A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Six Packed

Six Packed by Paolo F. Bongiovanni is a role playing game supplement published by Pelgrane Press for use with The Esoterrorists and GUMSHOE.

The supplement is available as a 25-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $3.95 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. One page is the front cover, one the front matter and one the Contents.

The Introduction explains that this is a fast-paced adventure, in which Esoterrorists are attempting to derail the Northern Island peace process. The characters need to be in London and one should be a UK law enforcement officer. The adventure can be expanded from one session to two or three, and it explains which skills are needed and how the book is set up.

Backstory has the investigative trigger being a mass-murder on a London slaughterhouse. The conspiracy involves two members of the Ulster Loyalist Defence Force, who have previously attempted to derail the peace process by killing the son of an IRA leader. One lost faith in the cause; the other was approached by a Scottish stand-alone Esoterrorist and they sacrificed the one with cold feet and a bunch of children to summon terror dogs, which they plan to release at a conference.

A flowchart shows the sequence of events, with brief overviews of what is discovered. The first scene is described as being gruesome, and this should be heeded.

Scenes has the various scenes for the adventure. The characters are briefed by Mr Verity, then go to the slaughterhouse, where 20 children and one man were killed; overall, as stated, unpleasant. There’s a simple layout map of the place. The characters can then proceed to the other locations, following clues, with an optional action scene. The adventure climaxes with a showdown at the hotel where the conference is being held, again with a simple map. Torture Dog gives the details and game stats of this Outer Dark entity, and the final scene wraps things up.

Appendix explains that the adventure is based on Ian Rankin‘s Mortal Causes, linking to the Wikipedia page.

Six Packed in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough that these would have been helpful. The Contents is reasonably thorough. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be free of errors, though one page was left almost completely blank for no apparent reason. Bar the simplistic maps, there is a single piece of colour stock art and a single piece of black and white. Presentation is adequate.

This is a very linear adventure. It is definitely lacking in side adventures and as stands the only thing that can be altered is slowing the pacing down. It might work well as an introductory adventure to The Esoterrorists but not far more experienced groups. There’s also the problem that the political situation for the adventure is now extremely dated and makes little if any sense if played in the present day. Six Packed is a cheap but flawed adventure and it can be found by clicking here.