I spent some time with people on stalls chatting, either seeking answers to specific questions – like when the next supplement for Doctor Who might be expected from the folks at the Cubicle 7 stand – or more general chat. I had one such brief chat with Chris Cale at the Tied to a Kite stand, where they had Numerix – an abstract boardgame – and Backswords & Bucklers.

B&B takes a modified version of the Swords & Wizardry: WhiteBox ruleset and places the characters in a historical Elizabethan setting. You can get the whole book free online – but, Chris was selling some printed copies with coloured cover and all. I like simple gaming. I also like historical gaming – which is why I’ve been delighted having an involvement in the creation, or tweaking, of some Maelstrom materials.

As Tied to a Kite offer these games for free, I’m sure your support would be appreciated – especially if you can spare the cash to pick up a hard copy version! In an RPG environment with a lot of big players, consumer support of the smaller concerns is vital. I appreciate the energy and enthusiasm in gaming across the board, because it keeps my long time hobby going, filled with all manner of enticing goodies to fill my reading and play time.

An adventure ‘snippet’ for Maelstrom RPG.

Synopsis: Beggars find something of value, but need to get back to civilisation to make anything from it.

Adventure Outline: The characters go scavenging in the fields around the city, wandering the paths and lanes in search of anything valuable. In tough times, you have to be prepared to do what you can to make a few pennies. They have a small scuffle with a couple of ruffians in the morning, out to cause trouble; but by lunchtime nothing of value has come to light.

Following a short rest, they decide to head back to see what scraps they might pick up around the markets, and stumble across a corpse in a ditch at the side of the road. As luck would have it, this scene – though gruesome – is not a murdered soul, but the carcass of a dead pig.

On closer inspection, it looks like it may have died from a hunt related injury, a slow bleed. The carcass may have been there for a day or three, but the flies swarming around aren’t too bad. Back in the city, you could get a shilling or more for meat like this from a pie-maker.

Trouble with stuff like this, the authorities don’t approve of people bringing uncontrolled foodstuffs into the city. Disease runs rampant, so controls offer some measure of protection. They wouldn’t know a nice bit of seasoned meat if you slapped them around the head with it.

Complications: Guards on the city gates will not allow anyone to openly walk through with a carcass. Secondary gates or waterways may provide an alternative, but they provide their own hazards. Beggars tend to gravitate towards suspicious activities, so the characters may face nosey competition trying to claim the carcass for their own.

Adventure Preparation: The adventure provides a little entertainment for a band of beggars, so you may want to run as a one off – or perhaps engineer a situation where non-beggars fall on really hard times and need the money badly enough to consider smuggling condemned meat!

The house is quiet, except for the scuffling of various small animals in the dining room and the vague nattering of the boys in their bedroom. New Year was 40 minutes ago, and I’ve done most of the washing up. We spent the evening with friends nibbling on a buffet of snacks, and played a few party games. Now, it’s time to go to bed.

Resolutions for the New Year, anyone? I plan to:

• Secure and complete business for at least three web sites
• Write one Maelstrom supplement
• Write one PARANOIA supplement
• Enter a short story into this years SFX short story competition
• Lose a stone

That seems like a fair set of aims. How about you?

In 1446, Wales perched on the precipice, faced with the prospect of a new rebellion by restless natives. Complacent English nobles, entrusted with expansive domains, stretch themselves all too thin, leaving stewards to run much of their lands and properties. In many instances, these stewards come from the local population, swayed by misplaced loyalties and the corrupting influence of power.

In the midst of this, a simple merchant requests the assistance of travellers in Swansea to drive, and provide escort, to a cartload of goods, bound for Pembroke. It seems a simple enough task, providing payment and transport for a couple of days on the road. However, how often do games present simple tasks that stay simple. Mixing legendary stones, agents of the Crown, bandits and stray sheep, ‘The Sward and The Stone’ is a new adventure for the classic ‘Maelstrom‘ role playing system.

You can download The Sward and the Stone now from Drive Thru Stuff and RPGNow. A 27-page adventure plus two maps, the booklet provides background, NPCs and a gazateer of the character’s route through the craggy, troubled landscape of south Wales in the mid-15th Century.

When I was 12 years old, I had already played ‘Warlock of Firetop Mountain‘ and the other first half dozen Fighting Fantasy books. A year later I would be clutching the purplish box of ‘Middle Earth Role Playing‘ having thoroughly enjoyed several months of D&Ding at school. In that moment, in 1984, I discovered something a bit different… I discovered ‘Maelstrom‘.

I’m not entirely sure whether I would have seen ‘Excalibur‘ at this point or similar fantasy movies that stepped on the boundaries of magic without losing sight of the real world, but that was ‘Maelstrom‘ in a way. The game provided mechanics and a setting that took medieval England and swirled in a touch of magic. Not much… just enough to suit the perceptions of the time that magic existed and was to be feared. The Maelstrom swirled outside of reality, and from there those in the know could harness enough power to bend the world to do their bidding.

The game was simple enough, percentiles mainly with point-allocated character creation. The bulk of the book explained character professions, mechanics of combat, advanced developments, and a solo adventure to guide you through the basics. The book also included a 19-page herbal, which some say went on to influence other games that followed. I certainly referred to it many times over the years when running other fantasy games. All this in a 300-or-so page paperback volume that you could virtually slide into your pocket. Perfect fodder for a quick game with your friends on a rainy afternoon.

Now, 24 years later, ‘Maelstrom‘ has returned. Published by Arion Games under license from Puffin Books, the whole thing can now be yours as a PDF from DriveThruRPG. As if that wasn’t enough, Arion Games also intends to publish adventures and support material, including the entirely free adventure ‘Strange Days in Nayland‘.

Well worth a look… and with the return of ‘Dragon Warriors‘ it almost seems like my childhood has returned once more.

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