flipping to a page or rolling dice to determine the page number, then read from the page to find the ideas you need.
• Don't look to tables to provide direction, but embellishment.

The book goes on to provide several other ways to come up with ideas to push the story forward and avoid the common dead ends that players often experience in solo games by using basic oracle tables. One of my favorites is creating your own random tables, and making them nested to provide more emotional or evocative places. Even the table titles can be made to be evocative: not "Wandering monsters" but "Escapees from the wizard's laboratory".

Needless to say, there is much more detail and guidance in the book to make you realize that solo rpging can be a narrative puzzle that can keep you engaged for hours. To help you along, the author includes a how-to-start-your-first-session checklist, as well as a recommended reading list that in many ways is for fiction writers or movie script writers. Then again, isn't that what we are doing in our minds -- creating a movie?

I give this 5 stars because it definitely succeeded in its goals, introduced me to new ideas and approaches, and it is a book I will be returning to reread on a regular basis as I sharpen my solo-roleplaying skills.

This game doesn’t give you something really unique or mind-blowing. It is plus-minus standard dark fantasy with evil cults and the approaching end of the world. But. It is interestingly written and well-illustrated, and gives you a lot of stuff just for free. Waiting for the full version.

For a free product, this has good production quality, but I do not see many things that would be original or captivating and neither do I understand why this has its own RPG system different from others (I have not seen anything to warrant this).

Forest of Fear

With Forest of Fear, a more extensive campaign for Achtung! Cthulhu has been released. The story arc spans eleven chapters and takes place in the late years of World War II, more specifically against the backdrop of the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. The campaign is aimed at both experienced players and battle-hardened characters and recommends that agents have completed at least ten other missions. Not only does the campaign's length provide a challenge, but also the fact that several hostile parties operate here and get involved in a dangerous conflict. Moreover, the themes of this scenario and the strong correlation with one of the historic battles of World War II are responsible for the fact that this is a challenging scenario in any respect.

The agents are sent out to contact the Resistance in the Ardennes. At first, the campaign starts quite simply, with meeting a member of the Resistance and moving into a temporary headquarters. Thereafter, however, the plot quickly gains momentum and shows the agents that sinister forces are at work. The players are supposed to investigate the Black Sun's activities in the area, which initially starts with an archaeological outpost. Soon it turns out that ancient secrets rest beneath the Ardennes – or rather, rested until the Black Sun unearthed them to abuse them for their purposes. 

But before the player characters can focus on this task, a second storyline takes them in because, in addition, a dangerous and ancient cult is also active in the area. These cultists are preparing their own rituals to unleash a terrible threat to the region. Thus, the player characters get caught in a battle against two opponents, as both the Black Sun's and the cult's activities keep growing, making for increasingly dangerous missions. Sometimes it is about out-of-control summoning rituals. Then there are far-reaching caves to explore, created by ancient mythical creatures, to learn about the sinister plans of the Black Sun finally. The stakes are nothing less than stopping a secret weapon that could turn the tide of war against the Allies again. 

However, the cult goes even one step further, preparing to conjure a doomsday scenario. Fortunately, the agents are not entirely on their own, though, because in addition to the members of the Resistance, they also find the influences of a Celtic deity and her otherworldly followers working against the cult as the Wild Hunt. If the agents can establish good terms with these potential allies and pass their tests, they will receive much-needed support for the upcoming challenges.

The missions are varied and diverse – and often not designed to be solved by a simple frontal attack and fighting everything that moves. Often, it is mainly about gathering information and surviving to understand the enemies' activities and plans. Thus, sometimes caution is more useful than daredevil action. But, of course, there is room for hard fights and dynamic action. Towards the end, players will have to face extremely dangerous enemies in the two final missions. 

Forest of Fear is an extensive and challenging campaign. Player characters will deal with dangerous enemies and face a wide range of brutal cthulhoid horrors. They definitely have chances to fail in the missions as the stakes are high and the Black Sun's plan could set the Allies back greatly. However, not only the Black Sun and the Nachtwölfe play a role, but the players must also deal with a Celtic deity, a medieval cult, and the lost civilization of a mythos race and its secrets. In addition, they can meet some signature characters of the game and complete the storyline that started with Assault on the Führer Train.

From my point of view, the campaign has a good dramaturgy and offers varied missions that increase coherently and are not always simply decided by force. In fact, there are a few intermediate adventures that have entirely different goals. I found only the introduction of a Celtic deity into this scenario a bit atypical and not well suited to the mythos – even if it increases the player characters' chances of survival. Of course, the secret plan of the Black Sun and Nachtwölfe is both bizarre and coherent for Achtung! Cthulhu in equal measure, so Forest of Fear manages to combine cthuloid horror with the horror of World War II. Personally, I do not always find the latter combination a suitable scenario for a role-playing game, but those who get involved with the setting of Achtung! Cthulhu will probably have no problems with the fact that real war events are used as background for the fiction here. So if you are looking for a long, brutal campaign set against the backdrop of World War II, Forest of Fear will provide you with a campaign of adventures that will challenge the agents for many evenings of play.

(Björn Lippold)

Assault on Zuara 2

When a mysterious Luftwaffe plane lands on an airfield in North Africa and keeps disappearing and reappearing, these events may indicate activities by the Black Sun or the Nachtwölfe. Therefore, this is a mission for Section M agents to spy on the plane and either steal or sabotage it.

The third Priority Mission is summarized in four pages of text and a map. The text primarily describes the airfield and the troops stationed there. This time, fewer alternative adventure seeds or scenarios are suggested. Instead, the player characters' options to fulfill this mission are described in more detail.

Assault on Zuara 2 presents less of a mythos setting and offers more of a commando operation on an enemy airfield that requires stealth and planning, as it can hardly be solved by a frontal assault.

Even though Assault on Zuara 2 offers good material for a short mission in its compact format, I personally find this setting too focused on the military operation aspect and lacking secrets from the Cthulhu Mythos.

(Björn Lippold)

Our Lady of the Eternal Sapphire

The second Priority Mission for Achtung! Cthulhu revolves around an old monastery near Cairo, from which a brooch made of Blauer Kristall originates. The player characters are sent out to investigate the site and get to the bottom of the rumors about a relic in the form of a skull made from Blauer Kristall.

The second Priority Mission basically offers two pages of text and a map as source material. The setting is briefly described, and for the antagonists references are made to the rulebook. Again, there are several adventure seeds and alternate backgrounds, which the game master can choose to include additional or alternate enemies or give the mission an entirely different atmosphere.

Even though Our Lady of the Eternal Sapphire does not provide much concrete material, it presents an exciting setting and alternative backgrounds that game masters can easily use to entertain their players for one or even two game nights. I liked this Priority Mission because it offers some exciting ideas that can be used to develop larger story arcs.

(Björn Lippold)

Resurrection Men

Ghouls living in old tunnels from World War I – that is essentially the summary of the Priority Mission Resurrection Men for Achtung! Cthulhu. In just eight pages (or really three pages of text and a map), it provides an adventure hook and setting as a mini-adventure that can be played in one session. Adversaries are depicted only with references to the rulebook, and the main part of this booklet consists of the map of the tunnel system and brief descriptions of the rooms and tunnels. Alternative starting points for the scenario are included for those the standard variant of this mission does not work for.

Resurrection Men has an interesting idea, but in fact, the scenario provides little that you could not come up with on your own. Only game masters who want to save time necessary for drawing a map or need a quick basic idea will get any useful material here. As free game material, Priority Mission provides a hook for one game session, but anyone hoping for a real mission will be disappointed.

(Björn Lippold)