Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland by Graeme Davis is a role playing game supplement published by Free League Publishing for use with Vaesen. The supplement adds new options related to the British Isles for Vaesen.
The supplement is available as a PDF from DriveThruRPG for $21.99 or in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a reduced price during a sale. The PDEF has 164 pages with two being the front and back covers, four the inside covers, two the front matter, one the Contents and one the Index.
The Preface talks about the author’s involvement in writing for role playing games and a desire to write about the mythical creatures of the British Isles.
Chapter 1: Mythic Britain and Ireland starts with a map of the British Isles and some paragraphs explaining what is covered in the chapter. It looks at the four nations that make up the United Kingdom, with brief overviews of each, and potential conflicts in society. Sidebars explain that this isn’t intended to be historically accurate, instead combining history with popular imagery, fey, changing times and currency. It then looks at life in the newly-industrialised cities, with a sidebar covering an optional social class and another human monsters like Jack the Ripper. Various important cities are briefly covered, with examples of mythological sites for each, a brief look at rural life and then another, more in-depth, look at London, with more sites of interest. London has a map and there’s a list of NPC stats for various professions. A number of famous individuals the characters might encounter are listed, some from history, some from fiction, followed by details on various real societies and groups, more mysterious sites around the country, various parallel worlds, fey-related sites and encounters and the dangers of such.
Chapter 2: The Society starts with the history of the organisation in Britain, which dates back to John Dee and the time of Queen Elizabeth I, and the role of William Stukeley. The operations and politics of the organisation, its headquarters, Rose House, and the butler, Hawkins, whose precise origins are defined by the GM, are briefly looked at. Finally, there are three new archetypes, along with a list of popular sports in Britain at the time. The archetypes follow the same format as those in the core book; both new and old archetypes can be used freely in both settings.
Chapter 3: Supernatural Creatures has a selection of supernatural creatures from the British Isles. It starts with notes on various abilities specific to the folklore of the islands, about invisibility, partial invulnerabilities, separable souls, impossible tasks and challenges, favours and forfeits, before moving onto the creatures themselves. These are laid out in the same way as in the core book, with flavour text, a description, stats, ritual, secrets and adventure hooks, and in some cases variants. At the end of the chapter are examples of existing vaesen that could be found in the British Isles, along with some suggestions as to adapting them.
Chapter 4: Old Meg is the first of three mysteries. Set in Gloucestershire, although like all three adventures there are tips on moving it to the Mythic North, it sees the characters dealing with a witch who has been made to live again.
Chapter 5: The Llantywyll Incident sees the characters deal with a collapse in a mine after a new priest annoyed the local spirits.
Chapter 6: The Hampstead Group sees the characters looking for someone who went missing after being part of an artists’ colony.
Handouts has handouts for all three adventures.
The Appendix has an expanded profession table and new life event tables.
The Bibliography has primarily books with some games and online resources for the period and the mythology.
Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland in Review
The PDF is bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Contents is to less depth and is hyperlinked. The Index is to a reasonable level of detail. Navigation is good. There are a variety of illustrations and maps, some in full colour, such as for every vaesen, whilst others are more limited in colour or in black and white. Presentation is good.
One note on the “handwritten” text at the beginning of the chapters as well as in other places such as descriptions of vaesen is that it isn’t the easiest to read. Another important fact is that this is an expansion to the existing game, not a game in its own right; the Vaesen rulebook will be needed in addition to this one.
Essentially, this supplement is what it appears to be; an expansion to the world of Vaesen by adding some of the mythology of the British Isles, along with new options for characters related to the United Kingdom, with some background detail on the country and London. The background detail isn’t that thorough but, as that is essentially real-world material, it isn’t that hard to find. Perhaps it would have been better, though, to have fewer mysteries and more vaesen and mythology-related background, but that could be personal choice. Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland is a useful addition to the game and it can be found by clicking here.
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