Cthulhu Confidential assumes
that the Game Master and player alike are familiar with both roleplaying and
the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction. There are introductions to both
in the book, but they are not its starting point. Similarly, there is a set of
Starter Notes for the experienced GUMSHOE System Game Master in the appendix,
but again this is not the starting point in Cthulhu Confidential. This the
nature of the Investigator and the investigative process for one. Just like
Trail of Cthulhu and the GUMSHOE System, an Investigator in Cthulhu Confidential and the GUMSHOE One-2-One System has two types of Abilities—Investigative
Abilities and General Abilities. Investigative
Abilities, such as Assess Honesty and Research, are used to gain information.
If the Investigator has the Investigative Ability, he receives the information
or the clue. General Abilities, like Driving and Shadowing, are more
traditional in that their use requires dice to be rolled and a test passed to
determine success or failure. Cthulhu Confidential then deviates from this in
order to account for the fact that there is only the one Investigator rather
than many as in Trail of Cthulhu. With multiple players, all of the Investigative
Abilities would be accounted across the Investigators. Not so in Cthulhu Confidential. So, when an Investigator lacks an Investigative Ability, he can
instead turn to an NPC or source for help. In Trail of Cthulhu, Investigative
Abilities have pools of points which can be spent to gain extra clues about a
situation, but in Cthulhu Confidential, the Investigator has Pushes, which the
player can spend to gain the extra information or a benefit. This applies to
any Investigative Ability and could be used to spring the Investigator from
jail on a bogus arrest using the Law Investigative Ability, persuade the doorman
at a suspect’s office that you have not been asking about his whereabouts, and
so on. An Investigator begins a scenario with four Pushes and can earn more
through play.
In Trail of Cthulhu, General Abilities also have pools of points, which are
then expended to modify dice rolls for tests. In Cthulhu Confidential, General
Abilities have one or two six-sided dice, which are also rolled on Tests. Tests
are rolled when there is the possibility of failure in a situation, such as
getting past a doorman to break into a suspect’s office or fleeing from the inhuman
monster found in said suspect’s office, and are divided into two types. In either
case, the player rolls the dice—if his Investigator has more than one—one at a
time and totals their values. This is important because some Tests can be
overcome with the roll of the one die rather than two dice. The Challenge is the
more complex and more interesting of the two.
A Challenge gives three results—‘Advance’, ‘Hold’, and ‘Setback’.
The ‘Advance’ is the equivalent of ‘Yes, and…’ and indicates a successful
attempt with an extra benefit. This benefit is called an Edge and can prove
useful later in the investigation. In addition, if the Challenge was overcome
with the roll of a single die, then the Investigator is rewarded with an
additional Push. The ‘Setback’ is the equivalent of ‘No, and…’ and indicates a failed
attempt with an added Problem that will hamper the investigation. The ‘Hold’
lies somewhere in between with the Investigator no better or worse off, and
also without an Edge or a Problem. It is also possible for the Investigator to
suffer an Extra Problem in order to gain an additional die to roll in the hope
of gaining an ‘Advance’.
For example, Dexter ‘Dex’ Raymond, the Private Investigator presented
as the first protagonist in Cthulhu Confidential has been hired by the wife of
Lorenzo Calderone, nightclub owner and suspected
mob associate. She wants a divorce and suspects her husband of cooking the
books to reduce her settlement and alimony. She does not think that the real account
books are kept at home or the nightclub, but at the office of her husband’s
lawyer, Crispin Grimes. To get those books, Raymond needs to get past the
doorman and into the office. So, the Challenge could look like this:
COOKED BOOKS
Stealth
Advance 6+: You get past the doorman and into Grimes’ office where you find the
account books. No one knows the books are missing and when they find out, who took
them. Earn Edge: ‘Crooked Books.’
Hold 3-5: The doorman does his rounds just as you are about to break in and you
are not going to get past him now.
Setback 2 or less: You initially get past the doorman, but just as you are
about to get into Grimes’ office, he spots on his rounds. Triggers Challenge ‘Flee
the Building.’
Extra Problem: ‘There was this one guy poking around…’
EDGE: ‘Crooked Books.’ You got the account books Mrs Calderone wanted, so case
settled. But if you keep a copy yourself, it could keep her husband or his lawyer
off your back.
PROBLEM: ‘There was this one guy poking around…’ The theft puts Lorenzo
Calderone and Crispin Grimes on edge. A Push is needed to successfully use any
Interpersonal skill with both.
In comparison, a Quick Test requires to simple roll to gain
an ‘Advance’ result. The structure of Cthulhu Confidential and its scenarios
presents Challenges as clear, black boxes of test and both Edges and Problems
as essentially cards that are given to the player to add to his Investigator. Fights
and both Horror and Madness, key elements of the two genres for Cthulhu Confidential—noir detective stories and Cosmic Horror—are handled as Challenges,
typically using the Fighting General Ability for combat and the Stability General
Ability when confronted with something horrifying. This is another place where Cthulhu Confidential differs from the multiplayer Trail of Cthulhu, because in Trail of Cthulhu, the Investigators can afford to lose one of their number, whether from
a fight or madness, and such a loss is easily replaced. Not so in Cthulhu Confidential. Here a loss means the end of the investigation and the scenario,
so whilst fights are dangerous, they are not lethal—and that applies to the NPCs
or monsters as much as the Investigator. The investigator can suffer debilitating
injury or loss, but can recover through the ‘Take Time to Recover’ action. Similarly,
the antagonist, whether mundane or monstrous, is not killed, but suffers a loss
that will benefit the Investigator in some way, represented by an Edge. Encounters
or confrontations with horror work in the same fashion, although a ‘Setback’ will
penalise the Investigator with a ‘Mythos Shock’ Problem. These cannot always be
countered with the ‘Take Time to Recover’ action and instead require an Edge
capable of countering a ‘Mythos Shock’ Problem. This is not to say that the
Investigator cannot die or be sent mad, but this does not happen mid-story.
Instead, it can become all too much at the end. This is especially so if the Investigator
is left with a ‘Mythos Shock’ Problem or two or more that he has been unable to
deal with in the course of the investigation. The remaining Problem cards will
affect the narration of the investigation’s outcome and ending, typically in
downbeat fashion to fit the twin genres of Cthulhu Confidential. If the
Investigator survives, his player can retain these Problems to carry over into
the next scenario—some he has to and some he can choose—and they will continue
to influence the Investigator’s efforts until addressed. Even at the start of
the first scenario, an Investigator has an ongoing problem, although the player
is typically given a choice as to what that problem is.
For the Game Master there is advice on running the GUMSHOE One-2-One System. This
covers guiding the player (gently) and avoiding the sticking points common to
mystery and investigation scenarios, taking into account the nature of its single
player and Investigator play style. This includes advice on running both
sources and challenges and there is similar treatment on creating scenarios,
building Challenges, and designing Edges. This is backed up with numerous
examples which the Game Master can use for inspiration as well as model for her
own scenarios. The appendix for Cthulhu Confidential includes a Rules Quick
Reference, a Handout for New Roleplayers, lists of sources for all three
protagonists, a guide to solving cases, sample Player Characters from other GUMSHOE System roleplaying games in the GUMSHOE One-2-One System format, such
as an Ordo Veritas Agent from The Esoterrorists and a Mutant Cop from Mutant City Blues,
and a set of generic Edges.
Two thirds of Cthulhu Confidential is dedicated to its three
investigations and their protagonists, settings, and Problems and Edges. The
three Investigators are Dexter ‘Dex’ Raymond, a Private Investigator in Los
Angeles, 1937, obviously inspired by works of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell
Hammet; Vivian Sinclair, an investigative journalist
and lady detective in thirties New York, inspired by Kerry Greenwood and
Dorothy L. Sayers; and Langston Montgomery Wright, an African American invalided
veteran Private Investigator in Washington D.C. towards the end of World War II,
inspired by Walter Mosely and Chester Himes. Each Investigator is accompanied by
detailed descriptions of his or her sources and exceptionally good write-ups of
their respective cities—Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C. The
write-ups are so good, they are better than the actual supplements dedicated to
those cities previously published for Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying, and
in the case of Washington, D.C., the definitive guide Lovecraftian
investigative roleplaying, since no sourcebook has been published for the city,
let alone an actual scenario. In addition, all three authors—Robin D. Laws for Dexter
‘Dex’ Raymond, Ruth Tillman for Vivian Sinclair, and Chris Spivey for Langston
Montgomery Wright—address the social and cultural aspects of their settings. So,
there are discussions of whether Dexter ‘Dex’ Raymond should be a ‘straight
white guy’ or not; of Vivian Sinclair’s bisexuality and how to handle violence
against women; of handling the racist attitudes that Langston Montgomery Wright
will face. The advice is excellent throughout, being inclusive and helpful.
Then each Investigator has his or her own scenario. As Dexter ‘Dex’ Raymond,
the player will investigate ‘The Fathomless Sleep’. Fast-living society girl
Helen Deakin has fallen into catatonia and her smouldering sister wants to know
how this happened in this classic, hardboiled tale of blackmail and dirty money
with a dollop of weird mysticism. In ‘Fatal Frequencies’, Vivian Sinclair helps
out Sadie Cane, whose fiancé, George Preston, disappeared three days after a
murder in his apartment block. What has George got himself messed up in? Langston
Montgomery Wright investigates another disappearance, that of Lynette Miller, a
riveter, in ‘Capitol Colour’. Last time her father saw her, she had a new job,
secret, but highly paid. Where has she gone and what does her disappearance
have to do with the war effort? All three scenarios are excellent, detailed and
involving, and should keep the player and his Investigator intrigued and
enthralled to the end.
Physically, Cthulhu Confidential is a crisply presented black and white book.
It needs a slight edit in places, but is well written and engaging. It is not
extensively illustrated, but what artwork there is, is not only good, but also
captures the shades of grey in the three North American cities and both the
protagonists and antagonists the supplement depicts. The use of period maps and
other illustrations also enforces each setting’s sense of place.
Cthulhu Confidential provides an intense
roleplaying experience. It has elements of classic solo play because of its
set-up, especially in the structure of its Challenge mechanics and the Edges
and Problems gained through play, but the intensity comes from working with the
Game Master and interacting with the NPCs she depicts and doing so alone,
pushing the player to rely upon himself and his Investigator’s Abilities rather
than having to work with other players and their Investigators. Of course, the
involvement of the Game Master means there is more flexibility and scope to
adapt when investigating a mystery than there would be in a solo adventure. The
end result is that Cthulhu Confidential provides an enthralling and engaging
means of play and a one-on-one experience that pushes Lovecraftian
investigative roleplay closer to its cinematic and literary influences and models.
