New York stands tall in Call of Cthulhu canon. Not only are
numerous scenarios set there, such as “Dead Man Stomp” from the Call of Cthulhu
rulebook, but the city forms the backdrop for the opening sequences of three
classic campaigns – Day of the Beast, Masks of Nyarlathotep, and Beyond the
Mountains of Madness and for the whole of the modern campaign, Unseen Masters. Of
course it has its sourcebook in the form of Secrets of New York, but even the
invariably Pelgrane Press’ anglophile Trail of Cthulhu has its own anthology of
New York set scenarios in the form of Arkham Detective Tales Extended Edition.
The city has of course been visited in Lovecraft’s fiction, most notably in his
“The Horror at Red Hook,” a short story that has itself been revisited three
times by Lovecraftian investigative horror roleplaying. The city, coming into
its ascendancy in the 1920s, stands equally tall in our collective imagination
with its melange of cultures old and new, its drive to conquer the financial
world as well as the sky itself with its monumental skyscrapers, and its
vibrancy. It is this rich and heady, not so say hedonistic mix that has
presented fertile ground for Lovecraftian investigative horror roleplaying in
the past and does so again with the fifth release from Miskatonic River Press, Tales
of the Sleepless City.
The release of Tales of the Sleepless City gets 2013 off to
a great start in terms of printed titles for Call of Cthulhu and not just because
it was actually released in the same week as Atomic Age Cthulhu from Chaosium,Inc. (A review of that will follow soon). Rather it gets 2013 off to a great
start both because it is simply a good book and because it comes as a more than
welcome relief – not to say a curative tonic – after the low plumbed with the
release of Chaosium, Inc.’s Terror from the Skies late last year. Marking
Miskatonic River Press’ third anthology, Tales of the Sleepless City brings together
six scenarios that explore life as it is lived in the city of New York in the
Roaring Twenties.
Behind Paul Carrick’s dream-like cover, what strikes you
first about Tales of the Sleepless City is how good the book looks. It is neat
and tidy with various elements – side bars and hand outs, artwork and maps –
judiciously placed to break up the text. In particular, the choice of typefaces
perfectly evokes the period in which the contents of the book are set, while
the use of the single interior artist further gives the book a cohesive feel,
with many of the illustrations capturing some singularly nasty moments in the
scenarios. Similarly, the use of the same map of New York again and again, each
annotated with the different locations for each scenario also adds to book’s
singular look. It is interesting to note that the map for each scenario
includes its subtitle on the map. Lastly, each of the anthology’s hand outs, courtesy
of the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, is a beautiful piece of work that should
help immerse the players further into of each the anthology’s scenarios.
The collection opens with Dan Harms’ “To Awaken What Never
Sleeps”, which literally brings New York alive. It does call for the use of
experienced investigators who have some knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos, though
this is as much for effect as it is for the actual knowledge. Steeped in the
recent history of the city, it draws upon the works of both Fritz Leiber and
H.P. Lovecraft to present antagonists who are literally opposed to its
thrusting modernity. Beginning on a very specific date in 1928, it starts with
a bang and goes on to infuse the very fabric of the metropolis with an
unnerving sense of unease. Initially this is a difficult scenario to get into
and the scenario also seems to take on elements of the Dreamlands before coming
back to reality. Nevertheless, there are some nice set pieces that move it
along and get the investigation moving along into a bruising finale.
The second scenario is both a much more traditional and a
more familiar affair. Inspired by the craze for all things Ancient Egyptian
that followed the 1922 opening of Tutankhamen’s tomb – and also by certain
urban legends – “The Terror from the Museum” by Brian Sammons is another tale of
“revenge from beyond the grave.” This mania is brought to New York in decidedly
grisly fashion as the consequences of a recent visit to Egypt comes back to
bite a number of academics. It feeds into a heady, movie-like mix that combines
xenophobia, a particularly pulp villain, and a certain Mythos artefact that
makes its second appearance here. At its worst, this scenario could be a morass
of clichés, but fortunately, the author lifts “The Terror from the Museum”
above the clichés and leaves the Keeper with an interesting paradox as to the
nature and status of the aforementioned artefact.
If “To Awaken What Never Sleeps” literally brings New York
alive, then C. Michael Hurst’s “The Fishers of Men” brings it to life by taking
player and Keeper alike into the vibrant hotbed that is Harlem. The death of
Doctor Harold Bejoujou, a local religious leader and noted manufacturer of the
tonic ‘Dr. Harry’s Enlightenment’, brings the investigators to his funeral and
an interview with his wife who believes that he did not commit suicide as the
police believe. Getting the investigators involved in this scenario will not be
easy, both because of the subject of race and the somewhat closed nature of the
scenario. A mixed race group of investigators would go some way to alleviate
this problem. Once involved though, they find themselves mixed up in community
politics and strange magic. Its climax feels absurdly theatrical, but overall,
this feels like a well-judged treatment of Harlem.
“The Tenement” by Oscar Rios takes the investigators to the
heart of a very New York problem – the slum tenements and slum landlords of
Hell’s Kitchen. The investigators are hired by a well-meaning lawyer to prove a
case against a slum landlord, Mister Edmund Grey. This involves their having to
living in one of his buildings, the Buckley Arms, and persuading the much put
upon tenants to give statements as to their ill treatment and the conditions in
the building. This involves lots of dog work upon the part of the investigators
as try and persuade their new, and often, recalcitrant neighbours. These NPCs
are lightly drawn, but are no less interesting, so the Keeper should have
roleplaying each and every one of them. As they gather evidence, Mister Grey
becomes aware of the investigators’ efforts, the conditions in the tenement
seem to worsen even as he sends in his muscle to coerce them. The climax to
this well-written affair is shockingly deadly, so the investigators will need
to follow up every lead if they are to be forewarned and thus have any chance
of survival.
Mikael Hedberg’s “A Night at the Opera” is a grand treatment
of a subject familiar to Call of Cthulhu, the performance of Massa di Requiem per Shuggay, and
indeed, it is a grandiose affair. The investigators receive tickets for the
inaugural performance of a new opera at the Metropolitan Opera House, a
performance that will also be attended by the rich and famous, such as Zelda
Fitzgerald and John D. Rockefeller, JR. As the evening progresses – the events
of the scenario literally playing out over the course of just a few hours – the
observant investigators will begin to notice strange events occurring, and as
the ones to have seen them, it is up to them to prevent the full ramifications
of the opera being performed coming to fruition. Although it could be said that
the scenario is too linear, there is much for the investigators to do within
the confines of the Metropolitan Opera House and it is only a short scenario
anyway. Indeed, this is a race to save not just everyone at the performance,
but also the whole of New York all played out in one single evening, one single
session.
Rounding out Tales of the Sleepless City is the oddly titled
“Értóng hé Kūqì de Mǔqīn” or “The Child and the Weeping
Mother”, co-authored by Tom Lynch and Scott David Aniolowski. Like the earlier “The
Fishers of Men”, this scenario takes place in one of New York’s communities,
but Chinatown rather than Harlem. The investigators are asked by a local family to find its missing daughter. Yet both father and mother have something to
hide and the investigators’ progress will be hampered by the intransigence of
the tiny community and the criminal politics, if they tread carefully, both
allies and informants can be found. As with the earlier “The Terror from the
Museum”, this is a pulpy treatment of the exotic, though one with a nod towards
the Wuxia genre rather than the horror movies from Universal Pictures.
Coming to the end of Tales of the Sleepless City, it is far
from easy to find fault with its contents. Such faults as there are can only be
described as minor. It could be argued that the layout is too busy in places,
but to be fair, everything about the layout evokes the Jazz Age in which its
six scenarios are set. In places the tone of scenarios feels uneven – more so
with “The Terror from the Museum” and “The Fishers of Men”, but these are minor
marks against what is otherwise a solid selection of scenarios.
With Tales of the Sleepless City, Miskatonic River Press continues
its sure-footed treatment of the Mythos in Call of Cthulhu – five books on and
the publisher has yet to put foot wrong in its support for the game. There is
not a poor scenario amongst the six in this anthology, such that it would seem
unreasonable to highlight any one of them over another, but it would not be
unreasonable to say that the second three scenarios are more interesting than
the first three. At its worst, Tales of the Sleepless City provides a solid set
of playable scenarios that present some fine shocks and scares; at its best, Tales
of the Sleepless City does not tell what New York was like in the Roaring
Twenties for Call of Cthulhu, but actually shows you what it was like.
