A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Operation Unfathomable

Operation Unfathomable by Jason Sholtis is a role playing game supplement published by Hydra Cooperative for use with Swords & Wizardry. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is an adventure for 1st level characters.

The supplement is available as a PDF from RPGNow at the regular price of $12 but was purchased at the reduced price of $4.80 due to an offer. It is also available as a softcover print on demand book for $20 or both PDF and printed book for $20. The PDF version is the one reviewed. Also available are the Operation Unfathomable Player’s Guide for $4 for the PDF, $6 for the print on demand book or $6 for both, and the free Operation Unfathomable Map & Character Sheet. The PDF is 110 pages, with two pages being the front and rear covers, four pages being the front matter, with three pages of these being illustrations, one page being the Contents, followed by another full page illustration and one page being the Open Game License, which is preceded by another full page illustration.

The Introduction starts with a single page on using the book, the systems it is suited for – which is most OSR systems – a note on the, extensive, use of random tables in the adventure and how detect evil and similar are actually changed to detect chaos. In the author’s campaign, the gods of clerics do not actually exist and clerics are essentially a type of magic user.

The Operation continues the Introduction and is another single page and starts with the hook. The characters are 1st level and have arrived at an outpost of the Murian empire. One of the Sorcerer-King’s sons stole an artefact and entered the Underworld. The characters are drafted to retrieve the stolen magical artefact, the Nul Rod. There is also a d20 table of rumours that the characters can pick up at the outpost, Fort Enterprise.

DM Advice and Procedures is slightly more than one page and has advice on running the adventure, the encounter tables, why players should generate two 1st level characters, and the endgame, including what to do if the characters go off the map. A Player’s Map of the Underworld is in this section but reproduced later.

The Players’ Introduction gives some player background, some, actually quite potent, free equipment for the characters (they are 1st level; they’re going to need it) and their guide.

Start is a single page and has the party travel to the entrance to the Underworld. There are no encounters listed here – if Odious Uplands is published, this will have some – and the characters can also hear some, possibly false, tales from their guide, Oothu.

Conditions in the Underworld starts with the lighting – it’s actually illuminated by ambient light and using light sources actually decreases vision and highlights the position of those using them – and the ambient chaos. There is a d12 table of the effects of prolonged exposure to the Underworld. This section also has Major Regional Underworld Factions and their Relationships, which details the five major factions that characters will probably encounter, including the primary foe, Shaggath-Ka the Worm Sultan and his cult. If the characters directly attack this Chaos Godling, they are going to die. In fact, if they try and kill him at all, they will probably fail. There is also a note on languages – most speak Underworld Common which is pretty similar to normal Common – the two primary thoroughfares in the area and other, smaller, passages and caves.

Encounters & Other Random Weirdness is an important collection of random tables. A Master Event table determines which sub-tables to roll on. These sub-tables have phenomena, monsters and sentient and possibly competing creatures. Each is detailed, many are potentially lethal and quite a few are relevant to various locations.

A double page map of the underworld is next, showing the various fixed encounters.

The DM’s Map covers the various encounters. Some of these have written labels on the map; these are encounters that occur in multiple locations and which are generally similar, although many also have more random tables for different results. Next are the various different encounters, 22 in all, which includes one described as a mini-dungeon, the Local Franchise Temple of Nul.

Appendix A: A Brief History of Chaos, the Underworld & the Genocide Beetles is a single page. Much of the Underworld was dominated by the Beetle civilisation, who created many other races and eventually killed themselves.

Appendix B: On the Cult of the Mindless God is an in-universe discussion of the Cult of Nul, a god who supposedly decapitated himself.

Appendix C: Complimentary Hirelings is a single page and has four potential hirelings.

Appendix D: My Character Died! has a d8 table of ways in which a new character can appear.

Appendix E: Underworld Ranger Class has details on this new character class.

Appendix F: Monsters, Treasures & Spells starts with a collection of new monsters, almost all of which are illustrated. There are new magic items, including the red and blue pills (probably a Matrix reference) used to counteract the effects of Chaos, some rather weird potions and a couple of lightning weapons used by Underworld Rangers. Finally, there are some new spells.

Appendix G: Pregenerated Characters has ten characters, with some brief details on them, which could also be another party.

The final two pages of content have a map of a portion of the Underworld – the area detailed in this adventure is only a small fragment of it – and a player’s map handout.

Operation Unfathomable in Review

The PDF is well bookmarked, with major sections down to individual areas, items, spells and monsters. The Contents only covers the major sections and subsections. Navigation is very good. The text maintains a two column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a variety of black and white illustrations, up to a two page spread in size, all of which appear to be custom and relevant to the associated text. Presentation is excellent. There are also comments through the supplement from Bardolph the Beer Hound, the only survivor of the original party in the author’s campaign. These are relevant to the associated text.

This is a lethal adventure, even for an OSR dungeon crawl, but it is stated to be so. The original adventure on which the campaign is based was a convention game, a type of adventure that tends to be less concerned with character survival. The characters can encounter many creatures who are much more powerful than them, as they are only 1st level at the beginning, and there are more than a few “save or die” results to avoid, plus some that are almost as bad although perhaps not outright fatal.

There is a combined element of humour and weirdness throughout. The new magic tends to be rather unique, the monsters are often weird if dangerous and there are also technological elements in the adventure. This isn’t quite weird fantasy but it’s certainly not normal fantasy. Perhaps highly lethal weird humorous fantasy.

There are repeated references to the second adventure in the campaign, Odious Uplands, but, at the time of writing, this had still not been published. The area covered is only a part of the Underworld, and it would be easy for players to go off-map – including, at one point, to a space station university in the future – which could cause problems if the GM is not prepared for such.

This is an interesting, weird, sometimes funny and downright lethal dungeon crawl that is recommended for OSR gamers. Those familiar with the balanced and level appropriate encounters seen in such as D&D 3.x/Pathfinder will probably get a nasty shock if they play this adventure assuming that it is balanced – because it definitely isn’t. Players will need to play smart and not bite off more than they can chew. Operation Unfathomable can be found by clicking here.