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At first sight, you might want to categorise "Beneath the Sunken Catacombs" (BtSC) as just another "White Box Fantasy Medieval Adventure Game" (WBFMAG) derivative, but this would be selling the game short.
It is clearly not a retro-clone and does not claim to be one. Reading it carefully, you will indeed see the WBFMAG influence, all along. But there is so much more to it, and this review is about highlighting the extra rules that makes this game so appealing.
HERE ARE MY FAVOURITE ADDITIONS FROM BtSC
1. Based on "White Box Fantasy Medieval Adventure Game"
First of all, WBFMAG is a great base for an OSR inspired game. It is minimal, but offers most of what you need to run a game quickly. As such, "Beneath the Sunken Catacombs" is not that much longer than WBFMAG (143 pages vs 151). Easy to read, easy to run. It is all the things you love from WBFMAG (requires D6 and D20 only, single saving throw, simple progression, D6 skills, treasure for XP, hirelings, henchmen, etc.) In addition, there are a few welcome additions (such as attributes tests, replacing the weird Elf class,etc.) that make your life easier.
2. Every class comes with 4 subclasses
All classes' abilities are named. Creating a subclass is just a matter of replacing some class abilities (usually 1 or 2) by others. Since most class abilities are acquired at level 1, this is a straightforward process. For example, a basic Elf uses the arcane spell list. You want to play an Elf Priest, just swap the arcane spell list for the divine list. That's it.
This adds tons of options (you go from 7 classes to 28 classes in a jiffy), without adding too much complexity. This is great, and really expands the kind of characters you can play in the game.
3. Overcharging spells
Arcane casters (not divine ones), have the ability to sacrifice spell slots in order to boost effects of some of their spells. For example, Magic Missile (level 1 spell) does usually 1D6+1 damage. A sorcerer can sacrifice a level 1 spell slot to overcharge it and gain the ability to shoot 3 missiles instead of 1.
I like the idea a lot.
4. Equipment is managed with "Bulk"
This is fairly easy to manage. It doesn't require heavy tracking (like when you track precisely the weight carried by characters). Every character can carry 10 bulk, and each item occupies a certain amount of bulk. Yes, if you are wearing heavy armor, you will probably need someone to carry the rest of your gear.
5. Rules for downtime activities
Explicit rules on how to spend your hard earned gold and silver pieces. During downtime, you have access to various activities (at cost) such as brewing potions, scribing scrolls, training (you are converting your pieces into extra XP), etc. See also West March time for downtime (below).
6. Option: creative combat
This is a great addition. It is a set of optional rules to handle a player's creativity during combat (throw sands in the eye, low-blow, etc.) Hopefully your players won't abuse it. Once again, it provides a lot of options for the players without adding too much complexity to the game.
7. Option: a mini setting named "Against the Empire"
This setting is very brief (only 2 pages) but comes with 4 new specific classes (that you can use outside of the setting if you want) such as Beastman, Troglodyte, Mutant and Orc.
This is not very deep, but this is still better than most other OSR (who only provides rules). In addition, more player options, I love it.
THINGS YOU NEED TO BE AWARE
1. Silver based economy
This is an interesting design choice. On the one hand, It kind of makes sense because having people carry around loads of gold pieces is not very realistic. On the other hand, it means that using supplements or scenarios written for other games will require some conversion. This is a bit annoying in itself, and guidelines to do the conversion would be welcome.
2. West March time for downtime
The rules assume that the time available for downtime matches the time between sessions (West Marches style). This is important because it should limit what the players can do during downtime (avoid players having access to unlimited number of potions or scrolls).
3. The Arcane spell list is different
The arcane spell list has a lot of offensive spells and fewer utility spells than I am use to. Some of the spells you are use to will not be available (Fly), or have a different level (Sleep) or have different effect (Fireball). Again, if you are using a supplement or a scenario for a different system, you will have to do some kind of conversion.
THINGS THAT ARE FUN TO HAVE (BUT NOT CRITICAL)
1. Art is good and homogeneous
All art pieces seem to have been done by the same artist, which gives the book a good cohesion. It is not the traditional line art you can find in most OSR games, but it is quite good.
2. Rules for uncommon items, uncommon expendables
This is great to have that included in the core rules. You can totally ignore it, but again it provides interesting options for the players and the game master.
3. Reasonable rules for Death and Bandaging
At 0 HP, you are unconscious. At minus your level, you are dead. After a fight, you can use bandages to recover a few HP that you have just lost (great when you don't want to hand over tons of health potions).
4. Option: run 0-level characters (strongly influenced by "Dungeon Crawl Classics")
Some people have fun with this. This is certainly a great way to start a campaign, but it is not a strong requirement.
5. Random Encounters Ideas & Sample (dungeon, overland, town)
Like the setting, it is not critical, but it is a welcome addition. Good when you need to improvise something quickly.
THINGS THAT MAY NEED REWORKING (IMHO)
1. Spell lists are not sorted
This is a bit of a pain. Thankfully the lists are not long. Nevertheless, it should be in alphabetical order.
2. Too many direct damage spells in the Arcane spell list
The arcane spell list provides the sorcerer with many ways to do direct damage/neutralise/kill opponents. I am not sure we need so many of them. Yes, BX, 5E contains lots of spells that are suboptimal, but usually can be used in a creative way (which is the OSR way).
- Burning Bomb (lvl 1, Fire damage, Fire damage + 2D6 overcharged)
- Magic Missile (lvl 1, 1D6 direct damage, 3x 1D6 overcharged)
- Paralysing Touch (lvl1, ST or be paralyzed for 2d6 rd)
- Frost Bolts (lvl 2, 2x 2D6 direct damage, 5x 2D6 overcharged)
- Confusion (lvl 2, ST or attack randomly for 1 min)
- Charm Person (lvl 3, ST or become a "friend" for hours)
- Drain life (lvl3, ST or 3D6 damage, 3x 3D6 overcharged)
- Fireball (lvl 3, 3D6 direct damage in cone, 6D6 overcharged)
- Lightning Bolts (lvl 3, 3D6 direct damage in line, 6D6 overcharged)
- Sleep (lvl 3, ST or sleep for creatures up to 4HD in 10')
- Polymorph (lvl4, ST or become a slug)
- Poisoning (lvl4, ST or die in 1D6 rd, 10' radius overcharged)
- Spectral Assassin (lvl5, ST or die)
- Turn to stone (lvl5, ST or be a statue)
- Meteor Shower (lvl5, 5D6 area damage, 10D6 overcharged)
3. Sorcerer might be slightly overpowered
In a earlier version of this review, I had the feeling that the Sorcerer was overpowered compared to a regular Magic-User (in WBFMAG, OSE, etc.). Fact is that the author of Beneath the Sunken Catacombs has done a fine job of reworking and changing the power levels of many spells that you are familiar with. With the overcharging mechanism, some feels better (arguably, Magic Missile is better because with an overcharged spell you can easily nuke a 3HD creature straight from level 1) and others are worst (the Sleep spell is now a level 3 spell, Fireball does 3d6 damage when you get it at level 5 or 6d6 overcharged, it is no longer tied to the caster level). It is true that the Sorcerer get many more spell slots than the Magic-User in WBFMAG, but keep in mind the spells are different even though they have the same name (Sleep, Fireball, etc.).
One small issue with the arcane spell casters is that they can easily scribe scrolls (at a cost in silver pieces). This means that a sorcerer should be able to cast any of his spells during an adventure as long as he has taken some time (during downtime) to scribe scrolls for his non combat spells. That's a pretty big advantage compared to a Magic-User in WBFMAG (no rules for scribing scrolls), OSE (officially you need to be at least level 9 to be able to create a magic item) or the Holmes method (cost 100 gp and 1 week time per spell level).
CONCLUSION
Is Beneath the Sunken Catacombs the perfect game? No it isn't, but for a 150 pages game, it packs a punch. It has some shortcomings, but nothing that can be ironed out with a bit of elbow grease. If you are looking for a WBFMAG alternative or compatible game with a lot more options that do not add much complexity, then I invite you to try BtSC, it might just be the right game for you.
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