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But before they slept, they committed one last act of divine betrayal. They fell upon one of their beloved named Gellasatrac, shredding him completely so that one future day their servants could feast upon his flesh and his blood and be changed. Gellasatrac’s ebon hand would bring blessed mutation and lovely transformation, granting those who dared partake the power to free the masters once and for all.

This lorebook venerates Gellasatrac, the “Martyr of the Galchutt”, who is described as “the dead god whose flesh was of our flesh; whose will is of our will; whose power shall be of our power”. He is the one who “shall Sleep not, nor Walk not”.

THE TOUCH OF GELLASATRAC: Before he became the “Maggot of Chaos”, Gellasatrac is described as the “Disciple of Jessuk” and the “Twister of Flesh”. “Where his touch writhed, so were our mortal frames transformed and our souls the flames of crucibles.”

Those so “gifted” are described as having their very bodies transformed through his powers. Gellasatrac raised up great, slavering hordes of chaos-touched malformities and fed the armies of the Galchutt with their misshapen, empowered bodies.

THE HAND OF GELLASATRAC: “And in those times when the powers of chaos shall wax and the Night of Dissolution shall come, the Ebon Hand of Gellasatrac shall return unto those true of their faith and so shall his legacy be fulfilled.”

THE LEGACY OF GELLASATRAC: “Let his blue blood be drunk into the pores of the soul. Let his black bile be vomited from the slit-wound of the mouth. And so shall he live in your flesh.”

DESIGN NOTES

This is a natural companion piece to Touch of the Ebon Hand, the chaos lorebook describing a cult dedicated to the worship of Gellasatrac (a name given, unless I’m mistaken, only in The Night of Dissolution). The trick with this sort of thing is to include enough information so that each lorebook makes sense, while also giving each lorebook unique information so that each is a revelation to be prized.

I’m also doing some setting weaving here: Jessuk is a god from my pantheon of Demon Gods, one who has been set above the Galchutt in order to integrate them into the Demon Court.

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Bughunters can be mined for ideas, but – like most of TSR’s output in the ‘90s – is padded with too much fluff and empty space to present a truly high quality package.

Originally Published March 16th, 2002

WHY BUGHUNTERS?

Bughunters was a supplement for TSR’s Amazing Engine game – which hasn’t been in print for more than half a decade.

So why review it?

Well, first off, because a lot of RPG fans are bargain hunters: They’ll see this book in a remainder bin or on a clearance table and begin wondering whether or not its worth snapping up. And that’s what a review is all about.

Plus, I want to. ‘Nuff said.

WHAT YOU GET

Bughunters is essentially an unlicensed Aliens RPG: The PCs are ground-pounders in the United Terra Reconnaissance and Peacekeeping Force (UTRPF). As such they are charged with keeping Mother Earth safe from hostile aliens… And if there’s anything humanity has learned, it’s that every single alien in existence is hostile.

Bughunters mixes things up a little more by casting the PCs as Synners – synthetic humans. Synners originally became necessary because normal humans become debilitatingly ill if they go through an Isler jump (the FTL device of the setting) outside of cryogenic sleep. Once the law allowed the government to use synners in the military, however, it was inevitable that the genetic modifications would be extended to create super-soldiers. Once that happened, however, society no longer wanted synners living among them – so laws were pushed through that prevented the synners from ever mustering out of the UTRPF: Once created, they were in the military for life. And once that was true, the pressure from constant alien threats quickly allowed the military to generate their super-soldiers more quickly by using a braintaping technology to duplicate civilian personalities: The civilians had the consolation that some “part” of them was out in space having adventures, while the military got a pre-grown personality to insert into their rapid-growth clones.

So as a PC you are not only forced to fight a vicious alien menace for the rest of your natural lives (i.e., until one of the vicious aliens kills you), but most of your memories and your entire identity actually belong to someone else. That’s not only a solid premise for a game, it’s also a great source of characterization and drama: Character is not only what you are in the dark; it’s what you are when your back is pressed to the wall.

As a sourcebook, Bughunters provides all the usual suspects: In the player’s section you’ve got a future history of the universe; character generation rules; details on the life of a synner; combat rules; military equipment; details on ships; and a mini-sourcebook on Stargate, an L-5 space station where most synners start their careers (and, thus, a good starting point for most Bughunters campaigns).

The GM’s section contains some additional background information, including – of course – the stats for a number of vicious aliens for the PCs to hunt down and kill: Essentially, most of the intelligent life in the universe was created, modified, or enslaved by two Ancient races to serve in their centuries-old war. These races – referred to by many of the minor races as the Shapers (a psychic race featuring biological technology) and the Artificers (an insectoid race featuring advanced “hard” technology) – are completely exhausted by their long war, but the continued hostility is the reason why everyone humanity happens to meet in space is immediately a threat: They’ve been conditioned to assume that, if they don’t know a race, it’s probably serving the other side.

The book is wrapped up with some very helpful charts and tables, most notably a full-color, pull-out map of the local section of the Milky Way – complete with an accompanying table of stellar distances.

WHERE IT FALLS DOWN

Bughunters falls down by not going far enough: There’s fancy military equipment, but there’s not a lot of it. You get a few alien threats, but not enough to sustain a true “let’s hunt the new bugs this week” campaign. And so forth.

Perhaps the most unfortunate lack here is in setting details. Bughunters was always intended to be a stand-alone product, yet the creator has simply failed to deliver all that much in the way of real meat when it comes to the Bughunters universe.

Part of the problem here is that this was a TSR product circa-1993. Those of you who were in the hobby back then already know that the only thing TSR could be relied on to produce in those days were books with excessive whitespace, large fonts, and text with too much leading between lines: In short, products which employed every means possible to keep their actual word count and content to an absolute minimum while (literally) pumping up the margins.

But even taking that into account, there’s a lot of fluff here that doesn’t need to be here. Most of it (such as the introductory adventure) was probably also caused by corporate guidelines, so I’m not going to blame the authors or creators here. But it is an unfortunate reality of the book.

WHAT IT’S GOOD FOR

As a result, Bughunters is going to be primarily useful as something you tear apart for ideas and put back together in your own image. For example, I could easily see using some of the material and background material here for a bughunting campaign set about 25 years in the future of the Transhuman Space universe.

Looked at through this lens, Bughunters is a rich resource: There are a lot of very compelling pieces here which can be conveniently ripped out, turned around, and slammed into another game. Or used to create an entirely new setting to your heart’s content. Plus, there’s nothing really wrong with the material here – most of it can serve as a very reliable foundation on which you can simply continue building.

On aspect of particular note here is the ship design system: To design a ship in Bughunters all you need to do is slam together various modules – instantly creating your own, customized ship. I would have liked to see more modules to choose from, and more detailed floorplans of the modules, but this is another area where the foundation is very solid. The basic mechanic and floorplans are also completely system independent, so the whole thing is very easily portable.

The full-color map and stellar distance charts are also well done, and provide a resource for any science fiction campaign set galactically near Earth.

A Note on Amazing Engine: For those unfamiliar with the Amazing Engine product line, it was an attempt to produce a generic game (a la GURPS) by TSR. The engine itself has many strengths (which I may dwell on if I ever review the actual game system), but the game’s supplements suffered because of a methodology which required a complete set of character creation rules and (frequently) large chunks of the combat rules to be redesigned and reprinted. This helps contribute to Bughunters’ fluff problem. It also means you cannot play Bughunters as is without the Amazing Engine rulebook.

Style: 3
Substance: 3

Author: Lester Smith
Additional Design: Tim Brown, Karen Boomgarden, Newton Ewell, Tim Beach, Colin McComb of the Clan McComb
Line: Amazing Engine
Price: $18.95
ISBN: 1-56076-623-9
Product Code: TSR2702
Pages: 128
Year Published: 1993

Flipping through my copies of Bughunters, I’m going to be honest: I was overstating its usefulness as a resource. Except for the poster map of star systems near Sol. That’s pretty great.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

Above all Those Who Slumber was the power of the One Who Was Born of Destruction, the Song Render, the Ender of Souls, the Dweller in Darkness. And among those who would speak his name, his name was Shallamoth Kindred – the act of desolation given life and mutilation given flesh.

This volume is a collection of lore regarding the Galchutt known as Shallamoth Kindred. It is a mixture of texts: Some poetical, some religious, some scholastic, some bombastic.

RANK WITHIN THE HOST: The Galchutt are not given to any order or hierarchy, and yet Shallamoth Kindred is often seen as their leader. No other Galchutt has ever been known to disobey it, and one of the ancient texts cited tells that “the Dweller in Darkness shall lead the Natharl’nacna host into the heart of creation, there to deliver all unto oblivion”.

THE FORM OF MAN: Shallamoth Kindred is described as being of two forms. The first of these – the form of man – takes the shape of a tall, lithe humanoid with indistinct features. This entire form is black like the deepest part of a bottomless pit, with the exception of its dagger-shaped eyes, colored the yellow-brown of diseased teeth.

THE FORM OF SOUL: The second form – the form of soul – is that of a squirming mass of ropy tendrils surrounding a bulbous, obese, pox-covered, decaying body with a vaguely humanoid shape. In some of the grotesque illustrations contained within this volume, vestigial bat-like wings hang limply around this form.

THE SUDDENNESS OF DESTRUCTION: “And he did move with the quickness of a razor.” “And in that moment he both came and was gone, leaving a wake of black madness in his tread.” These and similar quotations attest to Shallamoth Kindred’s ability to move with blinding speed and agility. It is literally capable of being there one moment and then gone in the next.

THE FACELESS FACE: “Its face was like the mirror nothingness. Its gaze a river of fire that touched thought but not earth.” Shallamoth Kindred never displays emotion. It never grows angry and it never shows fear. It does not gloat. It does not rejoice. It is impossible to manipulate or even to reason with.

THE CITADEL WITHOUT LIGHT: “And in the palace of the Kindred of Shallamoth, the eyes of the Galchutt are shut.” This phrase stands alone in the lower left hand corner of a page otherwise covered in a strangely warped mandala. Other passages refer to this place as the Citadel Without Light, and some speak of an inner sanctum: The Tourbillion. The Vortex of the World. From this Vortex, one can “step forth into the world”.

Another fragment describes the palace as being built entirely of mirrors which sometimes reflect less than can be seen, sometimes more, and sometimes something entirely alien.

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The Slavers saga comes to an end with a whimper instead of a bang.

Originally Published March 16th, 2002

This review builds on my reviews of A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity, A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade, and A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords. It’s probably a good idea to read those reviews, found here, here, and here, respectively, before reading this one.

CONCEPT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for the A-series of modules. Players who may find themselves playing in these adventures should not read beyond this point.

At the end of A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords the PCs fell victim to the Slave Lords: For months now they have been imprisoned in their dungeons — spellcasters tortured and kept from sleep to prevent them memorizing their spells; thieves denied their tools; and fighters denied their weapons. As the adventure begins they are dosed with more sleeping potions and then dumped into the cave system which runs through the nearby volcano.

The PCs must survive essentially by their wits alone in these caverns until, finally, the volcano erupts – destroying the city of Suderham beneath lava and an invasion of magmen. There is also a sligth chance at this point that the PCs might stumble onto the Water Dragon — the ship the Slave Lords are using to escape. If this happens, the PCs have the opportunity to defeat the Slave Lords once and for all. If not… well, who knows? They might bump into them in the next pub they stop at.

WEAKNESSES

There is only one problem with A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords, but it’s a biggie:

It doesn’t make any sense!

And I mean from page one, paragraph one. Keep the adventurers imprisoned for months? Why? Then knock them out again and dump then in volcanic tunnels? Why?

“Why?” is actually a very important question here, because it’s one I kept asking myself throughout the module. As another example: Why are there kobolds, myconids, giant ants, and magmen all living in close proximity to each other down here?

But the most baffling question of all is this: Why, after an epic, four-part adventure, was the decision made to deny the PCs an epic confrontation with the Slave Lords? These memorable villains, although drawn well on the page, are never truly pitted against the PCs as true masterminds and cunning opponents. Instead, the saga of Slavelords is allowed to die with a whimper at best – a complete anti-climax at worst.

STRENGTHS

About the only thing A4 has going for it is the titular concept: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. Stripped of their equipment and their most potent magical abilities, the PCs are asked to escape their imprisonment, re-establish a power base, and strike a final, definitive blow against their would-be captors.

That’s a pretty cool idea. But there’s so very little of it to be found on the page here. The dramatic escape is, instead, rendered as absolute, incomprehensible stupidity on the part of the villains. The volcano’s eruption, a potentially brilliant and epic complication for the final act, is instead used as a tool for anti-climax. The final confrontation with the Slave Lords – a battle which should live in the memories of the players forever – is reduced to a whimpering formality, if it happens at all.

CONCLUSION

A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords is not worth your time. Buy A1-3, but skip this one: You’ll be much better off ignoring everything except the high-level concept of A4 (which you can safely glean from this review) and crafting your own ending to this epic.

Style: 2
Substance: 2

Author: Lawrence Schick
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Price: $4.99
ISBN: 0-935696-28-8
Product Code: TSR9042
Pages: 32
Year Published: 1981

Arguably a great concept for a tournament scenario, but a terrible railroad in any other context. And the execution on this one really is quite lackluster. The A-series is well remembered in any case, but I think it would be even more highly placed in the pantheon of D&D adventures if it had managed to even marginally nail the landing.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.