Pyramid Review
Crouching Wizard, Smashing Hammer (for Rune RPG)
Published by Atlas Games
Written by Chris Aylott
Illustrated by Scott Reeves & Human Head Studios
32-page saddle stitched soft cover; $5.00
Let me begin by saying that Crouching Wizard, Smashing Hammer is a great title. Not quite as good as Marcus L. Rowland's Call of Cthulhu scenario, On the Trail of the Loathsome Slime, but inspired nonetheless. It is, in fact, the first release for Atlas Games' Viking roleplaying game, Rune. Based upon the computer game of the same name from Human Head Studios and designed by Robin D. Laws, Rune put many concepts -- like competitive play, points scoring, and sessions having a winner -- back into roleplaying after years of games telling you to take them out.
Actually, Crouching Wizard, Smashing Hammer is the first scenario for Rune and comes in rather an odd format, or rather an odd format for an adventure that is not for Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition. It makes use of the format pioneered by AEG for their Adventure Booster series. Using this format means that Atlas Games have kept the price down and have very much made Crouching Wizard, Smashing Hammer into an impulse purchase. In fact, the adventure is double the length of the standard d20 Adventure Booster at 32-pages and is still more than reasonably priced at that length.
Crouching Wizard, Smashing Hammer adheres to the big, bold style and layout as seen in the adventure provided in the Rune rulebook "The Stolen Rune." It is well . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: September 14, 2001
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