Hwaet! Review of Beowulf Beastslayer by Jonathan Green

The early Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, in particular The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, had a strong influence on both my gaming and my reading. Up until Firetop Mountain, I preferred science-fiction, and while the gamebook made it easier for me to imagine role-playing as a hobby, it also suggested fantasy as a genre, which lead me eventually to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien, as a scholar and writer, studied and taught Old English, and so by a curious confluence we find, years later, a gamebook based on the Old English epic poem Beowulf, and if you throw in illustrations by the inimitable Russ Nicholson, there's really no reason to resist.

Beowulf Beastslayer, by Jonathan Green, is the most fun and interest I've had in a gamebook since finishing Steve Jackson's magisterial Sorcery! series decades ago. Perhaps the reason Beowulf Beastslayer is so engaging is that by going back to the Old English heroic sources, Green is able to make the world of the gamebook fresh and fantastical again. The first time you read The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, orcs and trolls and ghouls and skeletons and underground mazes are new and intriguing; but after a while the tropes and inhabitants of the fantasy world become familiar, and therefore less exciting. Translating the Old English world-view and poem into gameable format refreshes the experience by creating that sense of the unfamiliar again. Monsters like Grendel, giants, sea serpents, even dragons take on a new immediacy. Riddles based on Anglo-Saxon sources present a new challenge.

To his credit, Green also adapts the Old English alliterative verse to his prose sections, which makes each passage of the gamebook poetic and even evocative of the sense of the source poem. The passages that one would usually skim to find the next fight or choice point are also a pleasure to read. And, the gamebook uses kennings – compact poetic figures from the period – as progress markers and resources: another evocative turn that makes each achievement more memorable.

Green uses the ACE system for the gamebook series, adapted from the original Fighting Fantasy rules, where the ACE scores Agility, Combat, and Endurance are used in a familiar fashion with standard dice, and includes a Hero Points score which functions much like Luck. It's a familiar and highly workable system, although if you're familiar with Fighting Fantasy in general, it's pretty clear where you should allocate your character points for maximum effect, and, if a criticism can be made of the mechanics, I've never felt in much danger during a fight, or worried greatly about missing a roll.

This, on the other hand, could be intentional. With the earning and spending of Hero Points to overcome key challenges in the book, and initiative providing a bonus in a fight, the best option is always to act like a big-darn hero. This is fun, but also, from the perspective of someone familiar with the Old English heroic mode, sort of educational. Playing the heroic values of Anglo-Saxon epics – bravery, boastfulness, generosity, cunning – is a way to immerse yourself in the mindset as well as win the best outcome.

In early 2021, Green also launched Heorot, a kickstarter campaign for role-playing in the world of Beowulf Beastslayer, based on the same rules as used in the gamebook. Given the ease and simplicity of the system, and the potential of the setting (with the chance that it could even fit Tolkien's view of Middle-earth), I'm following this project with great interest.

One Sheet Rules — Your Old School Experience

The OSR movement (the Old School Rules/Revival/Renaissance, etc.) has, over the years, brought to light a lot of interesting rules and ideas, but a recent instance, namely Bill King's One Sheet Rules, seems well worth the time to consider. 

Taking inspiration from early editions of D&D, The Black Hack, Knave, and other OSR and rules-light systems, the One Sheet Rules are an ultra-light, flexible system that takes many familiar OSR concepts and shapes them into a compact framework that would be just enough for any OSR style adventuring.

The simplicity of One Sheet Rules is outstanding. For example, almost every step in character creation is an easy to remember rule of "three": three points go to three abilities (STR, DEX, INT), you begin with 3d3 hit points, you choose three items of equipment or spells, and so on. The basic system, roll d20 and roll high against a target, is cleverly configured so that, if you choose, only players ever need to roll. To run an encounter, all you need to know is the level of the opposition, which serves rather like the HD rating of older systems. There is a experience system, but "advances", like experience rolls in RuneQuest, are based on rolls, not accumulated experience points.

Is it perfect? No. But it is imminently adjustable, and that's what matters. Personally, I would give characters slightly more hit-points in the beginning, like RuneQuest, but with a flatter accumulation and a maximum of about 18. And I would decouple Monster levels from hit points, so PCs could face a frail but deadly-swift foe, or a weak attack from a massive creature that takes considerable damage to drop. But both of these decisions are but a moment to make and easily ported to the rules.

With the Once Sheet Rules, it's possible to convert adventures and even whole campaign settings on the fly. I've sometimes wondered what it would take to pick up and run an old MERP adventure or start playing in the Old World or Warhammer without the cumbersome original rules. Although Basic Roleplaying is always an option, ultralight systems like One Sheet Rules are even faster to adapt.

Where to find them

The One Sheet Rules can be hard to find, and the Tinkerage only came across them by chance.

The One Sheet Rules by William King are available on itch.io: https://billk.itch.io/one-sheet-rules

You can also subscribe to the One Sheet Review mailing list (links in the rules), which allows you to receive the One Sheet Magic and Monsters edition, which includes a basic bestiary and spell list (highly recommended).

Solo: Play ALL the Books II

 In the first Play all the Books post, I tinkered with solo play and roll-and-read rules in the "play the world" style, mixing inspiration and rules from various rulebooks. In this post, I revisit these approaches with more detail about managing play when the GM, world-maker, and player are all the same soul.

The key to solo play in general is the the randomized oracle, which the solo player leans on to generate hints, plot points, and twists in general terms, since humans are generally brilliant at sketching these suggestions into scenarios. In this, I rely on Trevor Devall's dictum that you don't what to know what's doing to happen; what you need are suggestions that lead the game in directions you couldn't anticipate.

While there are plenty of great oracle systems out there (like Ironsworn, or the the classic Mythic GM Emulator), play all the books means exactly that: at the moment you're unsure or need inspiration you needn't refer to a custom solo rpg system; you look at your whole library, all the games, and select the random table or resolution system that answers to the needs of the moment.

For example, need a career or background? Grab the class and career tables from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Not sure where to start and need a patron? Grab the patron encounter tables from Classic Traveller. By weaving between books, you not only keep inspiration fresh, you find a virtually a custom approach or tool for everything.

A campaign begins

To follow this in practice, several examples follow. And, of course, this style of play can work with multiple players as well.

Broadly speaking, we're interested in an open campaign, starting from the general idea of exploring and mapping a wild-region at the edge of the empire — perhaps a corner of the Harrowmarch?

So assuming a single fortified city as a base, I generated four random pieces of terrain from the Advanced Fighting Fantasy Allansia book, each with a theme from the various oracle tables in Ironsworn. Of the four potential destinations, I randomly selected the hamlet of Osfo (Hills, Hamlet, Innocent, Omens).

After investigating, the omen proved to be "Betrayal" — and the "betrayers" of the innocent village, while human, were revealed as acolytes and cultists of an ogre god of a long-vanished empire.

Looking for the next location, AFF provided a substantial castle, and so I speculated that the cultists were somehow connected to a yet more distant castle (ruled once by ogres?) and generated a handful of half-ruined towers and a keep using the dice-drop method from the Advanced Fighting Fantasy Second Edition rules. 

Running the scenario

Now, we come to point-to-point exploration. For each space, if occupied (likely, roll 3+ on a d6), I grabbed the dungeon encounter table from Out of the Pit, one of my favorite bestiaries:

• In the gatehouse, a WIGHT (interesting, I used the FF interpretation of a wight, an undead servant—perhaps a cursed minion of the ogres?). With a lucky roll, our scout dodged this one.
• In the first watchtower, a MANTICORE (I determined this beast has made its lair in the ruined tower, rather than being native to the castle). It took some climbing and sneaking to avoid.
• In the attic over the inner gatehouse, four ZOMBIES (very curious!). There was a brief and dangerous fight. By chance, the zombies were guarding a substantial hoard or jewels.

At this point, I like to inject a twist or complication into the adventure, so having the Whitehack 3rd Ed. on hand, I rolled on the handy Modus table: "Shortage".  This lead to an interesting bit of GM-side decision making. Of course, shortage could be the simple twist that the adventurers run out of something (like arrows or rations), but that hardly alters the trajectory of the scenario. On the other hand, finding all those suspicious undead in the wrecked castle of the ogres suggested a darker possibility. Perhaps the ogres, once the terror of the region, were besieged and starved in their castle by the ancestors of the people of Osfo. First, the servants of the castle perished, or were sacrificed, to rise as undead servants. But later, the starving ogres themselves turned on each other in a horrible struggle, the strongest devouring the weakest...

So the final encounter was with a hideous ogre-GHOUL in the ruined keep. Curiously, the ghoul had no treasure (lost, perhaps, under the rubble) but I decided to roll for an item (Whitehack), a note, which from Ironsworn was about a "hidden weapon" — more than intriguing enough to launch a new adventure after a suitable rest.

Ramshackle rules and roles

While tinkering with the free-form Fighting Fantasy rules, it strikes me that the simple trio of characteristics and basic tests can be adapted with relative ease and speed for a wide variety of worlds. Here's one such adaptation.

Ramshackle

The vast, labyrinthine structure, from Gormenghast to the Hayholt, from the citadel of Nessus to Mampang, is as important a part of fantasy as the underground dungeon. Here, I’ve adapted the Fighting Fantasy rules for playing in places that tower as far above as descend below, anything from immense ramshackle piles to sprawling cities.

Adventurers

Our adventurers use the attributes:

• ABILITY (like Skill, begins at 7)
• ENDURANCE (like Stamina, begins at 1d6+6)
• COURAGE (like Luck, begins at 1d6+6)

Courage works just like LUCK in FF. It represents bravery, resolve, and the character’s readiness to take — and dodge — extreme risks. Courage is worn down by every danger the character encounters, but restored by significant victories, small acts of grace and kindness, and fortuitous choices.

Character standing

One's position, or social standing, is a critical part of your background in the convoluted and sometimes archaic society of the ramshackle pile. 

Choose, with GM approval, or roll a die on the list and take +1 initial Courage for accepting the risk!

1 - Lowly: a scullion, scullery maid, or apprentice.
Staring equipment is shoddy or makeshift. Weapons such as a knife, club, hammer, or pick (1 damage only on.a roll of 1-2). Kitchen staff have access to plenty of provisions.

2 - Servant: footman, maid, valet, gatekeeper, guard.

Have access to workaday but sturdy equipment, Weapons such as dagger, staff, spear, halberd, if their duties permit. Guards may have common armor (1-2 chance of -1 damage).

3 - Staff: Senior or trained household retainers, such as butler, tutor, officer of the watch, falconer, artisan, cook, bailiff, apothecary. Equipment, suitable to the profession, and specialist weapons (swords, muskets).

4 - Household Companion: professionals, usually close to the family and part of the gentry, such as tutor, archivist, chaplain, sorcerer, astronomer, knight errant, duelist, surgeon. 

Well-made professional equipment and specialized weapons that require special skill (rapiers, great-swords, pistols, well-crafted armor).

5 - Scion; part of the ruling family or clan—noble, heir, gentry, magistrate.
Has access to the best equipment, weapons, and armor (improved damage or protection), and considerable personal wealth.

6 - Outsider: an explorer, wanderer, or even a monster; any individual from the outer world (if there is an outer world).
Equipment at the GMs approval, possibly rare, exotic, magical, or dangerous (or all of these).

Missions in the ramshackle halls

Through vast labyrinths, halls, cloisters, galleries, adventurers will find themselves on many missions, often driven by the needs and rituals of the place itself as much as the inhabitants, who are, after all, merely temporary.

Roll a die:

1 - Fetch

Go and recover for her ladyship a bunch of the lost copper roses from the ruined conservatory among the Ash Towers. Beware the argumentative and senile sphinxes that guard the approach.

2 - Hunt

Two wild hippogriffs are hunting in the western galleries. Track and eradicate or drive off the beasts. Ensure his lordship comes to no harm during the hunt.

3 - Deliver

Take this impossibly fragile crown constructed from the bones of extinct birdlife to the Catechist of Ethrain, in the Ninth Ward. Of course we can't tell you what she looks like: she wears a mask at all times, and it's impertinent to ask.

4 - Discover

Find for us a certain volume of impious prophecies concealed in the lower shelving of the Gaunt Archive. Never mind the literate rats or the mummified librarians; it's the crow-headed researchers you need to avoid.

5 - Guard

Secure the crumbling Oblique Tower from the intelligent were-ferrets and their demented pine-martin shock-troopers.

6 - Capture

Retrieve the phoenix tapestry the House of Kellin recklessly purloined from our drowned treasury. They have no idea what will happen if the wrong threads are tugged.

Lurking creatures

1 - Vermin

1–6 Giant Rats ABILITY 5 ENDURANCE 3

2 - Pests

1–3 Crow-folk ABILITY 6 ENDURANCE 4

3 - Prowler

1–2 Were-ferrets ABILITY 6 ENDURANCE 5

4 - Hazard

Ghouls ABILITY 7 ENDURANCE 6 (infected claws)

5 - Marauder

1–3 Gargoyles ABILITY 7 ENDURANCE 8

6 - Hunter

Hippogriff ABILITY 8 ENDURANCE 10 (flies, pounces for 4 damage on first attack)