Brimstone & The Borderhounds – A Cold Day in Hell by Jason Vey is a role playing game supplement published by Troll Lord Games. This is a complete role playing game with introductory adventure powered by the Siege Engine and, as such, is covered by the Open Game License with some parts considered to be Open Game Content as a result. The supplement is based on the comic Brimstone & The Borderhounds.
The supplement is available for free from DriveThruRPG as a 27-page PDF. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one the front matter, one the Table of Contents and half a page the Open Game License.
The Brimstone and the Borderhounds Universe starts with some introductory prose; the afterlives are not what you think. Corporations run them and they compete for the most valuable thing around – human souls – and you’re in Hell, run by the Architect. Background information, on Hell, the Wastelands, demons, technology and the multiverse, together with some suggested campaign ideas, follow. Amazing Adventures is recommended for examples of character types that can be used.
Introductory Adventure: A Cold Day in Hell is what it says. The characters start off being framed for a crime they didn’t commit and will get captured – and this is practically forced. They will need to recover a kidnapped soul in order to clear their names, though it’s not that simple. Interspersed with the adventure are explanations as to how the rules work. The adventure is in four acts.
Appendix: The Rogues Gallery has details of some important NPCs, ones who likely mean more to those familiar with the comic. There are also details on various Houses of Hell.
Appendix 2: Sample Characters has six pre-generated characters to use.
Appendix 3: Magic and Forza Infernis explains how the magic system and gadgets work.
Brimstone & The Borderhounds – A Cold Day in Hell in Review
The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of depth and is also hyperlinked. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column colour format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of full colour pieces of art although, given that this is based on a comic, they are likely comic art reused rather than being custom. Presentation is good.
This game will probably work best for those familiar with the comic. For anyone who isn’t, it may not work as well. Background is given, and there’s a reasonable amount, but this is a short supplement. It is a game in a book, though, but one that lacks any other supporting material. Perhaps fans would find it easy to create new adventures based on canon material; those unfamiliar with the setting will likely find this more difficult.
The adventure does explain how things work as they are introduced, which is useful. The starting point is poor, though; the characters participate in a battle that they have to lose. Given that this is intended to be a starting adventure, it would make more sense to start it after the characters have already lost and been captured, rather than railroad them into defeat. This looks like it might be a decent introduction, but it lacks material and will make less sense to those who are not fans. Brimstone & The Borderhounds – A Cold Day in Hell can be downloaded for free by clicking here.
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