Extracurricular Esoteric Endeavours III

The publisher 12 to Midnight has developed its horror setting of Pinebox, Texas through a series of single scenarios written for use with Savage Worlds, the cinematic action RPG rules from Pinnacle Entertainment Group. In July, 2014, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the publisher released the setting through a particular lens and timeframe, that is as students at East Texas University. Over the course of their four-year degree courses, the students undertake study and various academic activities as well as having a social life, a job, and even an annoying roommate. Then of course, there is the weird stuff—ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and more… The challenge of course is that the students have to deal with both, but need to grow into being able to cope with both.

The ETU or East Texas University setting is fully supported by Degrees of Horror, a complete plot point campaign that builds and builds over the course of Study Group’s four-year degree courses. A plot point campaign differs from a standard campaign in that it is a framework of scenarios that advance the plot around which the Game Master can fit and run single scenarios not necessarily pertinent to the campaign’s core plot. These can be of the Game Master’s own design or bought off the shelf—several are available for the setting. The plot points are triggered under certain circumstances; it might be because the Player Characters visit a particular location or because of an action that they have taken. In Degrees of Horror the plot points are also built around areas of academic study and the year in which the Player Character student—or Study Group—are currently in. What this means is that in Degrees of Horror, the Study Group will encounter the first notions of the outré things to come in the first term as Freshmen and both the campaign and the Study Group’s investigations will come to fruition as Seniors at their graduation. However, what happens if the administration and the Dean at the university become aware of the Study Group’s activities? What if the Study Group manages to deal with a threat, but manages to bring outside attention to the strangeness going on at the university in the process and the Dean wants the members of the Study Group out of the way? The Dean cannot expel them, because that would arouse more attention, so what can he do? Well, he can send them abroad. Abroad where they will be out of harm’s way! Abroad where there are no supernatural dangers! Abroad where they cannot get into trouble!

East Texas University: Study Abroad offers not one, but four options for the Study Group which wants to see foreign climes and the Game Master who wants to take her campaign elsewhere—if only for a little while. The options include Costa Rica, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom. Each chapter includes background and history for the country, cultural differences, descriptions of the institutions where the Students will be studying, a number of Savage Tales (or scenarios) which the Game Master can run over the course of the Semester that the Study Group spends there, and full stats for all of the NPCs, monsters, and other threats that the Students will encounter as part of their investigations. One major cultural difference which is highlighted in each of the four countries is the lack of access to firearms, which may or may challenge some players and their characters in addition to the change in setting and culture. Of course, an East Texas University campaign is unlikely to use all four of settings in East Texas University: Study Abroad, so for those that go unused, the Game Master has a ready supply inspiration for Savage Tales of her own and the monsters to go with them. The anthology already includes a selection of fellow exchange students from around the world which the Game Master can include as NPCs alongside the Player Characters.

The anthology opens with Costa Rica. Geographically, this is the closest to Texas, and culturally it feels not dissimilar too—though of course, there are plenty of differences. The Students will be studying at the Tejas Learning Campus which turns out to be a secret outpost for the Sweet Heart Foundation, one of the major villains from Degrees of Horror. The isolated nature of the campus means that its research can be conducted away from prying eyes and the local cryptids, including Chupacabras, are suitable for both study and experimentation. These are not the only local cryptids that the Students will face, but they are the primary ones. All too quickly, the Students will discover why they have a newly and very recently appointed counsellor as their guide, have both a black dog and white dog stalking them, take one or terrible field trips, and discover quite why it is not a good idea to visit the local town alone—especially if you are female. Whilst there is a good variety of Savage Tales here, they still feel connected to the plots the Students left hanging back in Texas, almost as if they never left. Several of them could easily back to Texas, or at least the south west of the USA without too much difficulty, which cannot be said of the other three Foreign Exchange settings.

The Italy trip takes the Students to the northern city of Turin. Here they will find The Egyptian Museum, the Lombroso Museum—the Museum of Criminal Anthropology—which houses numerous remains of criminals and ‘madmen’, so is likely home to numerous ghosts, and of course, the Shroud of Turin. There are plenty of secrets too, mostly in the extensive network of tunnels below the city. Both museums feature in the first two Savage Tales, whilst the third takes the Students into the tunnels below the city. With just the three Savage Tales, all of them decent, the chapter feels somewhat underwhelming, but in fact, there is a lot here that the Game Master can develop herself, especially as there are several villains which the chapter does not make use of.

The horror in the Poland chapter is definitely Slavic and Jewish in nature—the Morowa Dziewica (murrain maiden), an old crone which bears the plague; the Dybbuk, or those possessed by a spirit; the Upir or ‘peasant’ vampire; and the Rusalka, spirits of women who lead others to their deaths. The Students will encounter one or more of these whilst studying in Białystok in the cold north east of Poland. Again, there is a lot of background and cultural detail here, but instead of sperate Savage Tales, this supports a mini-campaign consisting of five Savage Tales. The strangeness starts almost straight away, with an attack by a fellow student with a surprisingly explosive temper and creepy encounters at a puppet theatre, both of which bring the Students to the attention of certain interested parties, some who want their help, some who do not. The last three Savage Tales focus on the campaign, an investigation into a series of missing persons cases, which includes more than the one option for defeating the villain, one of which amusingly mundane. As a chapter and mini-campaign, the Poland chapter is a pleasing diversion away from the main campaign back at East Texas University if the Game Master is running Degrees of Horror.

The last chapter in East Texas University: Study Abroad is set in merry olde England at Ascalon University near the village of Uffington. The village, once the home of poet John Betjeman, is real even if the university is not, but the chapter incorporates plenty of the local features and history into its setting and accompanying Savage Tales. After a trip from Heathrow to Uffington, which not only highlights the fun of travel in the United Kingdom, but which is also literally beset by Gremlins, the Students settle in only to discover that death and strangeness has followed them! Like the Poland chapter before it, the Savage Tales in the England chapter before it builds towards a mini-campaign, but of course grounded in British folklore, legends, and the poetry of John Betjeman. It is perhaps not quite as focused as the campaign in the Poland chapter, but once it gets going, it has a sense of the bucolic and the ethereal to it. Again, this is a pleasing diversion away from the main campaign back at East Texas University if the Game Master is running Degrees of Horror.

Physically, East Texas University: Study Abroad is well presented and well written. It needs a slight edit in places, but the artwork is excellent and the maps clear and easy to read.

East Texas University: Study Abroad is solid addition to the East Texas University campaign setting and diversion away from the events of Degrees of Horror. Its use is limited though. The Game Master is unlikely more than one or two of these in an East Texas University campaign, but the anthology can be used in serval ways. As a diversion, but still with links back to the main campaign back home, as in the Costa Rica chapter; as a diversion of unconnected adventures as in the Italy chapter; or as separate mini-campaigns, as in the Poland and England chapters. The Poland and England chapters are the more engaging of the quartet, the Poland chapter in particular. Then of course, whatever that the Game Master does not use, she can draw from for inspiration for her own campaign, and there is always scope to develop further Savage Tales and drop them into the chapters as needed. Certainly, both the Poland and England Chapters could be developed into longer campaigns if the Game Master wanted to do so.