If you want to experience mysteries in Tales from the Loop, Our Friends the Machines is for you. This full color 104 page hardcover includes three complete adventures, eight short adventure locations based on classic 80s songs, four iconic machines from the world of the Loop including blueprints, and a guide to creating your own setting for the game, complete with the Norfolk Broads, a UK-based Loop.
Color art by Simon Stålenhag depicts the mundane world of the 80s juxtaposed with advanced machines and robots. Black and white portraits portray the NPCs. Detailed maps depict the adventure locations. Interior maps include a grid and size in meters. There are eighteen maps including the Norfolk Broads Loop, a three story home, a high school, and a mummy's den.
The adventures involve popular toy robots that want to take over the world, subliminal messages to make the "perfect town", and a mummy and dimensional monsters on the loose and raising havoc. These adventures are well laid out. The truth behind the mystery is explained, a way to introduce the kids (PCs) is given, and a way to introduce the mystery is included. To aid in running the adventures, a flow chart shows when certain events take place and what events might follow. Each mystery has a variety of interesting locations, detailed NPCs with art, and advice on how the mystery might be wrapped up. A countdown lists events in the order they happen.
Adventures are broken into scenes and locations. Each scene includes clues the kids might find, trouble that might find them, and sometimes random events that can happen when travelling between locations. The locations in each mystery are placed on maps for both Stenhamra in Sweden and Boulder City in the US. NPCs and locations are Swedish with American names in parenthesis for Loops taking place in Boulder City in the US.
Eight locations form a mix tap based on songs like Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper and Nighttrain by Guns N' Roses. The truth behind each location is revealed, hooks are provided, and a countdown of events details what happens when. The location on Michael Jackson's Thriller involves horror monsters going after people who watched a horror VHS tape.
Some mysteries are whimsical and challenging rather than frightening. Others veer into dark themes and real danger including facing a Satanist who believes that man should let go and embrace his animal urges, sexuality, and destructiveness. The adventures range from Scooby Doo mysteries to Stranger Things violence and terror.
Machines include the bipedal firefighting autonomous robots nicknamed the Fireguards. One of the three suggested adventures involving the Fireguards suggests having the Kids discover a plan by older teens to lure a robot to the high school and wreck it.
The book wraps with a guide to creating your own setting. Details cover creating the map, placing the Loop, and determining the agency that controls it. Norfolk Broads, a UK-based Loop, is used as an example. You could use the machines and maps in a Mutant: Year Zero or Coriolis game as well.
Our Friends the Machines embraces the 80s from the toys to the music to the satanic panic. The mysteries are deep, the NPCs multi-layered, and the town around the Loop full of danger and challenges. Experiencing the 80s that never were is even richer with these adventures and adventure ideas.
This article was contributed by Charles Dunwoody as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. Please note that Charles is a participant in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to DriveThruRPG. We are always on the lookout for freelance columnists! If you have a pitch, please contact us!
I received a complimentary copy of Our Friends the Machines to review. It is also available in PDF. Written by Free League, it was published in December 2017 and distributed by Modiphius. Here is my review of Tales from the Loop.Color art by Simon Stålenhag depicts the mundane world of the 80s juxtaposed with advanced machines and robots. Black and white portraits portray the NPCs. Detailed maps depict the adventure locations. Interior maps include a grid and size in meters. There are eighteen maps including the Norfolk Broads Loop, a three story home, a high school, and a mummy's den.
The adventures involve popular toy robots that want to take over the world, subliminal messages to make the "perfect town", and a mummy and dimensional monsters on the loose and raising havoc. These adventures are well laid out. The truth behind the mystery is explained, a way to introduce the kids (PCs) is given, and a way to introduce the mystery is included. To aid in running the adventures, a flow chart shows when certain events take place and what events might follow. Each mystery has a variety of interesting locations, detailed NPCs with art, and advice on how the mystery might be wrapped up. A countdown lists events in the order they happen.
Adventures are broken into scenes and locations. Each scene includes clues the kids might find, trouble that might find them, and sometimes random events that can happen when travelling between locations. The locations in each mystery are placed on maps for both Stenhamra in Sweden and Boulder City in the US. NPCs and locations are Swedish with American names in parenthesis for Loops taking place in Boulder City in the US.
Eight locations form a mix tap based on songs like Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper and Nighttrain by Guns N' Roses. The truth behind each location is revealed, hooks are provided, and a countdown of events details what happens when. The location on Michael Jackson's Thriller involves horror monsters going after people who watched a horror VHS tape.
Some mysteries are whimsical and challenging rather than frightening. Others veer into dark themes and real danger including facing a Satanist who believes that man should let go and embrace his animal urges, sexuality, and destructiveness. The adventures range from Scooby Doo mysteries to Stranger Things violence and terror.
Machines include the bipedal firefighting autonomous robots nicknamed the Fireguards. One of the three suggested adventures involving the Fireguards suggests having the Kids discover a plan by older teens to lure a robot to the high school and wreck it.
The book wraps with a guide to creating your own setting. Details cover creating the map, placing the Loop, and determining the agency that controls it. Norfolk Broads, a UK-based Loop, is used as an example. You could use the machines and maps in a Mutant: Year Zero or Coriolis game as well.
Our Friends the Machines embraces the 80s from the toys to the music to the satanic panic. The mysteries are deep, the NPCs multi-layered, and the town around the Loop full of danger and challenges. Experiencing the 80s that never were is even richer with these adventures and adventure ideas.
This article was contributed by Charles Dunwoody as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. Please note that Charles is a participant in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to DriveThruRPG. We are always on the lookout for freelance columnists! If you have a pitch, please contact us!
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I was working on my own fantasy version of these rules, but put them on hold when I saw the KS for this... backed it 
