Lovecraft's Revenge - No map? No Minis? No problem!

For the past few previews of Lovecraft's Revenge, I've used maps and miniature figures from various games, like Mage Knight, Horror Clix, and Call of Cthulhu, since any figures can be used for the game.  But what if you don't have any miniatures?  What if you can't afford game maps?

Well none of that's a problem because you can play Lovecraft's Revenge with just paper and dice.  In some aspects, the lack of a game board is actually better for a horror game since most people can create terrors far worse in their minds than they can see.

But how does it work?

Well game-play is based on what is called a Battle Board.  When you encounter others, you place your figures, or anything you have to represent your characters, on the board opposite your opponents.  You don't need measurements as there is no range.

There are two types of boards.

The first is called Clear:

This board, represented here by white paper, is terrain in which you are out in the open, such as in the middle of a street or an open field.  You don't normally have places to hide, but at least you can see your opponents coming.

The other is cover:

This terrain, represented by construction paper, is used for those places where vision is blocked, even a little.  These could be inside buildings, the middle of a forest, or just a street at night.  Enemies are harder to see and shoot, but at least you have better chances to hide.


Here's an example of game-play, using the Battle Board.  I rolled up this adventure as I played it, meaning there was very little to set up.  I just created my first character and randomly rolled for the Investigation.  After getting a result of ,"Search for Person," I rolled University as my starting point and set off from there.

Logan Bell, a professor at Miskatonic University, entered the office of his colleague, Dr. Borne, to find the room torn to pieces with the instructor missing.  Concerned for his friend, Bell grabbed his pistol and set out to find Borne.

University - Night - Outdoors - Puzzle.

Wandering the campus, Bell found Borne's dog, Toby.  Toby followed Bell and the two continued to search.  Finding footprints, Bell recognized Borne's and followed them toward a classroom.

(Since nothing out of the ordinary occurred, the Darkness Level remained the same.)

University - Night - Classroom - Search.

On the way to the classroom, Bell encountered some archaeologists.  One of them, Glenda, offered to help as she's good friends with Borne.  Arriving at the classroom where Borne taught his most-recent class, the three began their search.  Eventually, they found notes left behind, in which Borne planned to visit one of the labs.  This was their next destination.

University - Night - Classroom - Question.

(Once again, nothing out of the ordinary occurred, but this time the Darkness Level dropped.)

Arriving at the labs, the group encountered some police officers.  After some questioning, the officers mentioned someone had broken into several of the labs.  With supervision, Bell and the others began to search the labs themselves.

(And again, the Darkness Level dropped.)

University - Night - Labs - Search.

Bell found that several cadavers were stolen from the labs.  Glenda mentioned stories about students performing experiments in the nearby graveyards, so they headed there next.

(The Darkness Level reached 1, activating the, 'It's quiet, too quiet,' rule, and raising it way Way up!)

Travel Scene - Morning.

On the way to the graveyard, the group was ambushed by cultists who appeared from behind the trees.

Here's where we used the Battle Board for the first time:

The green dice represent Bell, Toby, and Glenda, while the red dice represent the cultists.  The numbers represent their Reputation, this is the main stat used in Lovecraft's Revenge.  Finally, the white d6 at the top represents the current Darkness Level, which affects what appears, when, and how badly the situation is going.  In this case, things went bad, but they could be worse.

Pulling out his pistol, Bell shot the first cultist dead and wounded the second.  The remaining turned and fled into the forest.  That wasn't so bad.

Graveyard - Morning - Final Scene

The group entered the graveyard just as the sun appeared gleaming through the trees of the forest that surrounded the place.  As the three explored the grave sights, they heard rustling above and noticed a number of shapes quickly blocking the sun.  As the shapes suddenly plummeted from the trees, Bell, Toby, and Glenda took off running.

The group encountered creatures known as Black Winged Ones.  Rarely seen, they were believed to exist only in tales to frighten little children.  Turns out the real things work rather well on adults!

I placed the creatures on the boards opposite Bell, Toby, and Glenda.  However, seeing as we're outnumbered, I chose for Bell and his group to run.  This resulted in an opposed Escape roll.  Unfortunately, the Black Winged Ones remained right behind the group as they fled past tombstones and over hills.  Eventually, they did escape, running into a mausoleum and locking the door.

Finding one of the tombs torn open, the group noticed a cavern leading downward.  They followed it and eventually found Dr. Borne among a group of Ghouls who were munching on human body parts.  In fact, Borne was chowing down on a human arm as well.  In fact, Borne was also a ghoul!

The group checked for Insanity and no one was really shaken, strangely enough, by this sight.  Bell tried to speak with Borne, but the former instructor raised the bone above his head and attacked, along with his brethren.

In this case, the clear d6 represents Borne, while the red represent the remaining ghouls.  Since they are in a cave, I'm using the construction paper, representing covered terrain.

After a round a combat, Bell shot both Borne and one of the ghouls, while Toby injured one.  The last one charged Glenda before she could get a shot, but she smacked it over the head with the butt of her pistol.

After a round of battle, the remaining ghouls had their Reps lowered due to injury, for the rest of the round.  The next round began with Bell missing his shots, but Toby injuring one ghoul while Glenda shot the last one.  Spitting out grayish blood, the injured ghoul turned and vanished through a tunnel.

The group emerged having completed their investigation.  They couldn't save Borne, but at least they knew what happened.

Aftermath:

Sometimes an Investigation ends in an aftermath, in which one or more characters come upon a startling revelation or worse.

As the three exited the tomb, Bell opened the doors to the mausoleum to find the sun shining brightly with no terrors in sight.  Breathing a sigh of relief and wondering how he was going to explain this to the authorities, he glanced back and noticed Glenda still staring at the tomb.  As he approached, he noticed why.  The name on the tomb was Sether, Glenda's last name.

Glenda gains 1 Insanity Point for the startling discovery.


Keep watching for more news on Lovecraft's Revenge, coming soon from Two Hour Wargames!

Insanity Rules - Lovecraft Revenge messes with your mind!

I mentioned before that Lovecraft Revenge features Insanity rules that mess with both your characters' heads and your own.  Now I'll show you how it works.  In most roleplaying games, your game master would tell you what you experience and what is happening to you if you were insane.  Sometimes your character would just run away screaming, and other times, he'd dissolve into a mindless stupor.  Or maybe, your Game Master would tell you what your characters see or experience.

As with other titles from Two Hour Wargames, Lovecraft's Revenge doesn't use a game master.  You and your friends can all play together without anyone running the game.  So how then does this game mess with your perceptions if no one's running it?  Through the use of dice roll combinations and simple tables, Lovecraft Revenge alters entire events as you play them, sometimes changing the actions around you, and sometimes revealing that your character actually did something unexpected.

Want some examples?

Officers Conner and Rig face off against a duo of Deep Ones in an alley.  Both are shaken at the sight of these two monstrosities, but Conner more so.  As Rigg steps forward with his shotgun, Conner pulls out his pistol and fires.  He hears a thunk, but the deep one he was aiming at continues forward.  How can that be?

Then he blinks and sees his partner lying on the ground with a bullet in his back and realizes he had pointed his pistol at his partner the entire time.  Oops.

Example # 2:

The ghost-hunting team of Lewis and Carl explore an old mansion.  Entering one room, they notice a glowing mirror on the wall.  Both make Sanity checks.  Lewis passes; Carl doesn't.

Later, while exploring a hallway, they come upon a door that's barely cracked open.  As they step closer, they begin to hear sounds of growling and something scratching at the door from the other side.

Both men take off running down the hallway, or at least they believe they did . . .

However, when Lewis spins around, he sees his partner had actually turned right into the room.  Lewis freezes in terror as he hears screaming and gnashing of teeth, and then sees a pool of blood emerge from the room.

And here's a new look on a previous example:

Rena is being chased by a wolf-life creature.  Spotting a cabin, she races to it and bursts through the doorway.

She slams the door but finds no lock.  Panicking, her eyes dart around the room until she spots a large chest against the wall.  Taking a Physical Challenge, she pushes the chest with all her might until it blocks the door.  Exhausted, she turns . . .

And she sees the chest still resting against the wall, where she had found it.  It never moved.  This realization strikes Rena as the door behind her slowly opens.

Lovecraft's Revenge is coming soon from Two Hour Wargames.  More news to come so keep your eyes open . . . if you still trust them, that is!  And I'm sure those spectral fingers resting on your shoulder as you read this are just your imagination . . .

Lovecraft's Revenge - The Item Table

With Lovecraft's Revenge coming soon, here is another preview with another feature of the game.

If you've played other roleplaying games, you're probably familiar with collecting items to use in your adventures.  Maybe you have a small list or maybe you're required to keep track of pages of items.

With Lovecraft's Revenge, we do something a little different.  While you still keep track of the 'big things' like forbidden books and artifacts, for little things, we use the Item Table.

When you roll on the Item Table, you are determining if you're carrying something, whether a flashlight, keys, or notebook.  Success depends on the rarity of the item and your profession.  If you're a book seller, you have a greater chance of carrying a bestiary and less chance of carrying a fireman's ax.

Here's an example:

Hopal the clown and his terror-hunting friends, are enjoying time in a bar when they're approached by three mysterious individuals.  These beings are led by something wearing a cloak.

"Give us the book," it says in several high-pitch voices, and it pulls back the hood, revealing a creature made of millions of worms.

Hopal, who experienced something years ago that turned his skin white and hair green, assuring the only work he'd find was as a clown and stage magician, and who now hates supernatural creatures with a passion, doesn't back down.  He searches through his pockets for a lighter.  Now Hopal doesn't smoke, so he receives no bonuses for his rolling, but he does pass on the Item Table and finds a lighter in his pocket (possibly used for lighting candles, etc.).

Finding the lighter, he flings it into the creature's face, causing it to catch fire.  With thousands of shrieks, the creature falls to the ground in agony, and its allies tend to it as Hopal and his friends bolt out of the bar.


You can also use the Item table to see if other characters are carrying items, such as shop-keepers.

In this scene, Simon, a ghost hunter, enters the used book store to find a book on hauntings in the area.  This time, I roll on the table for the book store clerk and receive a bonus since it fits his profession.  Unfortunately, I don't succeed, and the clerk sadly tells Simon that he has no books about hauntings in stock at the moment.


Finally, you can use the Item Table to search rooms for whatever you may need at that moment.

Rena is being chased by a wolf-like creature.  Spotting a cabin nearby, she races towards it.

Darting inside, she slams the door shut but finds the lock is broken.  Frantically, she searches the room, and I roll on the Item Table, for something large enough to block the door.

Success!  Spotting a chest, she performs a Physical Challenge, succeeds again, and pushes the chest across the room and against the door, keeping her safe . . . for the moment.


Oh, in case you're wondering, you cannot use this to see if the book of spells you've been searching for has been in your pocket the entire time.  Nice try!


Next time, we'll show you the rules for Insanity, rules for messing with your character's mind, and your own!


Lovecraft's Revenge is coming soon so keep an eye out (or three) for it!

Lovecraft's Revenge - Darkness Level

First a belated Happy Birthday to Uncle Howard, who turned 126 this past Saturday.  And what better way to celebrate then with another preview of Lovecraft's Revenge?  And this time, we're revealing a feature that controls a good portion of the game play.

So you're playing a game in which your characters face terrors of all shapes and sizes.  What's to keep the terrors from showing up right away?  In fact, what's to keep beings like Cthulhu from ripping your characters' minds apart 5 seconds into your adventure?

While a number of factors influence what you encounter in each adventure, such as locations and random dice rolls, the main factor is the Darkness Level.  The DL is a number that determines how far you've entered into your horror story and how badly the universe is against you.  The higher the number, the greater the horror.

The Darkness Level is actually used to determine a number of factors, from the chance of encountering opponents bent on digesting you, to how many opponents you face, and to what opponents you face.

It also rises and lowers, depending on events in your game, your actions, and those of non-player characters.

Here are some examples:

The police officers enter a graveyard where, because the DL is lower, they encounter a lone worker maintaining the graves.  He seems friendly enough and answers the cops' questions without hesitation.

Now what happens if the Darkness Level was a little higher . . .

The officers get halfway through the graveyard when they hear the sounds of growls.  From behind tombstones, three ghouls appear and begin stalking our heroes.

Here's how an NPC's actions can raise the DL Level:

These ghost hunters enter a mansion and confront Lady Tundra, who has found a rare and mysterious book.  For several minutes, nothing unusual happens.  Then Lady Tundra, in her curiosity, decides to open the book and inspect its contents.

This raises the DL, and our heroes spin around to find several ghosts appearing and floating towards them.

In addition, if the DL gets too high, you could encounter Really Bad Things!

While investigating rumors of horrible beasts in this coastal town, two police officers encounter a Deep One.  Although they manage to defeat the creature, this raises the DL all the way up . . .

"Don't worry, Bob, I'm sure the worst is over."

Finally, we'll throw you one little bone.  Although most of the time, the Darkness Level increases as you move further into your game, there is also the chance is could go down, allowing you brief moments to catch your breath.  Cherish these moments, for they don't happen often.

Oh but don't drop your guard.  If the DL gets too low, a rule called, 'It's Quiet, too quiet,' kicks in, and things can fall to pieces really Really fast.


Lovecraft's Revenge is coming soon from Two Hour Wargames, and it's a game you won't forget.  It's also a game that doesn't play fair!

Lovecraft's Revenge - taking THW to new levels of horror!

The time for terror has arrived!  

Lovecraft's Revenge is the newest game from Two Hour Wargames that takes you through the mind of horror writer HP Lovecraft.  Think you've played other THW and can handle horror games?  Ready for a surprise or two?

While Lovecraft's Revenge uses rules from Two Hour Wargames, it is not just another THW title.  Nearly every rule and table has been tweaked to fit right in the the atmosphere of the game.

For those unfamiliar with Two Hour Wargames, THW titles are all designed to be played without a dungeon or game master.  And while you can play the games head-to-head, you can also play them solitaire and with everyone on the same team.

Lovecraft's Revenge takes it a step further.  Instead of a game master throwing tentacled horrors at you, everything you face in this game is generated by the game itself, based on random dice rolls, your group's actions, and those actions of non-player characters.  That's right; NPC's can actually influence your game!  A bookstore clerk reading a passage from an obscure book could summon monsters right then and there.  A group of soldiers arriving just in time could save your day, or make it worse.

That's where the title comes from.  After a while, you feel like the game is alive and playing itself.  Or maybe Lovecraft himself has returned from the grave to remind you of true horror!

Let's start with a few game play tweaks.  Note though that while we're using maps and miniatures to illustrate game play, you do not need any special figures or boards.  In fact, you can play the entire game with dice, a pencil, some paper, and your imagination.

Felix is on the run from a pack of hungry ghouls.  Instead of performing a Fast Move test that usually exists in THW games, we instead roll for what is called, 'The Chase.'  In The Chase, one or more characters tries to escape from others.  They could escape, get a lead and much-needed breather, or they could get caught.

Oh yeah, there's also this:

In his haste, Felix tripped . . .

 . . . and became dinner.  Moral of the story, no matter what's chasing you, watch your step!

Here's another example:

While investigating a basement, Bret discovers it leads to a cave, and is ambushed by a Sand Dweller.  Pulling out his pistol, he aims and pulls the trigger.

*Click*

He doesn't even get a shot off before the creature lurches forward and . . . well, let's just say it isn't a pretty sight!

In this example, the two officers search a warehouse when they hear a noise around the corner (The d6 represents the unknown element, also called a PEF or Possible Enemy Force).  This is usually either nothing at all, your mind playing tricks on you, or someone or something else.

This time, however, they find a mutilated body and nervously begin searching for whatever caused this.  At times, in your games, your characters will find dead bodies, and sometimes, you'll also find what killed them.  Hopefully, they'll at least give you a fighting chance.

And finally, there's magic.

Magic in Lovecraft's Revenge represents any unconventional ranged attacks.  These could be a Mi-Go's ray gun, a creature's ability to stun you with just a glance, or a witch's collection of spells.

And speaking of spells, your characters might also find ancient tomes with a rather colorful assortment of them.  Use at your own risk!

In addition, we've tweaked magical effects a bit.  Now the effects might differ depending on the power of the caster.  In the above picture, a cultist throws a ball of fire at the police but only hits one officer.

However this ball of fire becomes an enormous explosion, incinerating everything in and around the building, when cast by something much larger with tentacles . . .

This is just a sneak peak of Lovecraft's Revenge, coming soon from Two Hour Wargames.  Keep your eyes open for more previews in the near future.

Oh, and be careful about those ancient books.  Who knows what glibbering, tentacled, terrors that appear!

Legends of Araby

I had some fun playing Legends of Araby, a fantasy RPG by Two Hour Wargames.  LOA sets you loose in an Arabian Nights setting, though the rules are flexible enough to fit in most fantasy games. Although LOA is technically a supplement that can be played using rules from World Hero Legends, 2 Hour Dungeon Crawl, and even pulp games like Larger than Life and Mission St. Mary, it also includes 2d Sword and Sorcery, a set of quick combat rules so you can run games with just the book itself.

For my game, I'm using S&S rules, though I tweaked them a bit because I eventually plan to use a version of S&S and LOA for my own fantasy RPG's as well.  However, I'm playing the LOA encounters and rules as they appear in the book.  The only thing I altered is combat.

So let's get started . . .

This is my character; Akil, a Melee/Missile mix.  In LOA and S&S, you have 4 classes:  Melee, Missile, Magic, and Healer.  You can mix classes, with the second class being 1 Rep lower.  However, you must raise each class separately.

(I'm using Mage Knight miniatures, and I don't have a lot of humans in the set, so you'll see a rather colorful assortment of beings in the city.)

Akil entered the city of Briganna and I start with an Involuntary Encounter.

Two slavers followed Akil and after corning him in an alley, discuss Akil joining their business venture.  And by business venture, I mean Akil doing all the work and the slavers keeping all the $.  For some reason, our hero decided against this plan and a fight breaks out.

The first slaver fired and arrow, but it narrowly sliced across Akil's ear.  The second slaver charged but got an arrow between the eye.  Now it's our hero's turn.  with careful aim, he fired his bow at the remaining thug.

Suffice to say, it did not end well for the slavers, and with irony on his side, our hero is the one who walked away with coins in his pocket.

Now with the Involuntary Encounter out of the way, Akil is free to explore the city.  First, he ran into a guard, who no doubt heard the commotion and rushed to see what had occurred.

Apparently, manslaughter is legal if you're defending yourself from slavers because after Akil explained his side of the story, the guard nodded his head and continued walking.

Later, he saw a shop and entered.

The tiny shop was run by an average citizen (We'll call him, 'Joe.') who agreed to accompany Akil on his adventures through the city and show him the sights.

Travelling through the streets, Joe pointed to the various buildings.  "There's the Jewel Cutter, that's Bonnie's Boutiques, there's the Game Tent if you're interested in a little gambling, and right before us is the Cabaret, if you're interested in a little entertainment and," wink, wink, nudge, nudge, "companionship."

Akil's eyes lit up.  "Sounds perfect!"

Joe grinned.  "I suspected that'd be your first choice!"

"Apparently I was mistaken," a disappointed Joe observed as Akil raced into the game tent.

Throwing his recently-earned coins on the table, Akil yelled, "I'm in!"  Facing off against the other four opponents (and with Joe looking on), our hero tossed the dice and threw caution into the wind.

Minutes later, he left the tent . . . with his pockets overflowing with coins.  "And that, my dear friend, Joe, is how it's done!"

Leaving the bazaar, the two chose to explore the wealthier part of the city.

"What are we doing here?"  Asked Joe.

"I have an itch for questing," Akil answered, "but first I'd like to seek out a healer."

"That is strange, you don't seem ill to me,"

Akil nodded.  "Of course I'm not, I just want some potions for my journey."

As the two set off through the streets, they encountered a noble woman.

"Greetings lowly traveler," she said.  "You are so humbled to be in the presence of such greatness."

"Thanks," Akil said proudly, nodding to Joe.  "He sure is."

Apparently, she wasn't pleased with the response because the duo ran into her several more times, but each time ended with the annoyed woman storming off as Akil smiled at the obvious compliments.

Finally, after a few hours of wandering the city, the duo finally located the healer.

The stocky, squat figure behind the counter offered a variety of potions for the right price.  Akil bought a couple without looking at what they were ('because they're green; nothing can go wrong from green potions, right?'), though luckily Joe noticed they were Strength and Valor potions, exactly what our hero would need in his future journeys.

Following his adventures, the duo found an inn and crashed for the night, and as Akil fell asleep, visions of quests in his future crossed his thoughts.


I ended the adventure there and rolled to Improve Akil.  While he had earned quite a few Increasing d6, he spent a number of them on the potions and ended up with 2 Increasing d6.  Unfortunately, he didn't pass with either of them so he stays at his current Reps, though at least he doesn't lower them either.  

Next time, our fearless, and not-so-humble hero sets off on his first quest!