First Impressions - City of the Red Pox - Troika! (ZineQuest 3)

 

The City of Red Pox - first in a series...

The City of Red Pox is a 40-page zine for Troika! which was kickstarted as part of the ZineQuest 3 campaign. The PDF has arrived, so let's dive in!

Written by Benjamin Wenham, and illustrated with old artworks, The City of the Red Pox riffs heavily on Renaissance Venice, the King in Yellow and the Mask of the Red Death. Set in the Serene Republic of Antar, the city-state is filled with rumours of a new and deadly plague, il Vaiolosa Rossa, and noble houses, merchant rivals continue vendettas that have stretched generations in the sultry heat of the summer. Meanwhile, the Princess in Yellow Silks assaults reality from outside the Million Spheres.

Yes, it's picking up on memes and themes that gamers are going to be familiar with, but that is a strength. Troika! is designed to be a game where you discover parts of the setting through play and this gives strong anchors to build from.

The zine opens with a six new backgrounds; the Charonite Guilder (a gondola driver and funeral director), a Widow of the Veil (fortune teller), an Initiate of the Hook (martial artist and stevedore), the Prescient Artist (a fighter in the war of influence), a Washed-up Blacksash (a member of the guard killed by his fellows and left for dead in a canal), and a Once-trusted Butcher (now cast out, you used to prepare food and recruit networks for a merchant house). They're all flavoursome and different; however, Antar is part of the Million Spheres so you could use any other background if you wanted.

There are seven pages of enemies to encounter, ranging from the Blacksash guards to terrifying Stygian Wasps, or the feared King's Boatmen who deliver notice of vendetta or worse, to the Judges of the Black Chamber who interview citizens for evidence of corruption, then hang them from the Arpellijo bridge, their tongues cut out for sedition and the spread of immoral ideas. They are aided in this arduous task by the Stone Watchers, animate sphinx statues who will share secrets.

Plot ideas and background are presented in random tables, each linked to a theme and a person, such Viari Lingardi, the leader of the lamplighters and a man in demand to provide protection or assassination. Business is hectic, and he often needs freelance help. Perhaps he will need them in the case of Sabarek Tuo, a refuge who has recently arrived? Or maybe Don Anaranto Dagoni needs some assistance in a matter of politics?

The zine rounds out with seven new spells, which tie back to the backgrounds and are very thematic. The spell Cassandra reveals a victim's scandals or their future. You can cast Unmask to force someone to remove their mask or suffer much pain. The Kissing Pox causes excruciating pustules to erupt on a victim, and can only be stopped by kissing them or when their body finally fights it off.

Overall, this is a great taster of the setting, and I will get the next zine when it comes out in the summer. Good stuff.

Available on DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/349306/The-City-of-the-Red-Pox

28 March 2021