OK, this book is bold as hell. Old Ones (1984), the second book in the Palladium Role-Playing Game line and already going for the Cthulhu monsters. Right there on the cover! A shapeless horror! Imagine what kind of RPG would do that. Because, actually, the Palladium Role-Playing Game doesn’t, really. This isn’t an entire book dedicated to the Old Ones. It isn’t even sorta dedicated to cosmic horrors.

Instead, it opens with two new classes: the Monk and the Illusionist. Then, over 120 pages (of a 210 page book), we get the Kingdom of Timiro: a brief history, eight cities, 25 towns and 21 forts. This is followed by eight scenarios, at least two of which, admittedly, do visit places built or once inhabited by Old Ones. The source material for the Old Ones is the very last thing in the book, begins on page 208, is padded out by a full-page illustrations on 209, and fills most of 210. Like I said, bold.

That said, this is good stuff, actually. A little too much (I don’t think I’ve used more than three forts in my entire D&D career?) but still, there are tons of raw material here for a GM to plunder. I don’t think any of the adventures are particularly noteworthy, but again, the dungeon complexes are solid and stealable. ¶ Nice art throughout all by Michael Kucharski, who I don’t know beyond his Palladium work. Kevin Siembieda did the cover, and its pretty good despite the lack of Old Ones inside.