OSR Review & Commentary On "Wretched Verses Issue 3: Blood in the Arena" By the Red Room For The Wretchedverse rpg system & Other OSR Game Systems

" BLOOD IN THEARENA IS A WRETCHED SCENARIO INSPIRED BY THE TV SHOW SPARTACUS, WHERE THE PLAYERS TAKE ON THE ROLES OF GLADIATORS IN THERUTILUS LUDUS, A TRAINING SCHOOL FOR GLADIATORS IN THE VITUALYAN CITY OFNERVEA. AS SLAVES, THEY HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO FIGHT AND ENTERTAIN FOR THE PLEASURE OF THEIR WEALTHY ROMAN MASTERS. AS TENSIONS BETWEEN THE SLAVES AND THEIR LANISTA, GAIUS RUTILUS, SIMMER AND EVENTUALLY BOIL OVER, THE PLAYERS WILL FIND THEMSELVES CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A REBELLION THAT COULD CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY. THEY WILL NEED TO NAVIGATE A WORLD OF POLITICAL INTRIGUE, BACKSTABBING, AND CUTTHROAT COMBAT IN ORDER TO SURVIVE AND ACHIEVE THEIR FREEDOM! "
From the back of Wretched Verses Issue#3 By the Red Room.

Wretched Verses Issue 3: Blood in the Arena - Released. This issue includes a Wretched scenario where the players take on the roles of gladiators in the Rutilus Ludus, a training school in the Vitualyan city of Nervea. https://moordereht.com/product/wretch
Wretched Verses Issue 3: Blood in the Arena By The Red Room is a forty eight page gladiatorial mini campaign.  And Wretched Verses Issue 3: Blood in the Arena is a very well done campaign and works very well as both as an adventure encounter beginning & as a center piece module for Wretched Bastards rpg.  And Blood in The Arena takes full advantage of this fact and it states this right in the introduction;'In this scenario the players are expected to take the roles of gladiators or house slaves in the Rutilus ludus (though it is also possible to assign them Vitulyan characters). Tensions are high as the lanistas and guards are known for their cruelty and mistreatment of the slaves.The player characters are introduced to each other and to their respective backgrounds, motivations, and aspirations. As the days go by, they will experience first-hand the brutality and inhumanity of their captors, witness the harsh punishment and execution of fellow slaves and gladiators, and feel the hopelessness of their situation." 

The situation within Blood in the Arena is far from hopeless but it is very devicesive and dangerous. The PC's are going to have to make some very hard choices as the action knotches up each & everytime the circumstances notches up.  And it keeps going event after event comes down the pike towards the PC's. 

And reading through "Wretched Verses Issue 3: Blood in the Arena" is going to be perfect for starting a Wretched Bastards Second edition rpg campaign. Why?! Because as the Red Room describes WB second edition coming out; "With the release of the revised Wretched Role-Playing Game core book, we were able to move forward with our plan to create setting books instead of full games for our second editions. We wanted to provide fleshed-out settings for our players, and thus the world of Antillia grew. While we understand that many gamers enjoy creating their own settings, we believe having a developed world will be useful for game masters looking for a quick and easy setting for Wretched Bastards. In this second edition, you’ll find an expanded Antillia with a whole world to explore, even if it’s not yet thoroughly described."

"We’ve also included The Seven Bastards campaign setting in the main book, so players can dive right in. Finally, we’ve added some new mechanics suited for fantasy games to round out the Wretched system and provide even more options."

And we can easily see the 'Seven Bastards' deeply involved in the back end of the Blood in the Arena. And where could one use Blood in the Arena within OSR games?! I think that there's two games besides Wretched Bastards. The first is the obvious one in Troll Lord Games Castles & Crusades Codex Classicum where Blood in the Arena could work as a brutal introductory adventure. 

And this is because 'Blood in the Arena' really homes in on the ancient fantasy Greek & Roman vibe. And this continues through the entire adventure even as events ramp up within the adventure. 
And it's the cast of NPC's, situations, and more that make Blood in the Arena a winner in my book. 
And it's this same ramping up of events that allows the DM to run this same adventure with Adventurers,Conqueror, King rpg quite easily. And while I've seen the local mobs crying out about other Red Room titles. 'Blood in the Arena' works on muliple levels with ACK's especially on the Captial of the Borderlands campaign. 'Blood in the Arena could easily be inserted into the back door of the campaign setting quite easily. 

There are several reasons why Wretched Verses Issue 3: Blood in the Arena works on a multitude of levels. First is the fact that many of the NPC's are not easily identified by campaign region, town, etc. this enables the DM to make the adventure thier own especially for ACK's. Two Blood in the Arena is lethal and players should have a few PC's in the wings. Three given the in game politics of Blood in the Arena there's plenty of ways of connecting the events into the world of ACK's.