Miskatonic Monday #381: The Bride of Pendle

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

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Contrary to what the title might suggest, The Bride of Pendle has nothing to do with witches or the Pendle Witch Trails of 1612. Rather, it is a scenario set during the Jazz Age, the classic period for Call of Cthulhu, which takes place around, in, and on Pendle Hill in the county of Lancashire in the north of England. The year is 1922 and a group of friends are attending the wedding of their friend, Thomas Byrne, to Mary Osegawa, whom he met as an Embassy Clerk whilst posted to Japan during the Great War. They all met whilst studying at University College London following the war. This sounds like the start of a classic country house murder a la Agatha Christie or Dorothy L. Sayers, and whilst it has a little of the schemes and rivalries of that subgenre of detective fiction, it is far from that. The Bride of Pendle combines what would be a joyous event and local folklore with horror and revenge that have been brewing for centuries, and which will explode in the bloodiest of massacres since the Red Wedding on the day before coming to a climax on the magnificent, windswept Pendle Hill.

The Bride of Pendle: 1920s Folk Horror in Rural Lancashire is divided into three substantial sections. The first gives the background to the scenario, describing in some detail the NPCs and then in even greater detail, the scenario’s various locations. The maps of each are excellent, but the standout being that of Pendle Hill, imparting its sense of scale and bleakness, and how it imposes itself upon the landscape, whilst the scenario rips open the hillside to reveal its secrets hidden under layers of peaty morass. There is a lot of information that the Keeper will need to work through as part of her preparation to run the scenario.

The plot to the scenario itself concerns the long gestating plans of the daughter of a local cunning woman who turned to black magic when she fell under the influence of and began worshipping Selfæta, the ‘Self-eater’, a god of gluttony and narcissism, trapped behind a gate below Pendle Hill, and whose presence in local folklore is that of a boar god due to his appearance and a reaper of the Autumn Harvest. Every three centuries, at the Autumn Equinox, The Veil Between Worlds weakens enough that his cult can open the gate and allow him into our world to let him feast. She failed to bring this about the first time she tried and now is trying again—and of course, in 1922, a certain wedding takes places on the Autumn Equinox. Backed up by her cultists, she will trigger events that nobody will forget and potentially involve the loss of many lives.

The scenario plays out over the course of the Friday and Saturday of the wedding weekend. The Investigators arrive in the village of Downham below Pendle Hill where Tom Byrne and his brother have family. The events of the weekend are unsurprisingly tightly scheduled, but there is room in the schedule for the Investigators to look into the strangeness that pervades the village. The stampede by a herd of bedraggled sheep, the surreptitious manner of their host’s daughter, the unsettling outburst of the vicar, and so on, perhaps combined with a bracing walk up Pendle Hill or undertaking some light ecclesiastical research at the village church. Nevertheless, the Keeper will need to maintain an eye on timing as the Investigators are expected to be at certain places at certain times. That is, up until the scenario’s penultimate scene, the very strange, quite macabre events at the wedding. After that, the Investigators are free of the timetable, but will have a greater urgency to act.

The Keeper is ably supported throughout. Sections advise the Keeper on what to do if the cultists’ plot does not go to plan through the efforts of the Investigators and there are notes too, if the Keeper wants to run the scenario using Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos. In the third part of the scenario though, there are stats and names for generic NPCs as well as the named ones and the Mythos entities, as well as table for ‘Bouts of Madness’, descriptions of the various Mythos tomes, artefacts, and spells. There are versions of the maps for both the Keeper and her players, and six pre-generated Investigators, all friends of the groom, and representing a good mix of character types and origins.

Physically, can be no doubt that The Bride of Pendle is exceedingly well appointed. It is an attractive looking affair with a stylish layout and judicious use of period photographs. The few pieces of artwork are reasonable, but the handouts are also particularly good, but what really stands out are the maps of the various locations for the scenario. These are of near professional quality, barring the lack of lavatories at the town’s public house and inn!

If there is quibble with The Bride of Pendle, then it is that the Sanity loss for the bloody wedding scene is low given how shocking it is. If there is an issue with The Bride of Pendle, it is that is almost overly detailed which gives a lot for the Keeper to study and prepare in order to run the scenario. Also, as written it suggests that it is a one-shot scenario, but it is long for a one-shot, likely taking four or so sessions to complete. One thing that the scenario does not address is the aftermath, that is, what happens as a consequence of the Investigators’ actions. Depending upon the group, this can be explored on a player-by-player basis, but some suggestions in the scenario would not have gone amiss.

The Bride of Pendle: 1920s Folk Horror in Rural Lancashire is a richly detailed, very well appointed scenario. Although that detail does require a high degree of preparation and it is tightly scripted in places—as befitting the event at its heart, The Bride of Pendle serves up a weekend of rural oddity and genteel propriety and joy, undone by the squealing horror of the boar from beyond!

Dangerous Diaspora

When Malcolm Donnaughy, an aspiring Boston politician with links to Irish nationalism is found decapitated in his back yard, followed by Michael Cyr, a New York journalist who wrote about the Irish War for Independence, hoping for a peaceful resolution, and then, Corinna Franz, a German immigrant in Boston, questions are asked. In the fractious and often hot tempered debate has ardent nationalism turned into a bloody vendetta for one faction against all others? Or is there something else going on. It is set in late 1920 in Boston and New York, and points between, as the USA stands on the brink of tremendous change in the aftermath of the Great War. As a result of their contributions to the war effort, women have already received the vote following the passing of the 19th Amendment, but many other groups campaign, raise funds, and foment for radical change. None more so than amongst the Irish diaspora in North America. As the Irish War of Independence rages on the other side of the Atlantic, the disparate groups amongst the Irish nationalists cannot agree on what they want exactly, even though they may share a common cause.

This is the set-up for The Wild Hunt: A Race Across the North-Eastern U.S. to Confound an Ancient Imported Evil, a scenario for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, published by Stygian Fox Publishing. It is set against a backdrop of radical change and often radical activism that the scenario takes the time to explain, not just for the benefit of the Keeper, but also for the player as several of the pre-generated Investigators are activists—radical and otherwise. Further, these activist roles are represented by some of the new Occupations included in The Wild Hunt, whilst others, no less political, represent the establishment. The political Occupations include the Activist, the Political Animal, and the Political Machine Lieutenant. The more mundane Occupations consist of the Bootlegger, the Knocker-Upper, literally someone who goes round the city waking people up by knocking on their windows, the Messenger/Runner, the Performer, the Pinkerton Agent, Prohibition Agent, and Travelling Salesman. The only outré Occupation is the Occultist. Some of these are new, others are variations upon those found in Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition.

Setting up the scenario in terms of the Investigators requires some decisions to be made by the Keeper. Some of the pre-generated Investigators are members of law enforcement, some are activists or political operators, others are journalists or connected to the book trade. Each is connected to the investigation in some way and the ten are equally divided between Boston and New York. Some care is required to get them involved and working together, especially if they come from different cities.

Once set up, the scenario proper begins with the discovery of Corrine Franz’s dead body, perhaps even by one of the Investigators. After this, the investigation begins to clip-clop along in a timely fashion, Corrine’s ex-student, turned book thief, toy boy boyfriend (and likely thief from the bookshop owned by one of the pre-generated Investigators) providing the first clues, leading to the dirtiest speakeasy ever (really, it is under a coke plant) and onto New York’s Book Row. Key to continuing the investigation is learning the names of one or more activists connected to what turns out to be an extreme wing of the Clan na Gael, a fundraising organisation dedicated to the establishment of an Irish free state. Once the names are known, the investigation can swing into high gear and multiple lines of inquiry open up. This includes tracking their activities before and after the Great War, its members having been very busy in the last two years. The Investigators may even have the aid of other Irish nationalists embarrassed at quite what these extremists are doing in the name of the cause.

Ultimately, the Investigators will have enough information to have some idea of what the Irish nationalists-turned-cultists have been trying to do and what they might have unleashed. It is possible for the Investigators to stumble into the final scenes, which will involve a confrontation with the cultists and then what they have summoned, but hopefully by the time they do so in the back woods of Massachusetts, they will have at least learned enough information to have a good idea what is going on. And what is going on, as the title of the scenario suggests, is that the cultists are attempting to summon and harness something out of Celtic myth as a means to aid the Irish nationalist. Of course, this being a Call of Cthulhu scenario, this has not gone well and now, the cultists are suffering the consequences, scared, almost mad, but coherent. Facing the summoned threat is challenging, again, dedicated research should be enough to forewarn and perhaps, even forearm the Investigators.

The scenario is very well supported. The clues and links are made clear, the NPCs are nicely detailed, and there are lengthy sections devoted to library research in both Boston and New York, and there are detailed write-ups of the Mythos tomes that appear in the scenario. There is also a handful of new Mythos spells too. The various handouts are very well done and do include a puzzle that the players may have to work out.

The Wild Hunt is not a Mythos scenario per se, but rather that its monstrous antagonists are a Mythos interpretation of Celtic myth, one that the scenario’s human antagonists believe too much in and fall foul of. This is then layered out over the American north-east of New York and New England, taking in a little of Lovecraft Country along the way, from the heights of academia to the lows of the dirtiest dives imaginable, and then out into the swamps. Around this is built a rich, meaty investigation that will be really enjoyable to conduct with numerous interesting NPCs for the Keeper to portray—even the minor ones. The jazz trio of Black American NPC investigators deserve not just a mention, but scenarios of their own, suggesting a link to Harlem Unbound, whilst there are links to Masks of Nyarlathotep in the scenario, and thematically at least to Cthulhu Ireland. The scenario is not dissimilar to The Order of the Stone: A Horror Mystery in Three Parts, which could even be run as a thematic sequel to The Wild Hunt.

Physically, The Wild Hunt is pleasantly presented. The layout is clean and attractive, though it could be tighter in places, and the maps are well done. What stands out is much of the artwork, done in pastels that gives it a distinctive look reminiscent of Edward Hopper.

The Wild Hunt: A Race Across the North-Eastern U.S. to Confound an Ancient Imported Evil explores a side of its default period rarely explored in Call of Cthulhu. Its presentation of activism and especially Irish nationalism is maturely handled, though warrants the ‘For Mature Gamers’ label on the cover. This is a mature scenario, with a strong emphasis on the investigation before the horror is confronted, mixed with an enjoyably unhealthy dose of politics.

Here and There

Grimsbury stands at the confluence of two rivers, some miles inland from the sea, its industry struggling to recover from the return to civilian production following World War 2, and its buildings rising back from the harbour and Lower Town and up and over the steep bluffs on which New Town Sits. Surrounded by forests and a landscape pockmarked with neolithic and other archaeological sites, it is perhaps best known for the nearby Grimsbury Facility, the site of the United Kingdom’s first commercial nuclear power plant, built in 1957. It remains, though, little considered by those outside the town and its surrounds. Located perhaps in the West Country or the northwest of England, this is how many in Grimsbury like it. For Grimsbury has a secret… Magick is never far from the surface in the town and the surroundings. It flows through the ley lines and in and around ancient sites, and from There to Here. Here is the world around us, but There is another realm of existence, a place in between Here and what lies beyond, serving as a nexus point through which mortal men from Here can pass and the denizens of beyond can pass into Here. There is an unnatural world, a place where mortal men will die of thirst and starvation no matter how much they eat or drink. It is best accessed by The Village, an older version of Grimsbury which lies in the There and from which other realms may be found in the rural surrounds as well as monsters and fiends and other dangers. In Grimsbury, magick is to be contested over, between the members of the White Lodge adheres to the ‘right-handed path’ and works to thwart the drive for power and greed of the Black Lodge, whose members follow the ‘left-handed path’. To be investigated and its practitioners monitored, such as by ‘The Chimera Group’, set up by the Military of Defence in the wake of World War 2. To be shared such as the members of The Society of Lightning Strike Survivors whose members meet regularly to share their experiences and prescient visions of the future. To be stolen by the Ironhand, kidnappers and slavers originating from beyond, but accessing the Here via There. It might be 1964, it might be 1974, it might be 1984, or it might be all of them in the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG.

The Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG is published by Ubique Publications. As the title suggests it is a Folk Horror roleplaying game set in England. Set sometime in the latter half of the twentieth century, it is inspired by the film The Wicker Man, as well as British television series of the seventies and eighties such as Children of the Stones, The Sandbaggers, Dr. Who, and The Changes. As such its themes are of Ancient Britain, magic and ley lines, errant scientific experimentation, ‘Wyrd’ personalities, and secrets and lies. Mechanically, it uses the Year Zero Engine, first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days, so will be familiar to players of a variety of different roleplaying games. In addition to the rules for character creation, it includes its own magick system, as well as a guide to the setting of Grimsbury, the town and its surrounds, as well as the There. Plus, there are plenty of scenario hooks and advice for both player and Counsellor, as the Game Master is known in the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG.

A Player Character in the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG is defined by his Archetype, Age, Abilities, Skills, and Talents. He will also have Luck Points, Stress, Finances, Reputation, and Contacts, and may be able to use Folk Magick depending on the Archetype. There are twenty Archetypes, each given a single page explaining what they are and what they can do, plus Ability and Skill adjustments, potential flaws, and talents to choose from. The mundane Archetypes are Agent, Archaeologist, Aristocrat, Army Grunt/Soldier, Beatnik/Flower Child, Burglar, Commando, Copper, Mystical Scholar, Paranormal Researcher, Politician, Private Investigator, and Reporter, whilst the mystical are Hedge Witch/Warlock, Potion Maker, Priest, Sorcerer, Summoner, Walker, and Witch/Warlock. All of the latter have the Mysticism Attribute and can use Practical Magick. Age determines how many points a player has to spend on Abilities and Skills, plus his Luck Points and Financial Bonus. Younger Player Characters have more points to spend on Abilities, fewer to spend on Skills, more Luck Points, and no Finance Bonus, whereas Mature Player Characters have fewer points to spend on Abilities, more on Skills, fewer Luck Points, and a higher Financial Bonus. The Abilities are Strength, Agility, Ken—a combination of knowledge, perception, and willpower, and Connect—self-awareness and manipulation of others. They range in value between one and five. The Mysticism Ability is only available to certain Archetypes and represents the capacity to harness and understand Magick. There are twelve skills, three per Ability, and they range in value between one and five, but can go much higher. There are modifications provided if the Counsellor and her players want to roleplay in ‘hardcore’ mode, with lower Ability scores and fewer skills.

To create a character, a player decides on his character’s Age and from this spends the given points on Abilities and Skills, whilst noting down the other factors. He also chooses an Archetype, noting down its benefits. He chooses two Talents. One of these will come from the Archetype itself, for example, ‘We Served Together’ and ‘Do you know who I am?’ for the Politician, whilst the other comes from a general list, such as ‘Crime Scene Investigation’ and ‘Smuggler’.

Our sample Player Character is Snowdrop Jones, the daughter of a hippy who grew up on a commune. She grew up sickly, but the den mother prepared many home and other natural remedies to treat her. In the process she learned many of the recipes and more, gaining more of an education in the old ways and superstitions than from what modern schooling could offer. She has a reputation for being dreamy and a short attention span, but she cares about people and magic, using what she knows to help.

Name: Snowdrop Jones
Archetype: Beatnik/Flower Child Age: 23
Health Points: 5

Stress Points: 8
Luck Points: 5
Magick Points: 7
Financial Bonus: -2
Carrying Allowance: 40

ABILITIES/SKILLS

Strength: 2
Agility: 3 Sneak 1
Ken: 3 Detect/Observe 1, Magickal Focus – Folk Magic 1, Magickal Focus – Potion Making 2, Willpower 1
Connect: 4 Read 1, Manipulate 2, Heal/Console 2
Mysticism: 4

TALENTS
Just the Thing, Keeper of the Old Ways

FLAW
Short Attention Span

Mechanically, the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG uses the Year Zero Engine, which requires rolls of six-sided dice, the aim being to roll sixes as they count as successes. To have his character undertake an action, the player assembles a dice pool formed from the combination of an Ability, skill, gear, and assistance from another Player Character. Typically, a single Success is required for a Player Character to achieve his aims, but further Successes may grant a Bonus Effect determined by the Counsellor. If four or more Success are rolled, the result is a Critical Success, but a Critical Failure if four or more ones—or Banes—are rolled.

Any result with no sixes counts as a failure. At this point, the player can decide to ‘Push the Roll’. This allows him to roll the entire dice pool. A Pushed Roll that generates Successes means that the Player Character achieved his aim, but a Pushed Roll that generates Success and Banes, means that the Player Character achieved his aim, but with consequences, whilst a Pushed Roll without any Successes and one or more Banes is a failure with consequences. The Counsellor has a table to which she can refer to determine what the consequences might be. These might be that the Player Character suffers a fainting spell and loses two Stress points, gains a revival, or wakes up on a train with no idea how he got there, all depending upon the situation in which the action was attempted.

A Pushed Roll also has one other side effect and that is that the Player Character loses a point of Stress, reflecting how unnerving or odd he finds the world of Grimsbury right now. Particularly unnerving or scary situations may require a Player Character to make a Stress Check. Any rolled Success means that the Player Character has passed, whilst no Successes are a failure and the Player Character loses another point of Stress. Worse though, any Failure with a Bane means that not only is the Player Character’s further Stress reduced by one (or more), and he will also commit an involuntary action as determined by the Counsellor, such as falling over or dropping an item or crying out. Lastly, should a Player Character’s Stress be reduced to zero, he is in a state of Panic and needs to roll on the ‘Panic Effects’ table. He could suffer from a cardiac arrest and drop dead or he could suffer from hallucinations for the next few hours.

If all else fails, a Player Character can also rely on Luck. This can be burned to reroll any check, revise a fact or scene, or to use an additional Folklore Magick action and have it succeed. However, burning Luck triggers a Stress Check. Luck is very slow to recover, resetting at the end of an adventure or at least refilling over the course of a year of game time.

Combat in the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG, like most roleplaying games using the Year Zero Engine, is short, brutal, and often nasty. Although many of the Archetypes in the roleplaying game will rely upon it, more interesting is the use of Magick in the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG. It encompasses more than just casting spells, including ritual, sacrifice, chemistry, celebration, performance (singing & dancing), gathering, geomancy, and more. The roleplaying game keeps the description of magick quite broad, so allowing for the creativity of the players and their character when using it. Magick is also woven into the landscape of both the Here and the There, so the environment, whether that is the alignment of the planets or a nearby ley line, will also often affect Magick and its casting.

Mechanically, knowledge of each of the different types and areas of Magick is treated as a different ‘Focus’, an area of specialist understanding. This ranges from ‘Brew Potions’, ‘Dimensional Travel/Gates’, and ‘Enchant Items’ to ‘Read Minds’, ‘Illusion/Disguise’, and ‘Summoning’ via ‘Mental Control’, ‘Nature – Plants’, ‘Foresight/ Portents/Visions’, and ‘Heal Up’. The player of a practitioner of Magick does not roll to see whether a spell or other magical outcome succeeds, but to see what its effect is and how effective it is. This is called a ‘Magickal Effect Roll’ and in general it works like a standard skill roll in the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG. The base dice pool consists of the Player Character’s Mysticism and a Magickal Skill plus one die per Magick Point invested in the use of Magick. The dice for Player Character’s Mysticism and a Magickal Skill are rolled together, whilst the dice for Magick Points are rolled separately. A roll with no Success and no Banes means that the attempt succeeds with the desired effect. If Successes are rolled, the Magick has an even greater effect than intended. However, if Banes are rolled—and they can only be rolled on the dice for the Magickal Points—there are consequences. This might be as simple as the effect draining more Magick Points than intended (and if that drains all of the practitioner’s Magick Points, there is a chance he will die), the effect simply fizzling out, being more amazing or disastrous than intended, and so on…

All Magickal effects require a minimum of a single Magickal Point. This will be enough to get the desired Magickal outcome, but does not guarantee it. What a player is doing when his character expends more Magickal Points, is not trying to achieve a greater effect, but trying to increase the chances of the desired effect. It has a brute force feel to it, unsubtle and with a higher chance of consequences. Magickal Points can be recovered through rest, through certain abilities and items, and even conducting a Recharge Ritual on or near a Ley Line. Ley lines can also be used to boost Magickal actions, transport practitioner’s of Geomancy, and more.

The setting of Grimsbury is described in in engaging detail, focusing upon individual and interesting locations such as the Old Square in Lower Square with its funicular railway up the bluff to Upper Grimsbury and the Lunchroom, serving the dockworkers daily, where the soup is good, there is time to chat or exchange microfilm, and the owner, Mrs. Mablethorpe, is a dab hand with the potions. Magic tricks can be learned at Ash’s Magic Shop and performances at Rodney’s Puppet theatre have taken on an air cruelty when the puppets talk about Rodney, whilst beyond the town walking paths follow the same routes as hunters did thousands of years ago from cairn to standing stone, the Grimsbury Facility, a secretive team of technomages at the nuclear power plant is investigating far more than just subatomic particles—it is attempting to understand and control the There. The landscape is dotted with neolithic sites and burial mounds like the Hill and Crown, marked with a spiralling path and topped with an ancient sacred grove where Druids still make sacrifices to appease the spirits. Gates and potential gates can also be found, each one offering a connection between the Here and the There, though the means of activating them is rarely the same twice. There is an unnatural and unsettling, faded quality to There, but in the counterpart to modern Grimsbury, the village it once was, a man in a tweed suit with a pot of tea on the go, maintains a chalkboard of names, tasks, and opportunities, an inn stands with plenty of patrons, but no sight of any proprietor, and at the Camera Shoppe, film can obtained that will reveal the invisible. A wonderful range of personalities are detailed, as are numerous factions, such as a flock of shape changing birds that really like to share secrets, the Grimbury Ramblers who walk from one neolithic stone to the next in search of the Blessing of the Stone, and the Conclave, Travellers that move from beyond to There and Here in search of the entities which would do great evil across all of There.

All of this is supported by some decent adventure seeds, both in the Here and the There, some of which are quite grim. There is some serviceable advice for Player and Counsellor alike. However, the rulebook does not include a beginning scenario and it does not include much in way of advice on running the game in the long term. The biggest omission is the lack of threats. No NPC is given stats and neither are there any stats for any magickal threat or threat from the There. To that end, the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG requires a companion detailing more of this aspect of the setting.

Physically, the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG is cleanly and tidily laid out.

The Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG has an engaging sense of otherness to it with the descriptions of the various Archetypes and of the Grimsbury of the Here and the There that somehow give a sense of somewhen between the 1950s and the 1980s. The rules are tried and tested, but the magick system offers a degree of flexibility combined with a sharp edge of danger if pushed too far. Yet the lack of mechanical threat and NPC and monster stats hinder the use of the setting by the Counsellor, which may persuade her to look to other rules that might provide the numbers and those threats where the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG does not. The Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG is a very likeable setting as written, but it awaits completion and further support in anticipation of an excursion to its Here and There.

Miskatonic Monday #345: Under The Chalk

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—

Name: Under the Chalk

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Z.V. Cretney

Setting: Dorset, 1976

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-five page, 32.58 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Five Go Mad in Dorset
Plot Hook: What’s a folk festival without fear and folly?

Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, eight NPCs, eleven handouts, one map, and one Folk monster.

Production Values: Excellent

Pros

# Atmospheric period piece

# Folkloric horror a la Nigel Neale

# Feels as if it was made by ITV

# Decent handouts

# Calxophobia

# Chorophobia

# Hemophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Layout needs a good tidy up

# No actual phobia of Morris Dancing

# Just a little too arch

# The University of Rural Dorset. UNFORGIVABLE.

Conclusion

# Fear and loathing in West Dorset

# Pleasing pastoral oddness that ramps up into bloody rustic horror

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends

Machenesque Mysteries

In the wake of the Great War, men brought the horrors of the trenches on the Western Front home with them. Yet there was no respite, for there were horrors on the home front. As the Jazz players trumpeted a new golden age and the Bright Young Things danced into the light, some returned to the dark, bucolic wilds of Wales. Promises of sleep free of terrible memories lead to labour of another kind to build edifices deep mountains, of solitary walkers dragged away by creatures out of legend never to be seen again, of young girls playing with new friends in the woods only to return the following day having aged years, of witch-driven cults dedicated to ancient practices that promise healthy harvests. Others returned to the metropolis to become ensnared in dark doings in grimy alleys and fog-shrouded back streets, dank basements, and behind the façades of genteel clubs and societies. Scientists explore beyond the rationality of reason in pursuit of knowledge that only their ancestors understood the dangers of. The Cult of Dionysus spreads its influence as it inducts civil servants and other officials into its ranks. Creatures out of myth and legend prey on the lonely and the lost, unnoticed amongst the city’s teeming masses. There are signs of the occult and weirdness everywhere if you know what to look and have had your eyes opened. There is worse beyond, for on the other side of the Veil lies the Otherworld, which goes by many names—‘TírnAill’ in Ireland, ‘Annwn’ in Wales, ‘Avalon’ in Arthurian legend—and is a strange and twisted domain, home to gods whom our ancestors gave form and name, such as Arawn, Pan, Nodens… There are points where the Veil between this world and the Otherworld is at its weakest and that is when the influence of the Otherworld begins to seep through and worse, even let its gods in.

Fortunately, there is a group of people who know about the Otherworld and investigate signs of the weird and the horrific and the terror it triggers. The Gold Tiberius Society was founded in 1906 as a collective to investigate such occurrences and as these took their toll upon the founding members, it began to look for new members at the beginning of the Jazz Age. Those it invites are of independent means and have the time and inclination to investigate, delve deep into the society’s archives scattered across London, and continue working on the Scarlet Map, a geographical representation of the Veins that seem to connect and criss-cross the capital as well as lead back into the Welsh countryside.

This is the set-up for The Terror Beneath: An Investigative Roleplaying Games of Weird Folk Horror. Published by Osprey Games, best known for roleplaying games such as Hard City: Noir Roleplaying and Jackals – Bronze Age Fantasy Roleplaying, it is written by the author of Romance of the Perilous Land: A Roleplaying Game of British Folklore. It is roleplaying game based on the works of Arthur Machen, the Welsh horror writer, author of books such as The Great God Pan, The White People, and The Inmost Light, who explored themes such as decadence, the degeneration of the human soul, the corruption of the innocent, scientists combining technology with the occult, the revelation that murderous beings from the other side lie behind common folklore, pagan practices to ancient deities, and more. There are elements of folk horror here, but also eldritch horror, such that Machen’s work is seen as a precursor to and influence upon the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The latter is important in The Terror Beneath in several ways.

The Terror Beneath is written for use with The GUMSHOE System, most notably used in the roleplaying game Trail of Cthulhu, published by Pelgrane Press. Originally designed for the roleplaying games, The Esoterrorists and Fear Itself, the concept behind The GUMSHOE System is that investigative scenarios are difficult to run with most role-playing games. What it does is make sure that not only are the clues needed to push the story and the investigation forward easy to find, but also that the Investigators are competent to find them. Further, if the players and their Investigators want more information, they can look for it and if they have the area of expertise and the points to pay for it, they find that too. Then it is up to the players to interpret what their Investigators have found. The Terror Beneath uses the most recent version of The GUMSHOE System, most recently seen in Cthulhu Confidential and Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops. What this means is that Investigative Abilities do not have points, but instead have Pushes, which the player can spend to gain the extra information or a benefit. Nevertheless, this means that The Terror Beneath is compatible with Trail of Cthulhu, Pelgrane Press’ roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror, and as its inspiration is the precursor to much of Lovecraft’s fiction, it has links to Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition published by Chaosium, Inc.. For example, Noden appears in the Keeper Rulebook for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, and Machen’s ‘Little People’ appear in the scenario, ‘Plant Y Daear’, in the anthology, Sacraments of Evil.

In terms of framing, The Terror Beneath is set during the 1920s though much of Machen’s fiction was written and takes place before the Great War. The Gold Tiberius Society is a device designed to facilitate investigations and provide a reason for the Investigators to delve into the horrors that lurk in the shadows. It is thus set a decade before Trail of Cthulhu, which takes place in the Desperate Decade of the thirties, but it shares the same squalid metropolis as Bookhounds of London and perhaps a reverence for Britain with Fearful Symmetries. Perhaps as the Roaring Twenties draws to a close, a campaign for The Terror Beneath could dovetail into one or the other, if not both?

What The Terror Beneath does share with Trail of Cthulhu is Modes of Play. In Trail of Cthulhu, these are ‘Pulp’ and ‘Purist’. In The Terror Beneath, they are ‘Terror’ and ‘Pulp’. In ‘Terror’ mode, the Investigators can suffer less Shock and fewer Injury Cards than in ‘Pulp’ Mode, which is slightly more forgiving. That said, The Terror Beneath draws a distinction between ‘Terror’ and ‘Horror’. Terror is the feeling of dread and uncertainty before the actual horror is revealed, and it is this terror that the Game Master should be striving to invoke in her players and their Investigators.

An Investigator in The Terror Beneath is defined by two types of Abilities—Investigative Abilities and General Abilities. Investigative Abilities, such as Assess Honesty, Essayist, Folklore, Occultism, and Streetwise, are used to gain information. If the Investigator has the Investigative Ability, he receives the information or the clue. General Abilities, like Driving, Fighting, Health and Sense Trouble, are more traditional in that their use requires dice to be rolled and a test passed to determine the outcome. He also has a name and a Drive, which motivates the Investigator to expose himself to the terror of the horrors that lie out there, such as ‘Adventure’, ‘Duty’, or ‘Morbid Fascination’. Investigator creation is actually easy and fast. A player selects an Occupation Kit like Antiquarian, Museum Curator, and Scientist, and combines it with a Background Kit such as Conscripted Soldier, Farmhand, Munitions Factory Worker, and Shipbuilder. The Occupation Kit provides the Investigative Abilities, whilst the Background Kit provides the General Abilities.

Name: Winifred Messam
Drive: Show-Off
Occupation Kit: Bright Young Thing
Background Kit: Silver Spoon
Investigative Abilities: Charm, Culture, Inspiration, Society
General Abilities: Athletics 5, Composure 7, Driving 4, Fighting 5, First Aid2, Health 6, Mechanics 0, Preparedness 2, Sense Trouble 1, Sneaking 0

There are some notably different Investigative Abilities. ‘Dérive’ is the ability to notice the strange changes and differences in London from walking the streets regularly, whilst ‘Essayist’ represents the writer's ability to navigate literary London, understand its numerous figures and their relationships, and present a coherent argument on the page and in person.

Mechanically, an Investigator in The Terror Beneath only spends Pushes for Investigative Abilities to gain extra clues beyond the basic, and then points from the General Abilities to perform actions. In general, an Investigator does not necessarily fail in a task, but instead fails forward, perhaps finding another way to approach the task or succeeding with a complication. A Push is used in conjunction with an Investigative Ability. For example, if used in conjunction with Linguistics, the Investigator might acquire an occult tome for a better price, set up a working relationship with an expert philologist, notice that a tome is a palimpsest, and so on. Once spent, there will be moments in play when the points from General Abilities and Pushes can be refreshed.

Combat in The Terror Beneath is designed to have a narrative flow and be brutal. Initiative order is determined by the number of points from the Fighting General Ability invested in the fight and then the progress of the fight is tracked by the margin between the Difficulty number for the foe and the die result each player rolls. Individually, if the result is less than the Difficulty number, then the Investigator will suffer the effects of the foe’s Minor Injury or Major Injury Card, depending upon how low the margin is. If the result is equal to, or higher than, the Difficulty number, then the Investigator succeeds and the player can narrate how his Investigator carries out the objectives set out at the beginning of the fight. If it is three or more, it is kept at three and the Investigator will receive a Fight Benefit, such as a Push or a refreshed General Ability, at the end of the combat. Even if the Investigator succeeds, he still suffers a Toll, the effect of actually fighting the foe. Typically, this will be a levy of a single General Ability Point, which can come from Athletics, Fighting, or Health. At the end of the round, the running total the margins determines if the fight is going in the Investigators’ favour or against them.

Injuries are handled as Injury Cards, which can be Major or Minor. For example, the Minor Injury Card for a Hound of Annwn is ‘Annwn Bite’ and the Major Injury Card is ‘Annwn Paralysis’. Mental hazards require a Composure test and, on a failure, the Investigator will suffer a Minor Shock or a Major Shock. For example, when the Investigator enters a foreboding place, the Minor Shock is ‘Foreboding Place’, but the Major Shock is ‘Terrible Place’. These typically last for the length of an investigation, and impose penalties upon an Investigator’s actions. An Investigator cannot have three Injury Cards or three Shock Cards, although he could have two of either. However, if the third and final Card is an Injury Card, the Investigator is dead, or loses grip on reality if a Shock Card. Either way, the player has the opportunity to narrate the outcome. The Terror Beneath lists all of the Shock and Injury Cards in the back of the book.

Combat focuses on brawling rather than shootouts. In fact, there are no stats for guns in The Terror Beneath, but this does not mean that they are not present in the Roaring Twenties it portrays. Rather they are in the hands of NPCs rather than the Investigators. For example, the Gangster is armed and it is possible for an Investigator to be shot. This is represented by a Minor Injury Card and a Major Injury Card, ‘Grazed’ and ‘Shot’ respectively. Melee attacks are handled in the same way, such as the ‘Cudgel Blow’ and ‘A Thorough Thrashing’ Injury Cards. There is thus a brutality to combat and the Investigators are trying to avoid suffering damage and its deleterious effect as much as inflicting it on their foes or stopping what they are doing. Combat in The Terror Beneath is something to be avoided.

Similar to a Mental hazard, it takes a Composure test to perform sorcery and if failed the caster suffers a Major Shock. There may also be a Toll on the caster’s Athletics, Fighting, or Health, even if successful. This can be one, two, or three points, so it is often better to cast spells as a group. Some spells require a higher Bleed value for the spell to be cast without penalty. The list of spells in The Terror Beneath is not extensive, but this is not a roleplaying in which the Investigators will be casting a lot of spells.

In terms of setting and background, The Terror Beneath presents a broad overview, that over the course of the book looks at Arthur Machen’s fiction, weird folk horror investigations, the Gold Tiberius Society, and both London and Wales, the two contrasting locations for Machen’s fiction. For London there are descriptions of the various cults and secret societies in the city, whilst for Wales there are the places of power in the rural countryside and the pagan cults found there. Both cults and societies provide numerous human threats with links to the Otherworld and the terrors that the Game Master can develop as the basis for her scenarios. Besides the gods of the Otherworld and numerous creatures drawn from folklore and definitely dark and dangerous, there is advice for the Game Master on handling both Terror and Horror, primarily by building points where Terror might strike into a scenario, building backwards from the horror to create the mystery and basis of the investigation, laying out clues, and so on.

The Terror Beneath includes a scenario, ‘Mystery: Don’t Sleep’. The Investigators are called in to look into the sudden disappearance of a London dock worker. This is set in the capital—there is no mystery set in rural Wales in The Terror Beneath—and takes the Investigator into the communities of London’s docks and veterans of the Great War to discover the consequences of a secret military project conducted during the war. It explores Machen’s theme of misused science and its vile consequences.

Physically, The Terror Beneath is a relatively slim book. The book is well written, though lightly illustrated with dark, murky artwork which swirls with threat and peculiarity.

The Terror Beneath is published at a time when the interest in folk horror continues to grow and grow, yet it offers more than that. Its horror is eldritch and ancient, verging on the unknowable, yet rooted in folkloric explanations for the unknown, so there is a familiarity to elements of it. This is more cultural in origin as opposed to the unknowable we have learned from the pen of H.P. Lovecraft and through roleplaying games such as Call of Cthulhu and Trail of Cthulhu. Setting The Terror Beneath in the Roaring Twenties means that we can explore a period normally associated with Lovecraftian investigative horror and do so without the negative aspects of Lovecraft’s writings. Ultimately, The Terror Beneath: An Investigative Roleplaying Games of Weird Folk Horror enables us to explore the horror of Arthur Machen, his precursor, primordial and peculiar, veiled and vile, and regarded as the first modern writer of the genre.

Grudge from the Grave

The Nature of the Beast is a scenario set in an England rent by division and strife during the reign of Charles I. This division is between the Protestantism of the country and the Catholicism of Rome, Paganism and Protestantism, King and Parliament, King and country, weakening the Anima Gentum, the bloodline and the Crown, which ensured that the Crown looked to both the spiritual needs and the physical needs of the country. The Anima Gentum is yet to be broken with the execution of the king in 1649, but the Veil has been weakened by this division, giving access to the beyond, the Shadowlands, and the Demonic Realms, and so allowing mankind to entreat with things beyond our understanding. The Anima Gentum will be broken, England will be upturned, and the land will have no king. In the north of England, as the Scots fume and bridle at the King Charles’ attempt to reform the Presbyterian Church and there is mutterings of civil unrest in the south as the king may actually recall Parliament for the first time in a decade, the weakening of the veil has enabled a terrible revenge to be wrought from beyond the grave. Monsters stalk the land, and though they do not know it, they threaten the reputation of a noble family even as their presence brings about terrible tragedy.

The Nature of the Beast is the first scenario to be published for The End of Kings: Core Rules for 17th Century Adventure, the roleplaying game of magic, monarchy, and division set in the early modern period prior to the English Civil War. Published by MontiDots Creations, best known for publishing horror scenarios such as The Fenworthy Inheritance and scenarios for the Old School Renaissance such as Limbus Infernum. It is a roleplaying game in which weaselly Vagabonds, stout Commoners and Yeomanry, and gracious members of the Nobility, as Cunning Folk or Woodkernes, Clubmen or Soldiers, Priests or Witch Hunters, Warlocks or Outlaws seek adventure and perhaps work to protect the realm from creatures from beyond the Veil and machinations of those men and women who would take advantage of the weakening of the Veil. Notably, it uses the GORE Generic Old-School Role-playing Engine published by Goblinoid Games. This is a percentile system which means that anyone familiar with the Basic Roleplay mechanics will have no difficulty adapting The End of Kings and thus The Nature of the Beast.

The scenario opens with the ‘Adventurists’—as it terms the Player Chaarcters—being hired by Reverend Richard Hinde, the corpulent priest of the village of Cranfold in the north of England. The flocks of sheep kept round the village have been subject to a spate of vicious attacks, the corpses left mutilated and half-eaten. The village is divided as to the nature of the culprit. Although no wolf has been seen in the country for a century, some say that is what it is, but others think it to be something much, much fouler. The priest, though, will confide that he thinks it a thing summoned through the Great Veil, though by whom or to what end, he can only conjecture. He had thought to hire the local hunter, but he has not been seen for days, but there is worse news for the reverend’s employer, the local squire. Lord Perfleet’s eldest daughter has also gone missing. The Adventurists are thus to travel to Cranfold and investigate the activities of the creature before hunting it down and killing it.

These events are of course, all connected, as the Adventurists will discover in the course of their investigations. Initially, it is suggested that this take the form of divination. The scenario gives crystallomancy as being the most effective and suggests that one of the Adventurists be capable of this, whilst another should be a priest with a sanctified silver cross capable of holding twenty Magic Points. The divination will grant them some initial hints, and can be used to gain further insights once the Adventurists arrive in Cranfold and want to examine the surrounding valley. Beyond this, their efforts are hampered by the arrival of the county Intelligencers—members of the inquisition who search for witches and signs of the devil—who have come to Cranfold in order to uncover what they think to be the activities of a witch. Bullies, man and woman, they will be quick to discover the ‘culprit’, denounce her, and condemn her to her fate, all in the name of god and coin in the pocket! The witchfinders are a reprehensible bunch, and are likely to arouse the ire of the Adventurists. This may lead to confrontation, if not between the Adventurists and Intelligencers, then between the Intelligencers and the returned hunter. The issue for the Adventurists is that the Intelligencers have the law on their side and any confrontation will get them into trouble. If he can be found, he knows much more about what has been happening and will point the Adventurists in the right direction, including approaching a caravan of Roma who are due to pass through the village as they regularly do at this time of the year. They will be able to help with advice and more before the Adventurists home in on the source and centre of the horror going on in Cranfold.

The Nature of the Beast is well supported with excellent maps and stats of the various NPCs and monsters. However, it could have been better organised, such as giving the description of the village towards the start of the book rather than in the middle of the adventure. Otherwise, physically, The Nature of the Beast is well presented, decently illustrated, and does come with great maps.

Where The Nature of the Beast is at its weakest is in the overreliance upon crystallomancy and divination as a means for the players and their Adventurists to gain hints and clues. It does not allow for other options and this, combined with the poor organisation means that The Nature of the Beast is not as easy to run as it should be. Here is where it could be better developed to be more flexible and less reliant on magic.

The Nature of the Beast is a solid adventure that combines some familiar elements—attacks on animals, revenge from beyond the grave, fear of witches, folk horror, and so on—with a pervading sense of horror and the unknown, the result feeling very much like a Hammer Horror film. The climax of the scenario does lend itself to cinematic action, so enforcing that feel. Even if the Game Master does not want to run the scenario using The End of Kings: Core Rules for 17th Century Adventure, the plot and set-up of The Nature of the Beast is relatively easy to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition or Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay, as both are set during a similar period.

Miskatonic Monday #224: Archives of Terror

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise of the Dead, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—

Name: Archives of Terror – Call of Cthulhu paranoia horror in 1990 Romania

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Christopher Dimitrios

Setting: 1990s Romania

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-one page, 24.76 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Archives hide secrets... Secrets mean power and fear...

Plot Hook: In the wake of the Christmas Revolution, there is a chance to get into the national archives of the Securitate. What secrets do they hide?

Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, three NPCs, three handouts, one floorplan, five Mythos tomes (technically), and two Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# One-shot of heightened feeling of paranoia and post-surveillance

# Set at an interesting point in history

# Mythos and magic driven by secrets

# Could be adjusted to other post-Communist states

# Nicely detailed pre-generated Investigators

# Scopophobia

# Paranoia

# Papyrophobia

Cons

# Needs a close read to understand how the secrets and magic works

# Shares Investigators with Baba Dochia. Could be a sequel? 

Conclusion

# Investigators need to know will drive revelations and magic in this paranoia-fuelled delve in state/personal secrets 

# Supported by well done Investigators

Miskatonic Monday #219: Baba Dochia

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise of the Dead, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—

Name: Baba Dochia

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Christopher Dimitrios

Setting: 1990s Romania

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Sixteen page, 4.57 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Suffer the little children... for the greater good

Plot Hook: Corruption and faith may be undoing of the ancient ways.
Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, four NPCs (plus more), two handouts, one map, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# Wraps local folklore in the Mythos, but the Mythos is not really needed

# Engaging piece of folkloric horror

# Strong sense of place

# Frigophobia

# Gerontophobia

# Pedophobia

Cons

# NPC connections and what they know could be clearer

# Lines of investigation could be more clearly presented

# Wraps local folklore in the Mythos, but the Mythos is not really needed

Conclusion

# Creepy post-Communist folkloric horror one-shot

# Keeper needs to make line of investigation clearer to better run the scenario, but the scenario has everything she needs