Thro’ Centuries Fixed is a recently released second-edition version of a scenario for The Cthulhu Hack. Cthulhu Hack is based on The Black Hack by David Black and has been a mainstay of my gaming since I came back to the hobby, the second edition went to Kickstarter and many are just receiving their books, so exciting times.

Buy Cthulhu Hack 2e here

Buy Thro’ Centuries Fixed Redux here

After the last session nailbiter, Lex had been facing off to a large group of Risers, on the top of Tower 9. Meanwhile, Shiny Nick, Keys and Alt hunkered down in the darkness, with a Risers’ prisoner, bag over head, that they’d managed to rescue in the previous melee.

Lex is quickly overpowered and unceremoniously dragged along behind the Risers gang. He is talking ten-to-the-dozen, “Excuse me? Hello? Who’s in charge here? Can I speak to someone in charge? Nice place you have here. What’s your name? I’m... Ooooof!” As Lex is dragged backwards, his feet carefully scuff the dust, providing a very handy path for his friends.

First of all, work wise it's been insane, some major projects coming out of the blue plus a complete reorganization and some intense industry initiatives that focus on the solitary skills I have in the group. Alongside that family commitments, both nice and nasty, and the running of The Raspy Raven Discord, my second job.

So I was looking forward to two weeks of relaxation. A hidden away villa within walking distance of a beach/lagoon and a restaurant rated 4.x+

Keys went on a date at the local club, a singer of some talent, Nick almost became a third wheel but decided to leave them to it and join Lex down the pub. Meanwhile Alt was doing penance at his brother's church of Mortal God. He'd been cornered by Tomas Becker, a devout and evangelical member of the church, “Mr Merrin. Alt. Your brother recommended you to us. We just need a little favour and in return, God will provide.”

Alt pushed through the door of the pub, went straight to the bar and ordered a pint of “brown”, he watched as the bubbles slowly settled, something dark floated in its depths, he took a deep swig and kept it down.

Turning around he saw a vingeray looking old harridan lurch from the table where Lex and Nick sat, they seemed relieved, breathing out heavily and clinking their glasses. Alt sat down next to them, “Oh Nick, lucky Nick, fortuitous Nick, blessed Nick. Today God has offered you a deal you will find hard to turn down.” Nick’s grin disappeared and his face got darker. Alt talked enthusiastically about the Church's offer. Put simply they would push the food bank collection that Nick had set-up, a generous 3.5% “tithe” would be winding its way to Nick IF, if someone was to clear out Tower 7, Floor 7, Room 7. Which would be fine if it hadn't just been taken over by the Rose gang.

We'd left Nick and Lex to negotiating with gang members on behalf of Maeve the Pawn shop owner. Meanwhile Keys and Alt had pilfered some money to also help out Maeve, money from the Doomed Children, an apocalyptic cult that Keys used to be a part of. Unfortunately, the theft was spotted, more of that later.

As things escalated and it looked like either bric-a-brac or bones were going to get broken, Keys and Alt entered the scene. After a tense negotiation, the Tulips backed off, accepting partial payment and promising to return in a few days.

The next day Keys and Alt went to celebrate Emil's coming of age, Emil, a cousin of Keys, was a fully paid up member of the Doomed Children. Keys rolled out some soft, sweet potato like treats for the kids whilst Alt tended a barbecue; fish and chips cooked over dried dog turds, the smell permeated the gathering, and Alt pulled the makeshift mask tighter across his mouth.

Dragonbane has some cool Heroic Abilities. My mallard, Moggie, has a few of them - Ill-tempered, when angry he gets advantage on attacks, he has to take the Angry condition though, which means Intelligence saves are at disadvantage. He's also Fleet footed so can evade attacks as a free action. Lastly, he's a Musician who can inspire his fellows, giving them an advantage, or strike fear into his enemies giving opponents a disadvantage.

All of these require a spend of willpower points to activate, I have seventeen and they cost three points per ability activation, so I can invoke these five times in a battle.

We now have a good understanding of our “corner” in the city. The corner sits within Dreamingspires, specifically between two high, fog shrouded blocks, 7/Tulip and 9/Rose. Local gangs dominate each block and our corner often has trouble thrust upon it as the gangs flex their muscles.

At the base of our corner is The Archive and fronting this is a Pawn shop, we often meet up at the shop, hiring out the back room. The Archive contains nuggets of information but it is hard to decipher amongst the detritus and meaningless nonsense that makes up 90% of it's shelves.

I went all in on the a|state campaign, coins, books, play mats, compass the list goes on. So I was somewhat ecstatic to join a campaign, an excuse to read the book and to try again with the fairly tricksey Forged in the Dark system.

I'd envisaged my City as something akin to Kowloon Walled City, an impossible number of people squeezed into the smallest of makeshift one room apartments, stacked side-by-side, on top and beneath. People alone, but within touching distance of each other. Knowing so much more about their neighbours through the paper thin walls Behind every door a story, a thriving ecosystem of humanity at its rawest. Both fascinating and horrific.

We discussed what our City would be like, in particular our Corner of the Location, the Location we proposed was Dreamingspires, a series of thirty seven Tower Blocks, fifty floors each. An abandoned planning project, whose residents had taken over the role of managing each of these pillars of decay.

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My birthday. A last-minute trip to the cinema. Son moaning that John Wick 4 is also on, “Why do we have to go and see something so sad?”

Off the back of lots of forum banter, especially post-WotC OGL 1.blah, “I want it to fail!”, I had little to no expectations, but a round of Wicksian violence on a happy day meant D&D won out.

But would John Wick have a final say in all of this?!

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I've been thinking about Blade Runner the RPG a lot, I've run the starter set scenario around four times I believe now and worked on various homebrew ideas, but nothing yet at the table. So I was interested to see Never Mind the Dice Rolls Issue 18 had reviewed the system, it’s a great zine produced by a small team of talented and knowledgeable folks, so please check it out. I agree with a lot of what is said in the review, it doesn’t pretend to be anything other than it is and players and GM will have a lot of fun at the table.

From my experience, each time I ran the starter scenario, it got better, as the plot, scenes, and NPCs sank into my brain. There are also enough variations in NPCs and locations to visit, that groups take a different path through the mystery, meaning I don't get bored!

Most importantly, for me, it's a game that is improved and feels more intense the fewer players, two being optimum that take part - I want to be immersed in the setting, the lore, and the tropes of these IP-based RPGs. It perfectly replicates the 1982 movie experience and players who’ve never played it before, often leave the game satisfied from that aspect.

This is The Raspy Raven Rag, a newsletter about TTRPGs.

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First a shout-out to the man that started me on this journey, Chris Sharp.

Chris is an outstanding developer and decided to try his hand at developing an RPG (Role Playing Game) system for a new VTT (Virtual Table Top), called Foundry. On Twitter, I saw he was looking for help with testing and I, therefore, offered my services. I was new to Foundry and the game he’d developed for it, The Dee Sanction, was on my shelf of shame. I’d bought it on Kickstarter and never played it, so I thought it an excellent opportunity to learn the game and the VTT at the same time.