OSR Review & Commentary On Issue #2 of the Wretched Verses For The Wretchedverse Rpg Line From the Red Room

 So arriving in my email today was a copy of the Wretched Verses issue #2 & man this is packed with wall to wall Wretched Bastards & Wretched Époque drug use gaming goodness surroundings. 

No joke but there are a ton of uses for this in my game campaigns; "Drawing inspiration from various literary works, The Den takes you on a journey through the world of opium, delving into the complexities of drug use and abuse. Among the key influences are Thomas de Quincey’s mesmerizing Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1822, revised 1851/52) and William Burroughs’ compelling Junkie and The Yage Diaries, a fascinating correspondence between Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. To enrich your understanding, we also recommend R.D. Laing’s The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness, Graham Hancock’s Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind, Rick Strassman’s DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences, Robert Tindall’s The Jaguar that Roams the Mind: An Amazonian Plant Spirit Odyssey, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless classic the Sherlock Holmes series."
So let me try and break this down for you. In thirteen pages we get brand new drug induced encounters, backgrounds, histories, entities, and more for your Wretched verse rpg's. And this is really centered around the 'Opuim Den' of the 18th century; "

Opium dens, once prevalent across the globe, embody the distinction between drug use and abuse.These establishments were deeply woven into the fabric of the Belle Époque, with opium's widespread acceptance and romanticization particularly resonating among poets and artists, despite some harbouring extreme views on its consumption. In its heyday, opium was considered socially acceptable to a certain extent, with the den often likened to a cathouse. Ladies of the night frequented these establishments, adding to their allure. Savvy proprietors understood that providing patrons with enticing perks would ensure a loyal clientèle, further solidifying the opium den's place in history" 

And this is going to work especially well within Vitctoriana style rpg games such as Wretched Epoque where the drug den & its vices are more then background fodder. They can literally be portals to adventure.
For the occultists and thier ilk these style of drugs can literally be tools for expanding thier consciousness. And here in lays the danger. The PC's might encounter things that they just can't handle. And this goes definitely for some of the encounters within  the Wretched Verses issue #2. 
The number of times that we've had to save one of our Wretched Epoque magus PC's from blasting his brain away from the insanity he's seen is a regular thing. There's enough meat here to keep a campaign going for a couple of months easy if the DM is willing to employ some very high and low handed techiques involving drugs such as opuim and the like.