High Times on Hathor III (spoilers)

Art by Steve Crompton

In 1983, Fantasy Games Unlimited published Casino Galactica for use with Space Opera.  It is credited to “STEVEN B. TODD of Gnome Mountain Workshops.”  The title page explains that “Todd is in the process of forming a new publishing company called Gnome Mountain Workshops for the purpose of publishing Space Opera support material under license.”  Originally, Casino Galactica was supposed to be a Gnome Mountain Workshops publication; however, with regard to Todd, “the idea of having [FGU] publish one of his adventures to make the public aware of his style prompted Steve to change the nature of this submission to allow [FGU] to publish it.”  The reader is told to “Watch for other products by Steve from his own Gnome Mountain Workshops in the future.”  Alas, Casino Galactica is Todd's only RPG credit and no output from Gnome Mountain Workshops was forthcoming.

The Introduction refers to Casino Galactica as a “campaign pack” and “an adventure background” as opposed to “an adventure per se.”  The cover makes the claim:  “Adventure Setting & Scenarios.”  However it wants to refer to itself, Casino Galatica has twenty pages.  The Introduction is on page two and only one-quarter of a page of text appears on the last page.  Considering this – and given the amount of white space present on the other pages – Casino Galactica provides eighteen pages of material.  About six of pages consist of maps and the keys thereto.

'Casino Galactica' is the collective name for a posh resort situated in “the mountainous outback of Arcturus [IV].”  It was established “only a half-dozen years ago by an off-worlder named Cosmo Filroy, who had a lot of money and off-world financial backing.”  Filroy's “background is sketchy” and “he is involved in all sorts of legal and semi-legal activities.”

Approximately five pages – a significant portion of the book – are devoted to describing non-player characters associated with the casino.  Some are detailed fulsomely with an illustration, characteristics, skill ratings, and one or more paragraphs of information.  Some personalities are only supplied with characteristics and skill ratings.  Some entities are merely named; for instance, the security personnel encounter table lists eighteen people whose distinguishing features are left to the StarMaster.

Remember that all duties are by weekly rotation.  Do not put Mary Pale on garage beat one day and at Detention check the next, and someplace else the day after.  Be logical.

An 'act list for the lounge' is provided, indicating such worthies as Johnny Asteroid (comedian) and Tara McClendon (stripper).  Also described – in detail – are notable guests, such as Professor Fielding Price (depicted below), “the leading researcher in the field of temporal physics.”

Naturally, the casino offers gambling opportunities, including sports betting.  Grav-Ball, a game published by FASA the previous year, “is all the rage.”  Casino Galactica encourages the reader to purchase a copy of the game noting, “Besides being useful in this packet, it's a fun game, and simple.”  The local franchise, the Arcturus Blue Scourge, is party owned by Cosmo Filroy.  The team's schedule for the season (with the odds for each game) is listed on page 14.  The StarMaster is advised:

To give the season more flavor, throw in some sports flashes about the other teams, and how well they are doing.  Give the players something to think about, but don't try to steal them blind. Be very careful not to mislead them too much. Remember, they would, in reality, have stats and past histories on hand to check.  They would not be as much in the dark as they're going to be in the game.

Also at the casino is an experimental machine called the Subliminal Imagery Device that “introduces fantasy-oriented images into the mind of the sleeping subject, and makes he or she believe that they are experiencing some fantastic adventure or quest, in a pre-created world, but one which is influenced by the subject's own subconscious images.”  The cost of using the device is one thousand credits per day, “though a one month package is available for CR 25,000.”  How the subjects receive sustenance is not explained.  While the machine “is 99% safe...there have been no fatalities, but one person refused to come back to this world, the other was so real.”  The experimental nature of the S.I.D. is not disclosed to the public.  We read that:

The device has several pre-programmed adventure worlds, all fantasy oriented.  For playing out these 'adventures' use of any of several of the excellent FRP's available on the market is recommended.

So, you can role-play a character who is role-playing in turn – using a different game's rules.

The resort offers various other recreational pursuits, including skiing, shopping, hunting (local as well as imported animals), and two golf courses:  “a traditional Terran golf course and another more 'alien' built on the edge of a deep chasm.”  The alien course “is the utmost in challenges, and utilizes robotic caddies and air-sled carts.”  We are assured that, “So far the only casualties have been balls.”

The section of the book dedicated to scenarios is about 1⅓ pages, including illustrations.  However, the scenario descriptions build upon the background provided in the NPC details, especially with regard to how the NPCs relate to one another.  There are five scenarios presented and six Other Ideas.  (“Just expand on them a little, and presto! Adventures.”)

Birkett H. Crandall, the casino manager, “is a typical gangland hoodlum type.”  His illicit activities extend to “gunrunning, drug manufacture and marketing, corporate spying - even slavery.”  Crandall is involved with “drug growing and smuggling activities” on the planet Hathor III.  In one scenario, Paul LaClerc, assistant manager of the club and undercover IPA detective, hires the player characters “to bring back photographic evidence” of Crandall's felonious deeds on that planet.  Another scenario has Crandall blackmailing the United Federation of Planets with evidence that it was responsible for a political assassination.  The Bureau of State Security hires the PCs to retrieve the disk with this evidence.  In yet another scenario, the player characters work for Crandall to obtain “some experimental drugs that were confiscated by the authorities.” 

Jeff Bezos...in space!
Art by Steve Crompton

Mustering Out On Mephistopheles (spoilers)

Map by Steve Crompton

Agents of Rebellion (1983) is a module written by Space Opera co-author Phil McGregor.  Technically, Agents of Rebellion presents itself as a “CSA Sector Adventure Scenario Pack.”  'CSA' is a reference to the Confederate Systems Alliance, subject of Star Sector Atlas 11, also written by McGregor.

The module is evidently intended for new characters given that the first sentence reads, “Your group of adventurers has mustered out on Mephistopheles hoping that, on such a large and (relatively) well off world, that they will be able to find suitable employment.”  It may not be the wisest option to muster out on (or even visit) planets named after infernal entities.  However, page 6 suggests that the player characters are originally from Mephistopheles:  “Since you have been away from home for an extended period...”

Regarding the player characters, we also learn that, “after several weeks of fruitless job hunting, their financial reserves are becoming quite strained and they realize that they must find work soon.”  Also, “For personal reasons, the party members do not wish to split up and they have so far resisted the individual temptations that have come their way.”  It would seem that – for purposes of the adventure – player character agency has been compromised; they find themselves on Mephistopheles and their “financial reserves” evaporate.  Actually, in the Introduction, McGregor claims, “Though it may seem that the adventures are unnecessarily prescriptive as to the course of action the PCs involved should take...there is absolutely no reason why [the StarMaster] cannot change details of the adventure to suit the needs of his campaign and his PCs.”  In any event, job interviews represent an important plot point in the early part of the adventure.

The subtitle of the module is C.S.A. Espionage Missions.  You see, Mephistopheles and other CSA worlds were conquered by the Korellian Empire over a century prior to the adventure.  (The Korellian Empire of the subject of Star Sector Atlas 12, also by McGregor.)  The player characters become part of the Underground Alliance (“a resistance movement”) and engage upon missions that act as a prelude to open rebellion against the Korellians.

First, at the suggestion of “One of the party (an NPC, presumably),” the player characters have lunch at “an English style pub.”  Just after lunch, before the party leaves the pub, explosions afflict the Korellian munitions factory across the street.  Suspecting sabotage, authorities seal off the area and the player characters learn that “a house-to-house sweep” is imminent and many people will be arrested.  Only those with “a justifiable reason to be in the area...may be let go eventually.”  Additionally, “even the innocent often disappear forever.”  Since a mid-day meal does not qualify as a justifiable reason, “This should make your PCs realize that they are obviously in a bad position.”  There is more than one way the player characters can attempt to avoid the sweep; one way is to travel through the sewers.  The map of the sewer system is presented above; the area represented is 800 meters wide.

According to an announcement the following day, the numerous suspects detained will be sacrificed on the occasion of the Kne'shin'wa festival the following week (a Korellian custom).  Meanwhile, the player characters continue with their job interviews.  Upon returning to their hotel rooms, they can attempt Intuition Characteristic Rolls to “get the feeling that something is wrong.”  If, as a result, they search their rooms, “they will realize that their belongings have been professionally looked through.”  We are then treated to this peculiar statement:  “Though nothing has been taken, there has been an obvious attempt to conceal the fact that any search has been made!”  How does that work?

The player characters collectively interview to become a group of troubleshooters for Alliance Starlines.  The company is a front for the Underground Alliance, although the player characters do not yet know this.  It is a bold decision for an organization to name a front organization after itself.  That evening, Alliance Starlines informs the player characters that they have been hired and a complementary bottle of champagne is delivered.  Get this:  “Of course, though the SM should give no hint of this, the champagne is not drugged, though the gas in the bubbles is narcotic!”  Seriously?  The gas formed by the champagne is narcotic but the champagne isn't drugged?  Just say the champagne is drugged and be done with it.  What if a player character does not drink the champagne (thus avoiding being exposed to the narcotic bubbles)?  In that case, “a waiter will...use a mini-dartgun with the same narcotic tipping the darts on him!”

The player characters wake up in an Underground Alliance hideout and are offered a mission.  Would you want to work for people who kidnapped you?  On the other hand, would you want to hire operatives who could so easily be neutralized?  Anyway, an Alliance member – a professor – was in the area of the munitions factory at the time of the explosions and was thus arrested.  Apparently, the authorities do not realize that the professor is affiliated with the Underground.  The mission of the player characters is to rescue the professor.  They can either (1) arrange for a mass breakout of the detainees while they are held at a colonial police facility or (2) rescue just the professor after the detainees have been transferred to St. Gervase Island, “the HQ of the Imperial Ground Forces on Mephistopheles,” where the sacrifices are to take place.  Regardless of the option they choose, the player characters have extensive leeway in planning the operation and they can call upon the resources of the Underground Alliance.  Actually, the mass breakout option turns out to be fruitless since the adventure requires that the professor be sent to the island.  The Alliance doesn't want the imperial forces to realize that the professor “is of any importance.”  As such, they can't be made aware that the professor has escaped.  How do they hope to accomplish this?  The Alliance has “a specially programmed clone which has been altered to resemble the Professor and will thus make the escape less likely to be detected.”  This sentence is the only information the module provides regarding the clone.  What, exactly, is supposed to happen?  Does the clone work with the player characters to infiltrate the island, take the place of the professor, and then die on his behalf?  Groups of detainees “are quartered in prefab hutments.”  What are the player characters supposed to do with the other detainees quartered with the professor, especially given that “the UA wants no discoverable traces” of the escape?

After the mission, “things are getting too hot” on Mephistopheles for the player characters; so the Alliance sends them to the planet Marduk for a mission.  The player characters are “being paid regularly by Alliance Starlines now,” meaning (I suppose) that the relationship between the PCs and the Alliance has been altered somehow.  The mission on Marduk is to infiltrate the Korellian Imperial StarBase and surreptitiously secure “important items of information from their data banks.”  Again, the player characters devise their own plans to accomplish this.  Evidently, regardless of the player characters' plans, the mission concludes with a “spectacular escape from the StarBase.”  (The Imperial security services “have no idea what [the PCs] did inside the base or even that [they] successfully penetrated it, but they are after” the player characters.)

The next mission involves the player characters taking the Imperial data off-planet.  The PCs must first travel 1200 km inland to a secret UA landing port.  In essence:

The UA will provide transport, but, unbeknownst to either the UA or the PCs, the driver (or one of the other bus crew) has had his cover blown to Imperial Security.  If (when) their vehicle is stopped by Imperial security forces, he will be recognized. This will mean that the PCs will be implicated as well, though there should be just enough bungling on the part of the Imperials to give smart PCs a chance to escape with the Imperials in hot pursuit.  If the roadblock was relatively near their destination or the PCs have been identified (they will be sooner or later), then a planetwide APB will be put out by them.  This will make it effectively impossible for them to carry on with overt operations using their own IDs.  They will, in future, have to confine themselves to covert operations, a much more dangerous way of life.

When the player characters leave Marduk, “a unit of Korellian naval vessels are close enough to attempt interception.”  We are told that the StarMaster “should ensure that whatever the damage the CSA ship takes it still manages to make it into hyperspace and that at least one of the [Korellian vessels] manage to follow.”  The player characters' ship crash lands on the rendezvous planet (although it is called a moon on page 25) and they use a gravsled to travel to “the secret transfer point.”  However, the gravsled has a fuel leak “which the PCs will not discover in time.”  The scenario then becomes an exercise in survival.

In any case, for some time before their fuel runs out, the PCs will have been picking up weak radio signals from elsewhere... They should figure out that this is their only realistic hope of survival.  Subtly encourage them to investigate if they don't show overt eagerness to investigate.

The radio signals emanate from the wreckage of a ForeRunner craft (although the PCs do not recognize it as ForeRunner technology).  They might find an artifact that “will be vital in later adventures in this series.”  Among the wreckage is a ForeRunner vehicle – the equivalent of a gravsled – which the player characters can use to reach the transfer point “near [an] abandoned mining camp.”  Apparently, at no time when the mining camp was active did anyone bother to investigate the radio signals.

A “cutter load of Korellian Marines” has also crash landed and they make “a forced march on to the mining camp.”  It is advised that the player characters do not encounter all of the marines at once.  Instead, “They should start off with a scouting unit of a few men who will proceed to call in reinforcements.”  If necessary, CSA troops can show up to save the characters.  (I guess the player characters were supposed to meet somebody at the transfer point; that somebody might as well be CSA troops.)

Agents of Rebellion has a number of plot holes, but at least there is plot to have holes in (as opposed to Martigan Belt).  At times, McGregor accommodates a broad range of player character behavior, yet at other times particular events are forced upon the PCs.  Yes, “unnecessarily prescriptive” dictates can be obviated by the StarMaster, but the usefulness of the module is inversely proportionate to the effort the StarMaster must put forth.

Taxidermy, Tarot, and Tattoos

Among the various categories detailed in Citybook I:  Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker, the vague grouping of 'Personal Services' offers some of the more interesting establishments.  As examples, consider the following three businesses.

– – –     – – –     – – –

The entry for Professor Fyber's Taxidermy and Museum is credited to Steven S. Crompton, to whom we were introduced in the last post.  (The 'museum' section is displayed above.)

The Museum houses a collection of oddities that the Professor has stuffed over the years.  This includes a two-headed unicorn [Wouldn't that mean it has two horns?], a bison with wings [i.e., a 'flying buffalo'], a wolf with eight legs, and other freaks of nature.  One section also contains several heads which once belonged to famous bandits that were executed in the city (the only exceptions to Fyber's no-humans rule)...

Your humble host suspects Fyber's name was inspired by (the abominable) Dr. Phibes of motion picture infamy.  Yet, if so, Liz Danforth did not use Vincent Price as the model for Fyber's illustration.

Art by Liz Danforth

     Professor Fyber.  Human.  Ht: 6'3".  Wt: 210 lbs.  Age: 58.  Fighting prowess: very good rapier or saber; otherwise average.
     Professor Fyber is a dark, aristocratic man with a thin moustache.  His dress and voice bespeak a highly cultured man with a sense for the finer things in life.  He is a gourmet cook, a lover of good brandy, and very well-read.
     ...Fyber is a charming fellow and fairly formidable.  He is also a taxidermical genius and very popular with the City nobility to whom he provides trophies.  He zealously guards his secret formulas for preserving tissue, and is not above slaying an intruder who tries to steal them.  His major goal in his work is to preserve the semblance of life in as natural a manner as possible...

Of course, Fyber must obtain his specimens somehow.  The player characters may be retained to search out these strange creatures.  “The hunting expeditions can make a simple scenario for players,” Citybook informs us, “and good mileage can be gotten out of any of the Museum exhibits.”  One suggested scenario involves a vast treasure, the secret to which is contained within one of the bandit heads on display.  The player characters “must steal the head and find a way to revivify it in order to get the clue.”

 – – –     – – –     – – –

Thelesha Moonscry is a fortune-teller – or “seeress” – whose presence in Citybook is attributed to Larry DiTillio.  Given Liz Danforth's penchant for basing the appearance of Citybook personalities upon real-world celebrities, I am inclined to believe that Moonscry's depiction is inspired by Jane Seymour in her role as the fortune-telling Solitaire from Live and Let Die.

Art by Liz Danforth

     Thelesha Moonscry.  Half-elf.  Ht: 5'9".  Wt: 130 lbs.  Age: 29.  Fighting ability: poor.  Magic ability: average; C5
     Thelesha has very pale skin, and long black hair with silver streaks in it.  Her left eye is sea-blue and her right eye is silvery-gray.  She is very beautiful and somewhat haunted.  Her typical attire is a sky blue robe adorned with a sigil showing silver moons and green oaks.
     Thelesha is not particularly cheerful.  She knows that she is fated to live without love, and uses her gift in memory of her teachers, an all but extinct sect called the MoonRiders.  She sometimes sees her talent as more of a curse than a gift, and may break off a reading if the omens she is scrying become too painful.  She rarely leaves her house and garden, and the MoonRider spirits watch over her there.

“C5” is Citybook code for communication magic.  I would have thought that divination would be part of clairvoyant magic (i.e, “C3”).  Regardless, Moonscry practices the following divinatory arts:  astrology, oneiromancy, pyromancy, hydroscopy, palmistry, cerescopy [sic], and cartomancy.  With regard to cartomancy, the Game Master is encouraged to “use a Tarot deck if you have one, improvising the meaning of the cards to fit the 'prediction' for the character.”  Otherwise, “You may use a regular card deck in this fashion:  Hearts indicate an emotional situation, Diamonds mean money, Spades mean competition, Clubs indicate magic [and] Face cards represent people.”

We are told that “Thelesha is about 90% accurate in all readings.”  As such, Game Masters are advised not to let Thelesha “be misused or over-used by the players.”  As a deterrent, “High prices should sufficiently limit the use of her powers!”  Also, readings need not be precise – “the more esoteric the symbolic answer, the more intriguing it will be to players.”

 – – –     – – –     – – –

Jock and Wilbur Sleaz are twin orcs who were raised by a kindly wizard who taught them how to make tattoos.  “(GM: if your system has no Orcs, or an Orc would not reasonably fit in your city, make Jock and Wilbur very ugly humans.)”  While Wilbur “quite frequently exhibits more of the standard Orcish traits,” we learn that “Jock is a very gentle soul” who gives money “to a local orphanage in order to give a few orphans the benefit of a better upbringing than he received.”  It seems to me that being raised by a kindly wizard who teaches them a trade is not so bad as an upbringing.

Anyway, the brothers employ their skills at a tattoo parlor of which they are the proprietors.  In addition to 'regular' tattoos, Jock (but not Wilbur) learned to create 'magical' tattoos (called “mattoos”).  By concentrating, the wearer of a mattoo can bring the mattoo into existence.

Once a mattoo comes to life, it will follow any command of the wearer (if it's a creature), or be employed in any manner the user wishes.  For each hour it exists, the wearer must “pump” strength into it, on an ever expanding scale.  The first hour costs 1 point; the second, 2; the third, 4; the fourth, 8; etc. (doubling each time).  Willing a mattoo to life for less than an hour costs 1.  The strength used returns at 1 point per full game turn.  (GM:  adjust to your game system.)

The price of a mattoo “starts at around 1000 gold pieces, rising with the complexity of the mattoo desired.”  Mattoos which are destroyed are no long usable, leave a scar, and cannot be replaced.

Jock himself has the maximum of five mattoos, created by the kindly wizard.  These mattoos are “two small dragons, a full-size flaming sword down his right leg, a waterfall on his chest (which can be used somewhat like a firehose), and a full-size rose on his left arm.”

A special mattoo is described:

Very simply, it is a “duckie”, a cute little representation of a duck.  Jock always recommends it because he likes duckies.  The duckie is like a normal mattoo – except that it always appears as a full-sized duck with full powers of speech, better than human intelligence, and a poisonous bite!  In addition, duckies have the power to deflect spells (set the level according to your game system); if a duckie is within a 5' radius of its wearer, it will partly protect its wearer by absorbing the spell.  Neither Jock nor Wilbur are aware of these powers – Jock just likes duckies!

Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker

Art by Stephan Peregrine

As previously discussed, Flying Buffalo published the Catalyst Series of “game master aids” – including the CityBook installments.  (“CityBook is Flying Buffalo's trademark name for those Catalyst game booklets which describe businesses, personalities, and scenarios for city-based play.”  [original emphasis] )  The first CityBook was published in 1982.  Larry DiTillio was credited as editor, producer and – for many of the entries – author.  Perhaps better known as a writer and story editor for television, DiTillio was also responsible for a variety of several other role-playing game supplements/adventures.  “Original Concept” was credited to Pat Mueller, an author and editor for Sorcerer's Apprentice.  Mueller also shared “Directed by” credit with Liz Danforth and “Design and Layout by” credit with Steven S. Crompton.  In a humorous vein, another credit was “Typos by Pat Muellre.”

In 'A Brief Note' following the Introduction, it is stated, “The primary purpose of this book is to provide a number of modular pieces of cities, from which you can pick and choose what you want to use.”  Less subdued is the back cover copy:  “For action-packed role-playing, for exciting encounters with peculiar people, for unexpected adventures and unforeseen complications, the establishments and NPCs found in CityBook are right up your alley!”  Somewhere in between is the claim, “your players can now find fun and excitement even in such mundane activity as buying a loaf of bread or having a battered suit of armor repaired.”

Included in CityBook 1 is a two-and-a-half page article – originally published in Sorcerer's Apprentice – having the title “City Building and Citymastering” (incorrectly listed as “City Mastering and Citybuilding” in the Table of Contents).  The writer, Paul O'Connor, also contributed one of the book's entries.  O'Connor was involved with other role-playing game publications and has credits in comic books and those new-fangled computer games.  Anyway, O'Connor offers the following advice:

Try to allow for your players' desires.  Let the characters take a hand in directing the action – never try to force characters into doing something they don't want to, simply because you've got nothing developed for the path they're taking.  Often, a city trip will split off into a completely unexpected direction – usually quite different from the one planned.  If this happens, flow with it!  Try to adjudicate whatever situations arise to the best of your ability.  There's nothing wrong with making up an adventure as you go along...

Also, he offhandedly mentions “a one-armed goblin with three heads juggling squids...”

CityBook 1 has the subtitle Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker – a paraphrased line from a nursery rhyme (which evidently is not as homoerotic as one may have thought).  Among the “25 city-based establishments with over 75 fully-described non-player characters,” there is an entry for a butcher and another for a baker; however, the baker is a woman.  While there is no candlestick maker, there is a candle maker.  This borders upon false advertisement.  I mean they didn't have to use that subtitle; they could have gone with something accurate.  (I suppose a sourcebook of scenarios based on traditional nursery rhymes might be interesting.)  The butcher, baker, and candle maker entries are all by DiTillio.

Cleavsom Rumpchuck operates a butchery with his brothers – Slysum, Chopsum, and Dimsom – as well as his son, Ribeye.  (CityBook NPCs frequently possess 'jocular' names.)  Along with mundane meats, the Rumpchunk brothers offers such unusual fare as “filet of giant lake lizard, shank of dragon (very rare), sirloin snakes, lion loin, giant ant legs, horned owl tripe, marinated snow-bear nose, monkey brains, and anything else the GM can come up with.”  A scenario suggestion has Rumpchuck hiring the adventurers to acquire such game.

Widow Rohls operates a bakeshop with her three daughters:  Poppy, Sesame, and Sweet Nell.  The interesting NPC associated with the bakeshop is “Old Sam.”  (Spoiler Alert!)

Old Sam was once Samar, Master of the Nine Hells, an evil wizard with staggering arcane powers.  An assault by ten rival sorcerers blasted his memory from him and aged him almost thirty years.  He escaped destruction by a desperate teleportation spell, and was found wandering in the City sometime later...

Taken in by the Rohls family, Old Sam does odd jobs and has “a definite talent for icing cakes (the result of years of scribing complex spells).”  One scenario suggestion involves Old Sam regaining his memory.  Another suggestion has him inadvertently working “some eldritch rune into the design” of a cake's icing.  This results in “some strange effect which could have [a] character possessed by some supernatural entity, cause a spell to fire, lay a curse on the viewer, open a gateway to an alternate universe, or any other magical surprise the GM cares to spring.”  Wacky hijinks ensue.

Art by Liz Danforth

The candle maker is Gillian Olfin.  DiTillio tells us, “Gillian loves to swim nude in the moonlight, does not drink, ...is rumored to have numerous lovers in high positions in the City [and] ...is always barefoot.”  Liz Danforth, in her depiction of Gillian (shown above), seems to have based her appearance on Diana Muldaur.  The model for the cat has not been determined as of this writing.

Gillian has sufficient magical ability to manufacture two types of “special” candles.  The Love Candle “incorporates a few drops of blood or sweat from both the proposed 'lover' and the person who wishes to be loved.”  When the “lover” burns the candle, “he or she falls in love with the candle's buyer.”  The effect only lasts for one to six weeks, but the effect can be reinforced with a new candle.  Since “it takes Gillian 2 – 12 days to produce a love candle,” it would be wise to have a few spares available before engaging upon a long term romantic illumination.  The Ghost Detector Candle normally “burns with an ordinary yellow-white flame.”  However, in proximity to “a disembodied spirit or an enchanted corpse, the flame burns a bright blue.”

We also learn that “tallow candles are cheaper [than refined beeswax candles] and will burn a little more brightly, but in an area without adequate ventilation (such as your basic dungeon-type room), they tend to smoke heavily, causing nausea.”