[Review] Universal Exploits

"I DID NOT HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH THAT PROTOS V SEXBOT!"

The review version is a PDF.

If you don't already know, +Venger Satanis is currently one of the best roleplaying games writer focused on weird, horror, sleazy and old-school; both fantasy and scifi. Alpha Blue is a great game, and Girls Gone Rogue made it even better with so much more material to use. What will Universal Exploits add to this sleazy space setting? Let's find out!

The book is divided into two chapters, "Rules, tables and setting" and "Suggestions, scenarios, and extras". But before the actual content begins, we get to read a three pages long short-story, which is

I wasn't a fan of Alpha Blue art, Girls Gone Rogue was way better and now Universal Exploits has best illustration of the trio! There are pictures from the same artist I disliked in the main game, but they blend well with other styles and artists, as they are no more (crappy) majority. They work now way much better. And line art is awesome. A warning though, many of the pictures are x-rated and sexual in theme with full frontal nudity and sexual acts, but there are also plenty of other science fiction imaginary. The porn doesn't bother me, though. Sure the sexual images oversexualize women and there could be more naked, porny men, too for balance. Again, be warned, there are so many images from which social justice warriors would rip their asses half. There are also few colored pictures, which is a nice addition.

Venger's writing is eloquent as ever, so the reading experience is really good. Everything is explained well with great writing. Because Alpha Blue's rules are extremely minimal and simple, you learn the rules additions easily and quickly. And there are plenty of them with lots and lots of random tables. The rules additions really give more detail for the campaign.

The strength of Alpha Blue product line are the random tables. There are so many, and they are so different. Many are really useful, some just fun additions to weird days you might need one. And what is best of these random tables, they are really inspiring for stories. You can easily just collect all you Alpha Blue books and start rolling tables, taking notes, and soon you have an adventure done. And naturally, you can use these tables in middle of the game to spice up, or sex up, the action and scenes. Religions, desires, alien worlds, locations, events, planets... everything in tables!

But because Alpha Blue as whole is basically made of tables after tables, you should write down all the random tables and collect them into one big index, so you know what tables are in what sourcebook. Otherwise it could be overwhelming to remember all the available material, yet shuffle through all the books to find the right table for the situation (in all sourcebooks and main rulebook together there are random tables for almost any situation).

One great part is domain management. In old-school games, when you have adventured enough, it is time to invest your money on some land. In this sourcebook, you can do it in space!

Suggestions, Scenarios, And Extras gives you hints and tips how to run an Alpha Blue game. Venger is an awesome (Space) Dungeon Master (proof: How To Game Master Like A Fucking Boss) who doesn't hesitate to share his experiences how to make games... well... fucking awesome. This chapter has lots of actual game expamples and suggestions how to get players involved in adventures - and how to make them adventure. Universal Exploits is an adventurers' agency after all!

You also get adventures, but in my opinion they are not that handy to refer during the play and read more than explained short stories. They feel a little railroading also. There are plenty of them, though, and even if not fun to run (I cannot decide that for you, or even myself without actually running them!) they are good fiction of the Alpha Blue setting. Some of the adventures here are more a location, where stuff is going on. A nice addition.

In my opinion, Universal Exploits is a great sourcebook for any science fiction game with weird, gonzo and action. If your game is pornographic -or needs more porn- even better. If you strip all the naughty, you still have lots of great content to use in different scifi settings. Well worth the buck!

Also with the PDF you get separate files for the maps included in the book. They are absolutely brilliant. +MonkeyBlood Design has outdone himself.

One final warning. Because the product is filled with tables and content, PDF version of it might be slow to use in actual game, when shuffling the book is nicer and easier. Just my opinion.
__________________________________________________

Universal Exploits at RPGNow.
Alpha Blue at RPGNow.
Girls Gone Rogue at RPGNow.
Sleazy Space Opera (bundle of above three titles) at RPGNow.

My review of both Alpha Blue and Girls Gone Rogue HERE.

[Review] Alpha Blue + Girls Gone Rogue

Get it from RPGNow, both PDF and POD!

ALPHA BLUE is a sleazy science fiction roleplaying game cheering 70's weird scifi and exploitation entertainment. In Alpha Blue interalienracial sex, drug abuse and killing stuff is perfectly normal - and acceptable. Because Alpha Blue is a space bordel!

But what can you do in this space station of sin except have dirty adventures? Quite a lot, in fact!

Even though Alpha Blue is about sex, it is a real game. And a good game too. You might get best of the setting if you keep the sex, drugs and sleaze, but don't make it the focus of the game. You can play space action adventures with sleaze vibes. That's how you can make Alpha Blue a blast! Remember the sleaze, but don't make this game full of it making it a dirty joke. Make it awesome!

If you are already familiar with +Venger Satanis' writing style, you know what to expect. It's like Venger is telling you all these cool ideas, maybe not organized, but clear. His enthusiasm comes across the text. It is friendly, but guiding. There are no dull moments reading Kort'thalis Publishing's products.

I mentioned that it might be not organized that well. It's because there is so much material in the product. Mostly fluff and random tables. And oh boy there are many random tables making this book quite useful even outside of Alpha Blue station! You get all kinds of fun things for character creation like how he dresses and what his signature weapon is. And naturally if you're an alien, what kind of an alien you are from appearance to customs. Other tables are really useful for running adventures.

Alpha Blue is mainly a setting, and easily compatible with any system you want to run it with. But there are light rules included, which are quite fun. Characters have no stats and all difficulties of rolls are determined by who the character is (not what his numeric stats are) and what the overall situation is like. More important is what kind of sex your character likes than how hard he can hit an opponent!

Extras are two character sheets, other darker version and a map of a single floor of Alpha Blue station spread on four pages. It would have been cool if it was pre-numbered so you could fill it easier yourself, as there are locations in the book, but they are not marked on the map. Alpha Blue is supposed to have several floors, but one pre-made floor would have been fun so you could get the gaming on straight ahead. Now you have to map the place before playing the game. Small wrinkle, nothing huge!

Illustration... ehm, I don't like it. Overall it's not quite good. Half of the images are decent and give an idea what Alpha Blue is like, but some pictures are lame; example a person who looks like Doctor Who with two women. Needless to say, there is lots of nudity, partial and full. One other complaint is that men and women are not sexualized equally - there are more naked women than men. Kort'thalis' overall sexual imaginary is quite masculine. It would be cooler if there were more stronger women in illustration and fiction. I am a heterosexual guy who does enjoy strong women too, not always those slaves in golden bikini...

Also there could have been more adventure examples and seeds on what happens at Alpha Blue space station bordel. Now there are only few, and most of those happen outside of the station. Oh why...

Overall Alpha Blue is a great rpg product, if you are not too sensitive for sleazy adult themes. You get lots of random tables to use, a detailed location and light rules. If tentacle sex and drugs you are okay with, you should check Alpha Blue out! If you want to know how people have ran Alpha Blue, here is a Google search done for you: ZAP!

Get it from RPGNow, both PDF and POD!

GIRLS GONE ROGUE is an expansion for Alpha Blue. You don't necessarily need it, but it sure makes the game 1000% better! The pdf is 80 pages of everything! Character creation and options are expanded. There are more little rules like dueling and ship to ship combat. There are more random tables, all kinds of them for so many different situations. You also get quite a few adventures. And tables to create planets. And now the illustration is from the same to better to great!

Girls Gone Rogue makes Alpha Blue better in so many ways expanding it to a full throttle to run campaigns. There is so much material combined in these books, that you will never run out of adventuring ideas and random tables.

Mark my word, even without sex Alpha Blue (and Girls Gone Rogue) is/are a great game full of fun and useful material. If you don't like sleazy themes, just drop them and enjoy space adventures! Illustration... well, you just have to deal with it :)

New Kickstarter from Venger Satanis: The S'rulyan Vault

+Venger Satanis has a new Kicksterter, this time a huge map inspired by early D&D blue maps. And this map will be huge! You can print it at home on several sheets, or take it to your local print shop to get a big map!

But not only a map, you'll also get a pdf for generating random content making each adventure into the S'rulyan Vault unique!

This project is already backed and now we are aiming at the stretch goals:

• same map with "realistic" background
• custom character sheet compatible with O5R
• four additional map quadrants
• everything for free for everyone (well, except for the backers, but we are the saints who make good things for the world)

The maps are drawn by a great talent, +MonkeyBlood Design.

If you are not familiar with Venger's work, he writes awesome swords & sorcery material with strong eldrich and Mythos feel. He has more unorthodox material than your average D&D with elves and hobbits adventuring and doing nice things. You can check his publications at RPGNow and read his thoughts at his blog. Monkeyblood's stuff can be found here.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1575519826/the-srulyan-vault

"This is by no means finished, it's just a starting point for the blue map that Glynn's been working hard at.
Looks pretty neat, though..."
Quoted from the campaign page.

Gaming report: Liberation Of The Demon Slayer

Adventure used: Liberation Of The Demon Slayer by Kort'halis Publishing, +Venger Satanis
Rules system: Swords & Wizardry Core with the following house rules:

• Death & Dismemberment table by +kirin robinson (at negative hitpoints roll 2d6 minus negative damage, smaller result is worse)
• Wild spell casting: Magic-Users and Clerics might cast any spell they know ex-tempore. Doing so they must roll d20 + modifiers (level/2 + INT/WIS (M-U/C) bonus minus spell level. Higher result is better, from catastrophe to epic success. This formula can be found in LotDS adventure house-rules section.
• Advantages and disadvantages. From 5th edition of D&D. Roll twice and keep better or worse result. As there are no skills, your character's class can give you an advantage if your class is supposed to know how to do it. Roll under attribute as skill tests.
• Basic/Expert style Attribute bonuses, from -3 to +3 instead of -1 to +1 which is in S&W.
• Exploding damage. Highest result in damage die allows you to roll damage die again and add.

Characters: Pre-generated. No class restrictions for races. Humans get +1 to every Attribute. Start at second level, max hp at first. Characters were Halfling Magic-User, Human Cleric and Dwarf Thief.

Setting: Homebrew, remote island with remote little island where this all happened.

Background story: All these characters have traveled to this adventure location, because they have had unsettling dreams of demons landing the Realm and starting havoc.

They all arrive to this remote small island, where they follow their auspice. They soon find out, that within this island is a small remote village, where this dungeon lies. They start their travel to the dungeon in carts, that head to the village. Before some rumors were gathered and local church was visited. Donation was made and one vial of holy water received.

In final part of the trip they encounter six cheerful cultists of Yogshothoth. The cultists know that the demons will soon arrive, and they have embraced the weird godcreature of chaos. "Only Yogshothoth the Chaos can save us", they celebrate. The caravaners stop.

Human Cleric of righteous god hating infidels and heathens attacks without question. A combat starts, where two cultists engage this zealot. Remaining four cultists don't want to interfere in violence. Soon Magic-Using halfling has charmed a cultists in back row to engage his comrades. And some Magic-Missiles happen, too.

The combat is fierce. One charmed cultist murders his comrade, and soon another cultists is charmed. One cultist is turned into light with very successful and high damage roll. One is captured, one escapes. The horses halfling thief let loose didn't hit the cultists, but ran away.

Halfling wanted to interview the captured cultist, but went to help the caravanists to retrieve their horses let loose. Meanwhile Cleric murdered the cultist.

Caravanists were not pleased with this violent and hazardous encounter. With three cultists dead, one escaped and two charmed (as henchmen now), they get to the village.

They meet some villagers and rent an old warehouse they turn hastily into a base. And they head to the dungeon...

Next to the village a shiny and steep rock stands. On its surface, there is a portcullis blocking the way in. Above it, there is an evil rune. Magic-User studies the rune only to find out it will devastate everyone entering (if save is not made). Outside the dungeon entrance on a rock a little girl sits.

Cleric detects evil with quick prayer and finds out the girl is not evil. But as the god favored his prayer, he did feel how the dungeon reeked evil from the depths.

The little girl wanted to make sure these are the adventurers, who would (possibly) stop the demon invasion. Only they need to do is retrieve a sword, Demon Slayer, and slay the first demon descending in meteor rain from hell. Then she opened the portcullis and let adventurers in.

SPOILERS AHEAD, SO STOP READING IF YOU THINK YOU SHOULD NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ!

Not far from the dungeon entrance there is a sprung pit trap. In the bottom some corpses lie. Lots of planning and rope tricks later, they get to the other side. Cleric took some damage to leg while climbing up, when a monster lurking the bottom of the pit bit his leg. And rope mishap killed other charmed henchman cultist. The Cleric managed to get some clear quartz loot from the bottom, though. They continue the dungeon, one man down...

Only to find another sprung trap. Careful examination tells that there were poison darts shot from the wall that killed these two adventurers. Trap is harmless now, so they continue.

(I skipped the third sprung trap, to get going on). They find a cave room, where root like material covers the ceiling and walls, expanding as roots or tentacles on the floor. In the other end there is a pedestal where a globe rest. They decide not to risk it, as they think the room is dangerous, and leave the globe there advancing.

Next room is a laboratory, where Magic-User spends some time exploring and studying it finding instructions to summon a demon. He finds out the fiend's name, but doesn't know who this demon is. Might come in handy... Cleric wants to know what he learned, but the Magic-User keeps the information for himself knowing that the Cleric probably wouldn't like demon-summoning skills.

As they continue their exploration, the path forks. There Magic-User finds a ring. He commands his charmed cultist henchman to grab it. Nothing bad happens, so the Magic-User keeps it for himself. He knows the runes are demonic and can contact a demon. He doesn't know how and what will happen, if used, though.

They choose the second path and advance it, when a portcullis comes down crashing. Saves are rolled to avoid getting hit by it! Thief has an advantage because it is a trap, and he successes very well pulling Magic-User back with him. Charmed cultist makes his save and jumps back. Cleric fails, gets some damage from the falling portcullis, but luckily jumps back, too. The party is not separated.

Cleric says quick prayer trying to heal his wound with godly power, but his god didn't like this quick prayer and instead damaged him! Cleric refuses to continue before he has prayed his god (for more spells). Others refuse to wait, so they advance to the other fork leaving the Cleric to pray on his own.

Magic-User, Thief and charmed cultist henchman advance to find a skull fountain. Charmed cultist is commanded to manipulate it and blood starts to flow. Magic-User takes a sample.

Meanwhile a (random encounter) cultist walks from behind the portcullis trap and confronts the praying Cleric. "Who are you", he demands, but the praying Cleric ignores him. Waving his dagger for a short time, the cultist withdraws back to the depths of the dungeon.

Magic-User wants to go to the previous laboratory they found to study the blood. They go there grabbing the Cleric back with them. While studying the blood Cleric prays. Some rolls were made and god thought the Cleric can have his spells back (that was a long rest there... no random encounters).

At this point lots of game time was used, and we knew we had to quit at some point. Players discussed and thought, that they could never explore the dungeon in the remaining time, and would only find new rooms with new content. So they decided they (as players) want to try to figure out how to get the globe instead, and try to leave the dungeon to continue later.

Before trying to figure out how to get the globe from a room of root tentacles, they start to think how they can secure a quick escape over the sprung pit trap. Lots of planning, how to do it, with ropes, or jumping or climbing... when they use a solution: from the laboratory take desk and bookshelves and whatnot and throw those in the bottom of the pit to use as a leverage. While carrying stuff around, a (random encounter) talking lion appears. He doesn't like the noise these adventurers are making in the cave! Adventurers more or less ignore the lion apologizing, and after a while the lion leaves them alone.

After they have thought they have secured their escape making it a bit more easier and a bit safer, they start to think about getting the globe. All kinds of lassoing it suggestions are made, but finally the charmed cultist is sent in. In the halfway to the other end of the room where the pedestal is, four tentacle roots from the ground attack the cultists capturing him. He yells in pain screaming! Magic-User uses his fireball scroll, rolling 20+ points of damage (with some exploding dice). The fireball scorches the room turning everything inside it to ashes, except the globe. As the damage was so high, it backfired from the dungeon on the corridors...

The Magic-User was safe from it, as was Thief surviving a save... but the Cleric wasn't that lucky. He suffered great deal of damage, and his left leg was burned off (Death & dismemberment table). From oven hot room Magic-User retrieved the globe pouring some drinking water on it to cool it.

Both cultists now dead and their Cleric's leg burned off they decide to call it a day and escape. But the dungeon is sealed, and the little girl who let them wont let them out without the Demon Slayer sword. They are trapped in! At this point they have made an observation, that they had two dead cultists, and there were already two dead cultists when they entered it. Also other dead corpses they found were a human, a halfling and a dwarf: exactly as their party!

Magic-User uses his new summon demon skill to summon a demon, which is trapped in the summoning circle. Cleric sprinkles holy water on it only annoying it more The demon tries everything for anyone of them to break the circle and let them loose: sell your souls to my master and I will open the dungeon entrance for you, sell your friends' soul and I'll let you out. Just break this circle and I'll let you out... But they wont.

They are trapped inside... And the game ends.

If the game had continued, we discussed three possible endings:

1. They let the demon free and hope that he unseals the dungeon so they could get out. It is uncertain what the consequences would be...
2. They would continue to explore the dungeon in hope of finding the Demon Slayer, so the little girl would let them out. Then they would start fighting the demon invasion.
3. They die. Starve to death, or the dungeon or monsters within would kill them.

Thoughts of the module:

It took five hours or so, and we only explored 7 areas of total 23 or so, and I skipped the third one entirely! Sure, pre-dungeon gaming took some time. The dungeon was quite random in content. I am not sure did I like it or not. Some of it didn't make lots of sense as why this is here and that there. Some did more.

Liberation Of The Demon Slayer's first floor is an interesting place to explore, for sure, but that is what it is. A place where you check out content and try to survive while searching for the sword. What I like is that you can run only the first level, but can expand to other levels as a mini setting and campaign. There is a lot of content, and NPCs to interact, too! Some day I'd like to explore this more (well, technically watch as it is explored).

I did make some changes for the background, not using default background of the module. I also made some changes to the content.

Did I like it? Players were great and entertaining. Sami is a veteran player and gamemaster and a scene activist. I've played with him few games. One player I had played with also, and the third player was new for me. I liked them a lot!

You can read my review of the module HERE with commentary by Venger himself!

[Review] How To Game Master Like A Fucking Boss

Image from Geeknative.

"As you've probably noticed, I'm not abbreviating the title as you would expect. And I won't for the vast majority of our journey together. That's because it's a high office that deserves the utmost respect. In fact, I want you to temporarily wipe "GM" from your vocabulary. From now on, you're going to refer to the generic running and refereeing of roleplaying games as Game Master, Game Mastering, and Game Mastery. Don't minimize your vocation with a two-letter abbreviation.

Why? Because what we do requires a strong belief in ourself."

Before I even start the review, I strongly advice you to buy the printed book version. The pdf is nice, sure, but this would be so much better as a book. Why? Personal notes. +Venger Satanis tells you how to be the best, or how to pursue to be the best Game Master (!!) in the world (or as good as you can be), so you should make this book your own. Read it, read it again. Learn from it. Adapt it. Get new ideas. Grow as a Game Master. I received this pdf for free, because I asked for it - even before the Kickstarter was done! I will buy the book for sure. PDF is nice, too, because you can print handy stuff easily... to that, later.

When I started reading this book (pdf) I was a little sceptical. The title is arrogant, but provocative. I thought, that this is a book where Venger will tell how much he is better than everyone else and how he will tell you what to do to be a better Game Master. Part of that is true.

The book is written damn well. It sucked me in. Venger writes, like this was a journal. He is telling what he does. And why. As this started as personal notes for self he thought to share, the writing style makes sense. But it is well written. It's like Venger is actually telling you his tricks of Game Mastery.

There are  several dozen short chapters of different topics. These chapters are short, easy to read, and easy to digest. The topics revolve around Swords, Science, and Sorcery genre, but the main instructions are easy to adapt into any genre or gaming experience. Every chapter is indexed, so they are easy to find.

What is awesome, that there are examples and inspiration everywhere. As you continue to read, from examples you can literally get awesome campaign and adventure ideas on the go. Venger has this own dark fantasy world (links to his other products in the end, worth to check out) what lives through the text. Literally you could use this book to create a setting, after you filter all the example and idea bits.

But when you've read this once to get a grip of it and the second time to actually make notes, is it used and easily forgotten? Well, it depends how often you come back to a book. And how much you want to use Venger's tactics. I think you could check out some chapters every now and then, especially when your game is going to a direction discussed in this, but there is also more.

The rest of the book is full of random tables (this is where pdf is handy - to print them). Naturally, these random tools reflect Venger's fantasy world. There are things like random monster creator, cults, simple Call Of Cthulhu type sanity check, new take on reaction table, tables for player characters, and more. In the end there is a fantasy language, you can use. And some empty maps, too!

The layout is good, and this pdf was a pleasure to read on my mobile phone's 5,2" screen. I used ezPDF Reader which awesomely fitted text to columns, so scrolling was easy. No flaws on the pdf at all! In not the best, font was pleasant to read. The annoying background logo is on every page what I didn't like in the Liberation Of The Demon Slayer either, but that's a matter of taste. Illustration is great and follows the feel of other Kort'thalis publications. If you like cults, tentacle monsters, slaves, and bosoms, you'll like this!

Thank you Venger for this great book. As a Game Master, I appreciate this. And I will buy the print-on-demand version to highlight best parts of the text. And I will print the tables for use.

Ten points, and a laughing skull.
_______________________

Buy How To Game Master Like A Fucking Boss, available in print and pdf: RPGNow.

Also check out other products from Kort'thalis Publishing. They are awesome.

How To Gamemaster Like A Fucking Boss, a Kickstarter by Venger Satanis

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1575519826/how-to-game-master-like-a-fucking-boss

Cover art by: HELMUTT

If you have read Liberation Of The Demon Slayer and The Island Of Purple-Haunted Putrescence you know that both adventures include house-rules and some GM tips from the author, +Venger Satanis.

Now he is putting out a full guide how to GM like a fucking boss. What does it mean.

The Game Master secrets of Venger Satanis. I'll teach you how to become a better Game Master. Not just better... one of the best.

Bold claims, I say. But I am intrigued. I have enjoyed Venger's style of writing in LotDS and
TIoP-HP and even though I wouldn't use all the house-rules he's included in these books I think those are very solid and not bad at all.

Because of those facts I know about Venger's writing I think this could be a good book also.

I already have enjoyed Quick Primer For Old School Gaming (by Matthew Finch) what was an awesome tutorial for me to understand the differences of old-school and modern Dungeons & Dragons. Also The Referee book in the Grindhouse Edition boxed set of Lamentations of the Flame Princess is really good also teaching a lot of running games.

Does How To Gamemaster Like A Fucking Boss teach you tricks to be an awesome DM? Is it for newbies or could it make anyone shine? Is it full of obvious? Is it full of itself? You have to read the link and make your own decision for that.

I think it is inexpensive, so it doesn't hurt to get it. And I think that part of being a good DM is to learn and read a lot about DM methods and how other DMs run games. You don't have to use everything from everyone, but extra knowledge never hurts.

And Venger promised that interior artwork will be best amongst the DM guides.

Am I going to get this, you ask? For sure!

[Review] Liberation Of The Demon Slayer

REVIEW: LIBERATION OF THE DEMON SLAYER

(Puple-Haunted italic commentary by Venger Satanis)

Venger to the left.
Liberation of the Demon Slayer to the right.

I have been so excited about this product and finally bought it last year. Read it and had mixed feelings about it until I “got it” and really, really enjoyed it. I have to thank Venger Satanis for openly discussing of LotDS and for Kirwyn correcting my comment about “a hot mess” to “a hot mess of awesome” (or something like that! It’s a pain to scroll back G+ post discussions so correct me if I quoted you wrong).

There is tons of awesome and few problems. This is Venger’s first big publication so I am gentle. Gentle but honest.

For me this will be the first RPG book I am going to make markings on. I never do it, so LotDS will be a gate for the world of making RPGs even more usable and accessible on the table.

Also I wanted Venger to comment on my review to make it review/interview/discussion type of thingie. His unedited comments are IN PURPLE. Enjoy.

Looking Good

Hang in there, mr. headline!
Otherwise looking good.

The cover is very nice, illustration very good (not safe for work because nudity), maps by Dyson Logos great (as always) and layout looks clear and text easy to read. One annoying thing is a light grey shade of a tribal tattoo styled logo on every page. It looks like an annoying shadow and it is always there no matter how you turn the book to the light.

Not only is there nudity of the female human (or perhaps half-elf) variety - she’s chained to the floor before some shoggoth-like entity the K’tulu cultists are worshiping.  The High Priest is giving a sermon, reading from some moldy, forbidden tome; he’s taking a break from whipping her with some kind of tentacle flail.  So, it’s nudity plus BDSM adult situation.

As for the Kort’thalis sigil, I personally think it’s one of the coolest aspects of the layout.  As long as the text is still legible, I don’t see a problem.  Obviously, not everyone will agree.

You are right about the sigil. It is not a flaw, it is a feature and design decision. I don’t like it for the reason I said (looks like a shadow that never goes away). But I don’t want people to think here that it’s very dominating feature. No it isn’t. There’s far more worse than this!

There are some layout problems also what could have been easily avoided. Loose headings should not happen. Problems are minor and few and most of the product is easy to read.

Regarding the loose headings, etc: yeah, it’s not perfect.  I’m not sure if this was Ed’s (the layout guy) first big project, too.  Thankfully, we’ve grown together and the overall appearance of my books keeps getting better.  

Also I do remember you explaining that you had busy time in personal life at the time of publication of LotDS. Also you do have a good author’s page where you discuss LotDS.

Maps Are Lovely, Map Keys Suck

One big thing in an adventure like this are maps. You need them. Maps are gorgeous but map keying is screwed! There are no clear markings from where you get to what floor. In some cases even not in text. And in some cases when it’s on the text it’s later, not earlier what would be better to understand the general dungeon layout.

Gorgeous map. Keys need custom work.

Also the map keys are screwed in my opinion. Sometimes how they are laid doesn’t make any sense. Next to each others can be totally random things what can make the dungeon feel like a christmas calendar. And then there is this [see the map to the right]. See, F and L are both in the same room. They are in different ends but still. E and F have same content, slaver’s lair. So E can be slaver’s lair but so is F. L, M and N are kobold army. Is there something wrong with me or is that just stupid? I think that map keys work better if they are erased and rearranged.

Yes, there are a few inconsistencies.  Here’s how not to publish an adventure: 1) Write all the encounters out first.  2) Get someone to draw all the maps for you independently of what you’ve written.  3) Fill in the numbers later and try to match everything up.  Unfortunately, that’s what happened.  Definitely a learning experience.

Ideally, the entire book should be a loose conglomeration of ideas for the Game Master to mix, match, and use as a spring-board for his own creation.  In my 30 years of Game Mastering, I’ve probably only used an adventure “as written” a handful of times.  I always put my own spin on things, my 15% that truly makes it my own.

Now I must ask Venger something: How different ways have you used LotDS yourself? I mean you obviously as an author don’t run it by-the-book and you if anyone knows what to do with it. It is obvious for the background details and setting premises that LotDS is not only an adventure you put out for the giggles. It is something more.

Many things you see in the book were improvised during various playtest sessions and included because they seemed either more natural or more weird and wild.  Liberation of the Demon Slayer is my attempt to create something that feels old and familiar while still being new and strange.

More Than You Paid For

But before you go into the dungeon you get brief explanation of the setting where LotDS is placed. The setting is swords & sorcery in feel and doesn’t go into much detail. This can be generic adventure you can place in any setting (well, in theory) but still the default setting information is cool. It’s always great to read small things like this to understand what’s in author’s head.

You also get some house-rules what is great. I love adventures what give something to use even if the adventure is played through several times. It is everyone’s own decision what house-rules to use or what to ignore but I think most, if not all, of these are very solid.

Also reasons for adventuring is good addition so I don’t have to figure out alone why player characters should engage this adventure. Again, meta information from the author how he thought things.

Dark secrets and character backgrounds are also great addition!

The Dungeons

The dungeon complex is 6 levels deep but the adventure why you most likely delve in can be done in the first level. So why the extra levels then? I have to say that here discussion with Venger helped me to understand the idea.

There’s also a ½ dungeon in another realm/planet/dimension which can break up the monotonous dungeoncrawling if the Game Master wishes to use it.

Illustration is great! There's also amateur-ish pencil
pictures, but I also like those a lot.

You can run this adventure in a single night, or a con or something. Because the adventure, well the “mission” is in the first level. But the five levels beyond are extra. Characters could have many reasons to venture further: greed, getting stuck in first level and trying to find another way out, even a new “mission”, different factions interact with characters (yes, there are factions), explore as a player using characters as chess pieces…

So basically you get one adventure and one dungeon level and five dungeon levels extra! Cool! There could have been some adventure hooks (one sentence) for the rest of the content, though. Yeah yeah GMs can easily make up stuff, but I am talking meta-information from the author again. How author used it.

The levels are interesting and different from each other. Not all encounters want to eat your face as there are different factions within. There are also cultists, demons, strange things to explore, treasure (maybe could be more treasure, eh?), and even a level you cannot access before you make it accessible.

In my opinion, there’s actually quite a bit of treasure throughout the adventure.  Especially if you count the weird shapes of color.

Well, true. I ment “traditional” treasure, like gold and jewels laying around. This thought of lacking treasure basically was because there’s always a group motivated by the glittering stuff you can buy better stuff. Still, it is not hard to add boring and traditional gold, is it. This is not a flaw, but a feature.

This is not just a dungeon, it is a playground, kind of a sandbox in caves if you stretch the idea further.

Most of the content is damn cool and awesome. Some of the content feels a little random but what I’ve read old-school adventures (the real ones) this was the style back then. So LotDS emulates pretty well old-school dungeon exploration with weird and cool.

Weird and cool are swords, sorcery and science. With healthy dose of cultists and mythos style monsters.

Why Get It?

If you ignore the biggest flaws (can’t say that layout problems are a big deal BUT map keys are a big thing for me) you will get some rules material you can use in other games later, six dungeon levels, lots of stuff for players to do, and an one floor adventure.

If you like mythos and swords and sorcery and science and slaves and monsters and demons and don’t mind nudity and not safe for work content (women being tortured, sex slaves, cannibalism) I highly recommend this.

Also this is highly compatible product as long as you know what AC, HD etc. are. Stat blocks are minimalistic (which is good).

Thanks for the review.  I love reading session reports and actual play posts of my work, so let me know after you’ve experienced Liberation of the Demon Slayer, The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence, and Revelry in Torth.  

Oh yes, I also love to read play reports of the products I am interested in or have reviewed! And I’ll propably write about LotDS when I run it. Maybe trying out Swords & Wizardry with it. Any advices for me how to make LotDS fucking awesome? I mean it is awesome and all, but you do have some tricks inside your sleeves, don’t you?

The idea mentioned in the book of using the adventure as a meat-grinder might be worth pursuing - if players had multiple zero-level or 1st level characters.  You could give Kalthalax a powerful motivation like becoming god of the dungeon.  Maybe it’s not so much a demon-slaying sword as it is a demonic sword trying to open a dimensional rift into Hell?

I like the idea of my books being somewhat compatible with each other.  I think ideas from The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence could be used in Liberation and ideas from Liberation could be used in conjunction with Revelry in Torth, etc.

Venger Satanis with Liberation of the Demon Slayer

_______________________________

Buy at DriveThru. Both print and PDF.

Venger's blogposts about LotDS here.

Revelry in Torth almost funded!

REVELRY IN TORTH

The art looks super!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1575519826/revelry-in-torth

At the time I write this there's only 59 hours left and less than 200 gold coins are needed for this adventure to be funded!

+Venger Satanis blog: http://vengersatanis.blogspot.fi/

Other adventures he has made are,
Liberation of the Demon Slayer
The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence
The Baleful Sorcerer Of Tsathag'kha (my review here)
Three Swordsmen (my review here)

[Review] Three Swordsmen by Venger Satanis

Link to Drivethru, get it for FREE!
Venger's blogpost about Three Swordsmen

Additional Quirks For The Classic Fighter Class

Don't hate me but in my humble opinion the classical Fighter class is a little dull. I know they can endure most blows, they have a widest variety of weapons and armor available and they hit best. But mechanically by-the-book players got two things they can do: roll to hit and roll for damage (naturally player can declare all kinds of actions like throwing sand on the eyes, tackling against a wall, kick down the shaft etc. but those are up to the Referee to decide mechanically as in old rules don't have these special maneuvers covered.

This PDF gives three optional Fighter templates you can add on your classic Fighter class.

The product starts with an introduction what is good read. Basically it's what and why but it's well written and I enjoyed it. Obviously once you read it you don't need it anymore so we carry on to the mechanics.

Three Fighters And Their Powers

The three different Fighters each have three special skills/powers which of one is same for everyone, so they each have two unique skills/powers. The more powerful the Fighter becomes in levels, more often or more powerful his skill becomes. This doesn't happen every level though so the new Fighter doesn't seem to be too overpowered. The shared skill is an additional attack once, twice etc. per day depending on a character level.

Also a brief description for every Fighter type explains who and what they are. Templars aka paladins are kind of knights. They don't necessarily fight for religion but for duty. They might attend to holy wars but still can adventure as their devotion dictates. Their skills are deflection (with nice rule quirks) and the other leadership what also works as turn undead but on any enemy!

The second one is titled as a Slayer. He is a mercenary, bountyhunter, hired sword. Generally a guy who can -and will- fight. He can use his power with a magic blade with some conditions (blade was used to slay a chaotic wizard for example) to deal an automatic critical hit (how do you handle criticals? Maximum damage, double damage, additional attack?). Other skill is additional attack when Slayer kills an enemy.

Reaver is the third and the last Fighter variation. They are chaotic descendants of assassins. The blood-soaked reavers. The more they kill the more stronger they get in a battle and they get bonus against an opponent under any kind of unawareness (unnoticing, condition, under spell).

The classes are different enough and the Reaver is way more different than the first ones. All of the Fighter types (for me at least) work as an inspiration how the character would be played instead of just to-hit-damage rolls. The special skills/powers are not making Fighters more special or overpowered, they are mere things that Fighters do. Fight well.

The Sword Is Important Too

What about the sword? When a Fighter dies roll the table to see what happens to the swords. It will become a legendary weapon, but in which way? This is a really nice addition what makes Fighters really those heroes bards sing about. And makes iconic blades special without always being enchanted by the wizard next door.

Conclusion

I love this! Well written, interesting types of Fighters with nice powers which don't make them superheroes.

In my arrogant opinion this is worth 5/5 skulls. Even if it wasn't free.

[Review] The Baleful Sorcerer Of Tsathag'kha

Venger Satanis' blogpost of the product

Download free at RPGNow

The Baleful Sorcerer of Tsathag'kha is a small booklet of 6 pages. But the actual character class material is covered in two pages only.

One page for character class information and rules and the other page for total of 9 new spells for this class.

Other pages are cover, one full page illustration (which is quite nice), credits page and an introduction page explaining the product. The text is nice but obviously after you have read it once...

The focus of this product is obviously those two pages. The new character class The Baleful Sorcerer of Tsathag'kha.

The rules of the class are really OSR compatible to those traditional fantasy rules. It doesn't matter what kind of save system you use or is the AC descending or ascending, as those are universal here. If you need more customized converting it should be extremely easy.

The character is based on the wizard or magic-user of the game you use. But there are some minor differences. For example Sorcerers of Tsathag'ka can use some bladed weapons and they have their unique spell list - with unique mechanics.

Even though this product introduced a new spell cost compared to vancian magic, it is not too hard and not full of mechanics to remember. Basically it is a CON drain where CON act as magic points. But there are also options to drain the CON to fuel the spell from enemies.

The Sorcerers of Tsathag'kha can only learn 9 spells. One at each level. In addition they have some powers from the Cleric class. The spells are fun and weird and horrible.

Because of the spells variation I see this character class for a traditional vanilla fantasy of the bad guy. And still he might be a little too sinister. As a player character this class is absolutely not a part of "fellowship of the ring".

But for darker games (especially Swords & Wizardry what +Venger Satanis says to be inspiration behind the Sorceror) this is great villain - or even a player character.

I am sold, I like this character class a lot but I know it is not for every game or setting.

Oh, and there is some fluff text for The Baleful Sorcerer of Tsathag'ka too. Unfortunately that is too short. For six pages I would have liked a little more fluff text than just few (physical) inches on my laptop screen. They are powerful, like remote realms and worship this nasty frog god. I want more! This is a huge disappointment. I understand this is a free product but still.

And there is the frog god Tsathag'kha who is behind the power of the Sorceror. But that power has its own price. The frog god is not that friendly god to know.

This I am not 100% sure but there might be a small change that the Sorcerer might turn to a Lich. Makes sense if you know how Lichs are born but this is a little unclear for me and is not expanded at all. Can your player character (if "lucky") turn into a Lich? Isn't that awesome for bad sorcerer? Or is it a bad thing and you loose your character as a NPC?

I don't claim that would be too hard for a Referee to decide himself but that was an interesting part in the text and wasn't not expanded. What was Venger thinking himself? This is his product, his idea and his vision after all. I can make my own shit up myself.

And well, this is not all Venger's work. It's a collection of shared ideas Venger made available.

I'd give this 4 skulls of 5. The product is neat. There's too many pages but you can easily print only those two you need. The introduction is nice but I hoped that the Sorcerer had more meat wrapped on its bones. It is a good character class but the fluff is stub.

For people who like darker and weirder fantasy I recommend this. For those Referee's also who are looking for a good villain for good guys to pursue.

Grab it!