Review: Molten Sulfur Press – Making History


Making History
Making History is a collection of historically-based role-playing adventures, written by Tristan Zimmerman and published by Molten Sulfur Press.
By Aaron T. Huss

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Making History is a collection of three historically-based adventures placed in three distinct periods and three completely different locations. Each one is powered by a unique set of mechanics that is inherently the same from one game to another. They are inherently the same because they use the same basic d10 resolution, but then the mechanics are further tailored toward that specific adventure. That means you can literally grab nothing but the adventure and a group of friends and play an entire game. Grab some dice, paper, and pencils too.

The three adventures within Making History cover multiple settings. The first adventure is a Scandinavian adventure set in the Viking Age where the characters hail from Normandy. The adventure includes pre-generated characters, a collection of NPCs, all the information a GM needs, and of course the mechanics used to run the adventure. These mechanics have an added sense of faith as a means of measuring the traditional Scandinavian beliefs against the Norman Christian beliefs (although religion is not the root of the adventure). The adventure itself is very straightforward with little room for altering its scope and is more of a game of social interaction and how you handle it. The direction the adventure takes is not as important as the interactions the PCs have with the NPCs.

The second adventure is a North American adventure set in the indigenous city of Cahokia. The adventure also includes pre-generated characters, NPCs, all the information, and mechanics similar in resolution to the first adventure, but with its own uniqueness to match the setting. The adventure is a combination of investigation and medieval politics (not like boring politics, but like societal politics). Due to the lack of available information related to the Cahokia society, much of this adventure is speculative fiction mixed with a bit of the fantastic. The adventure is more about finding clues and solving the case in an ages-old setting, like an investigator would nowadays. It’s an awkward combination, but it works.

The third adventure is set in modern times, but without a defined decade. It is effectively an action horror adventure with a bit of weird thrown in for flavor. This adventure is definitely the most flexible of them all as it is presented as a location like many horror adventures in other RPGs, allowing the PCs to explore the location and the orders of encounters, conflicts, and discoveries being based solely upon their decisions. It too contains pre-generated characters, NPCs, and everything the GM needs.

I love history; it is filled with natural elements of horror and action without many changes needed (as in, you don’t have to get all fantasy-like with history). People believed in so many horrific and fantastical things that all you need to do is capture those beliefs and exploit them. Making History does just that and even provides you the mechanics to play the adventures. All you need is this book and a d10 for everyone and you’re off and running. It’s quite the unique product and it looks great! I love it when publishers go off on a limb and try something different.

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