[Review] Comes Chaos (B/X); Console Port

[Sourcebook]
Comes Chaos (2019)
Jonathan Becker (Running Beagle Games)

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I’ve been into Warhammer since I was young. Not the miniatures game, two-dozen of which are collecting dust somewhere in a nook of some long-forgotten cabinet drawer, but the universe. My teenage mind was set on fire at the sight of mile-high cathedrals, horrifically transmogrified Beastmen, eerie Eldar Wraith Knights, hulking warriors of Chaos and towering Bloodthirsters and was soon carted off to war-torn planets transmogrified by the corrupting power of primordial chaos. For years and years I’d read every 40k novel that came out (too many!), and occasionally picked up some fantasy ones too. I ran the Dark Heresy rpg for 3.5 years, terrific game (after Errata), rich universe, an infinite wellspring of potential to tap from. The Old Warhammer Fantasy I’ve studied extensively and somewhere in the hind-brain ambitions of running the Enemy Within campaign fester until they must lead to drastic action. Warhammer has had its inexorable impact on my imagination.

Mr. Jonathan ‘I offer my formal objections’ Becker, an occasional commenter, longtime GM and OSR blogger, has called upon me to investigate and judge his creation, a B/X adaptation of the hideous concept of Primordial Chaos and all of its associated trappings in the vein of the legendary Realms of Chaos duology which has lamentably never been reprinted. I accepted immediately.

This is an interesting challenge because the assumptions of B/X and WFRPG, while removed only by one degree in terms of them tapping from the fount of Appendix N, function under different assumptions. The power curve is not the same, the implied world of B/X has characters increase in power to meteoric heights, capable of facing hosts of giants, the greatest dragons and the mightiest undead. WHFRPG was always a bit grittier, you started off lower, it’s heroes were more vulnerable (hit point/wound increase was much slower), its advancement was capped, it’s supernatural monsters more ferocious and indeed its most daunting opponents were almost beyond the ability of characters of any level. In B/X there are almost no limits to what you can eventually overcome, it is quintessentially heroic. In WHFRPG, you feel like you are always facing insurmountable foes, and any victory is temporary. The lovecraftian paradigm is crossbred with Hell. You are fighting the legions of Mega-Hell.

Of all the books that have come out over the years Becker could have picked as inspiration the sublime Realms of Chaos is a fine choice, as its vision of what Chaos is is rawest, the least diminished by decades of continuity, fashion and editorial meddling and in addition it is out of print and will be for the coming future, on account of being too good and too awesome. His supplement does not attempt to emulate the stirring metal-album-cover prose, blood-splattered visions and transcendent art [1] but more or less assumes we are familiar with the subject matter and instead focuses on adapting from that ancient tome the good stuff and integrating it into the framework of B/X. In this I would say he is quite succesfull.

I believe mr. Becker once expressed frustration at lacking something of the creative faculties of the likes of Patrick Stuart or Unbalanced Dice Games, for which I berated him, stating that he had other faculties which he could put to good use. Thoroughness, a deep knowledge of the game, and a good work ethic are exactly what is needed for an adaptation like this one and they are on show here. While I was reading I kept looking for crucial areas of the game that had been omitted and I could find little. The prose is serviceable, the critical components of each section have been transplanted and properly converted and the whole still retains echoes of the overwhelming cosmic menace of its donor.

Now then, onto specifics. Alignment is the first (obvious) thing to tackle and Comes Chaos makes more or less the correct choice. The Law/Chaos paradigm is connected to Primordial Chaos by way of the Chaotic alignment but the two are not synonymous. Chaotic humans do not automatically serve Chaos i.e. inhuman, soul-destroying mega-evil, but all servants of Chaos are Chaotic. You get your four powers of Chaos, with the serial numbers tastefully filed off but otherwise left more or less as is. There is no attempt to disguise the influence, and the back of the book humbly acknowledges every source.

Now then. The first interesting choice is that the book recommends you start off at level 3, to compensate for the Book’s relatively powerful enemy roster, increased violence, more deadly magic etc. etc. You also roll 4d6 discard lowest as par for the course. This might represent a missed opportunity of more (funnel) adventures in the vein of Nathan Long’s Blackhearts, where 8 guys barely take down two Chaos Marauders, but I understand why it was done. The equipment pixel-bitching of the earlier levels is similarly bypassed, you start off with any mundane equipment you want to a maximum of 2000 gp, and a magic item to boot and into the Wasteland we go!

Classes are modified to fit the theme of Chaos v. Law and to warhammer them up a bit. The cleric is the most major deviation, explicitly serving the Lawful gods (even the Chaotic clerics still pay homage to the gods, not to Chaos), must learn their spells via research or scrolls like wizards, are restricted to benevolent magic for the most part, and, perhaps more importantly, can turn Demons. It is here I will poo-poo a bit to find that the Demon Princes and Greater Demons of Chaos, arguably the most formidable creatures in existence, can be turned and even destroyed automatically by a high level cleric[2]? What rubbish! The Warhammer Greater Demon was always a damoclean sword, equivalent to a Tarrasque or Balor, something the GM held back to unleash upon arrogant players so they might experience the annihilating power of Chaos, not something that can be removed by spamming a single replenishable abillity.

That being said, the game also introduces the antagonist PC, the Champion of Chaos, a concept ported over from Realms of Chaos. The idea is that this is not a single class, but one drawn from the ranks of any other class, with a robust corruption mechanic bolted onto it. As soon as your character gets a number of Corruption points more then equal to his Wisdom Score, you are considered damned, with possible loss of class features (certainly in case of the cleric, who loses all class features) and can potentially become a Champion of Chaos (I see great potential for having fallen PCs return as antagonists). It serves as a template that can be grafted onto any class framework. The Champion of Chaos rolls on a table for favors and new followers every time they gain a level, accumulating followers, blessings, chaos artifacts and mutations, with a chance to gain either apotheosis or be reduced to a mindless, gibbering mutant horror every level depending on the number of favors/mutations [3].

Are the random tables any good? Yes. Yes they are good, as good as they were when they were in Realms of Chaos, with minor modifications (like a retinue of Slaves). It’s all the same good stuff; Chaos Armor that bonds with your flesh, daemon weapons, unholy strength, a coterie of daemoniac hunting beasts. The rewards for each Mark (the idea being that you ideally dedicate yourself to one of the four powers, though it is possible to be unaligned) have been trimmed from their Slaves to Darkness counterparts, reduced to a mere d12 and boosting the chance of getting yet another mutation. The selection of abilities is tasteful, and like in Comes Chaos, the utility of some ‘gifts’ is dubious or even detrimental. I am a bit miffed that the Mark of Khorne can no longer grant me a multi-melta gun with anti-gravity suspensors for easy carriage, but will grant that perhaps becoming a mutant hybrid of Flesh Hound and Champion, driven by an eternal bloodlust that is never satiated, is admittedly just as awesome as it was in the 80s, and to strut around with a howling daemon-blade, rune-carven armor fused to my skin, bright blue plumage covering each exposed inch of my monstrous bird visage is perhaps a boyhood dream that years of cynical adulthood have never managed to fully extirpate.

There are changes to spellcasting that do not neccesarily have their precedent in WHFRPG. The decision to make Priests learn their spells like Wizards puts them closer to their Hammery-equivalents. But then the decision to alter spellcasting so only 1 spell of the same type can be memorized at the same time (so no 2x C.L.W.) is based on the Wargame. No reversed spells for Clerics, Wizards have to learn both versions of a (reversible) spell. It all feels a little more stripped down, a bit less convenient, and provides an extra resource sink for Clerics, which is good because we are still doing Gold = XP.

A class variant makes its appearance, the Dark Sorcerer, meant to personify the archetype of the fallen Sorcerer, who has abandoned the carefully controlled systems of wielding magical energies, and instead taps deeply into the corrosive power of Chaos itself! You are restricted to a select few spells (including a unique bunch that should be intimately familiar to anyone who has ever played Warhammer); Touch people and fill them with excruciating bliss, kill entire warbands by vomiting a deluge of noxious filth, erect walls of mutating raw energy, and unleash various plagues of vermin and disease. Regular wizards wanting to get in on the action can elect to do so at the cost of a few corruption points. There are minor alterations to existing spells; A teleport mishap has the risk of horrifically mutating the caster. Mirror image is slightly stronger if the caster is a disciple of Tzeentch etc. etc.

There is a lot of ground covered in this 64 page supplement. The 1d100 mutation table is lovingly ported over from the original Realms and actually includes 100 choice bangers like flaming head, animal crossbreed, crystal body, strange blood and the enigmatic ‘Very Hairy.’ Some mutations have their own subtables, allowing you to generate a menagerie of circus freaks the likes of which the world has never seen. Conversions, where needed (such as the Strong mutation) are a bit off, as +3 S in B/X is not quite the same as the original, although presumably the plentiful sources of magical strength enhancement in this book and the greater game would throw off the curve somewhat. I liked the mixed blessing of some of the mutations, where they will grant you extra hit points but make it impossible to wear normal armor fe.

Warband followers is the first part that has been more heavily modified to fit the B/X framework and I would venture it succeeds fairly well. The idea is that each time a Champion of Chaos gains a level he attracts 0-2 bands of followers (reaction score included into the roll very good!) and the number of warbands is limited by the maximum number of followers. A single favored unit of followers ALSO gets a mutation every time you level up, Praise Chaos! The more chaosy entries like harpies, manticores, and minotaurs are supplemented with units of stinkin’ no good humanoids, lycanthropes, dark dwarves and elves, chaos warbands, undead and the odd Troll. As written, I suspect a Champion of Chaos game that lasts for any amount of time would turn into quite the fantasy skirmish wargame over time so I would have appreciated some method of handling the comparatively larger numbers of combatants. This is one area where I feel attention was warranted.

Some cure rules HAVE been spiced up a bit. Double XP for killing, tied initiative is always simultaneous (meaning you can kill eachother), encounter distance in the Chaos Wastelands is fucked so where monsters are and where they appear is screwey and missile fire (effeminiate, puny!) is given a penalty whilst hammering away at your foes with a mace the size and weight of a dorian column is unimpeded. There are some nice, more wargamey rules; (nonmagical) Weapons break on a 1-2, Holy water can be poured on demons, MUs can cast spells in Chaos Armor, AC is capped at -4, anyone who takes 25% damage is stunned for the next round (brutal!) and two-weapon fighting is allowed but means you roll damage for both weapons and take the superior. Lashes (3 gp! and very good) can be used to entangle your foes. A nice wound table so at 0 hp you have a chance to survive (save vs death with a penalty to excess damage VERY GOOD) but you will lose limbs, gain debilitating injuries and even suffer permanent statt loss. I feel that the GM should emit a constant infra-sonic growling while he is running this.

Bestiary let’s gooooo. All the classic demons from Realms have been ported. Plaguebearers, Flesh Hounds, Succubi, those ant-eater tit ostriches from Slaanesh, Horrors (that divide into smaller Horrors). Chaos Dwarves. Chaos Elves. Chaos Centaurs. Chaos department of the DMV employees! That last one is a joke. The greater demons seem a bit on the light side with HD ranges in the 9 until you see the minimum number of hp per dice, remember that AC is capped at -4, behold the number of attacks etc. etc. I am a bit miffed that the Greater Demon of Tzeentch is only a level 11 spellcaster but on the whole they would be about equivalent if not slightly stronger then a 0e or AD&D Balrog so I can dig it. Mutated undead and ghouls. Some of the numbers encountered seems low for the Chaos wastes; 1-8 cultists is fine for an indoors encounter but where are the 6d10 goblins, 5d8 halflings, 1d4 x10 bandits etc. etc.). It works for supplementing a warband but the Chaos wastes seem perilous, one would expect larger numbers of Marauders (or at least have a distinction between indoor/outdoor encounters).

Unholy Artifacts let’s goooo. The game makes an effective distinction between normal magic items as being the creations of mortal wizards and Chaos magic items as being forged on demonic altars by hellsmiths in the roaring maelstrom of Chaos and thus being beyond duplication. Their use confers immediate corruption points and they are found most frequently in the Chaos Wastes, but there is a chance to obtain them in any treasure hoard (so again, well integrated into the Framework of B/X).
Suprisingly extensive collection of Chaos magic items from the original sources. They feel like wargame items, tough, brutal, somewhat more powerful then their mundane counterparts. Beast helms that bite, mail of bone, shields of Chaos, rusting mail that infects any attacker with a hideous wasting disease. Swords that lower ability scores permanently (remove curse restores all but one point), daemon-bound weapons, weapons that cause wounds that keep bleeding, or destroy mortal magics with a hit. Swords that charm, or hit like a horn of blasting, or drain minds. Shrieking, mutating, burning hellswords. Red stones, cloaks of curses, brazen collars. Flasks of billious corruption. The armory of nightmare.

The rest is all campaign stuff and arguably the section that makes or breaks this sort of thing. It is a little like Realms of Crawling Chaos. The source material is familiar enough that you are not imparting any new knowledge, but how you integrate it into the framework of B/X is very important. In this case the corruption mechanic works well to provide a feeling of constantly mounting dread, as even being in proximity to a demon spreads the taint of Chaos, polluting the very soul. Remove curse and restoration, if cast immediately after the battle, can reduce the taint. Lawful alignment grants a proctection against certain chaos effects, but having more then half your wisdom in corruption points changes your alignment towards Chaos. Well done. Good mechanic. Item crafting has been made easier. Again well done. Good mechanic. References are made to firearms in the B/X companion, which is fair, and I would highly recommend it.

The campaign that is envisioned is a normal wilderness, with nodes of corruption, causing it to be turned into ‘highly dangerous’ Chaos Wasteland. There is a fixed rate at which this Chaos wasteland spreads (1 adjacent hex per month) and there are some ways to slow this spread (cities, villages and towns provide an area of protection). The idea is that you go into the Chaos wastes, foil attacks on settlements and go into the ruins of former cities, now Cities of Corruption or hideous lairs of monsters, to recover gold and powerful artifacts. I would have liked some Cleric spell or method of driving back the taint, even if it is only by destroying the source of the corruption, or by burning everything to the ground. Possibly by eking out settlements in the Perilous Wastes you can drive back the corruption? Although perhaps that is the point, that you are ultimately fighting the inevitable. Chaos is eternal, and we are but a momentary abberation, an ephemereal configuration of matter and intellect that can temporarily resist its baleful influence but is ultimately doomed to failure.

The Wasteland terrain type and its manifold encounter tables are very strong, perfectly integrated into the hexcrawl rules of B/X and woe to anyone who has to roll on the ‘unusual’ subtable. Some new person would fuck this up, make a d12 table and go, look ma, I made an adventure! Someone bothered to read the original game. D12 leading to various subtables, 6 of which are new, some of which are mutant versions of normal encounter tables and woe unto anyone who has to roll on the dreaded ‘Unusual’ subtable.

There is a new optional Witchhunter class, a nice treat for anyone seeking to inject yet more WHF into their B/X. A casterless cleric with some special abilities related to rooting out and finding chaos and the ability to use cleric scrolls. Go nuts.

As creme de la creme the book does go into detail about Champions of Chaos campaigns, provides specific XP rewards for each Mark and delves into the more Antagonistic nature of such games, where PvP is very much a possibility. The Ascenscion to Demon Lord (or more likely, a violent death!) would prove a natural capstone of such campaigns.

Last but not least we come to a somewhat uncomfortable portion of the review, this being the rather exorbitant price of the PDF version. It is currently discounted at a steep but fair 14 dollars, eminently reasonable, from the previously stratospheric 27 dollars American??? which is nearly identical to the print version which is available on mr. Becker’s blog. Were there gambling debts that needed coverage? Or was the cause Mr. Becker’s proclivities for the past-times of horse breeding, fine wines and loose women? Regardless, 14 dollars for the PDF is fair, 28 for the print might set you back a bit much, particularly considering shipping costs, but is still within acceptable parameters.

Long ass review, much to cover. The ultimate question with supplements like these is usually, ‘ can I see myself play this’ and the answer would be yes! It is a very solid work, covering a lot of ground. There is room for further elaboration (given the amount of ground this is no more to be expected) and there are the odd unsolved problem (how to handle large skirmishes would have been one to tackle) or questionable conversion (destroying greater demons with turn undead???) but these are minor blemishes on an overal sturdy conversion. Extra credit might be obtained covering material that is more obscure (I am reminded of the references to Malal in Zweihander) or including a sample adventure. An intelligent, robust take on the Immortal Horror of Chaos for B/X.

There are at least 2 good campaigns in this, with minimal drudgery required, although a hex map of some wilderness will have to be made up. A sample wilderness map for extremely lazy GMs might also have been a good addition. An idea for a sequel perhaps? Something in the vein of X10!

***

Get the PDF here.
Get the print version here.

[1] In a strange twist, the artist for Comes Chaos is none other then Kelvin Green, whose creations manage to capture the mutation, butchery and madness of the Realms of Chaos through a lens of wholesome cutesiness, creating an atmosphere that is best described as ‘Slaves to Darkness Munchkin.’
[2] Demon Princes do get a saving throw, a privilege that should have been extended to the Greater Demon surely?
[3] The percentage chance of gaining a mutation is unaltered since Realm of Chaos. 40% chance each level you will get a mutation (not always a beneficial one).