Mythos on the Miskatonic

New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley was published in 2008 by Miskatonic River Press. Under the aegis of the late Keith Herber, this anthology would breathe new life into the revered Miskatonic Valley setting for Call of Cthulhu and new life into Call of Cthulhu itself at a time when the venerable roleplaying game’s publisher was not able to fully support it. Both this anthology, and its sequel, More Adventures in Arkham Country, would provide a platform for a new generation of new authors for Call of Cthulhu, many of whose previous works had appeared in Chaosium, Inc.’s long-running series of Miskatonic University Library Association monographs. In terms of content and look, New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley was inspired by the original series of supplements dedicated to Lovecraft Country that Chaosium had published in the nineties, but it had its own look that was fresh and clean, and overall, it felt like the hobby had a publisher for Call of Cthulhu who actually liked Call of Cthulhu once again. Sadly, Miskatonic River Press closed in 2013, its fifth and last book released being Tales of the Sleepless City. All five of its Call of Cthulhu supplements would go on to become collectible.

Fortunately, New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, Second Edition, was published in 2020, this time by Stygian Fox. The British publisher has updated the anthology to Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and upgraded it to be full colour, with new maps, handouts, and illustrations, and in hardback format. The new edition has also increased the scenario count from the original’s six to seven, with the inclusion of an all-new scenario from Seth Skorkowsky. This is a collection which will take a Keeper and her players up the Miskatonic Valley, from Arkham to Dunwich and back again via Foxfield to dream-spoiled Kingsport and sea-sodden Innsmouth—the latter the new addition—and so provide both with delicious slices of dark and dangerous horror.

New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, Second Edition opens with a poignant forward from Tom Lynch, the head of Miskatonic River Press, before presenting his ‘The Reeling Midnight’. This is the first of two Arkham-set scenarios in the collection, a piece of louche detective legwork which emphasises interaction and investigation rather than academia. The Wilcoxes are worried that their son, Eugene, is hanging around with the wrong crowd and attending scandalous parties hosted by Hungarian nobility émigrés. They fear the daughter is a gold digger and hire the investigators to look into both their son’s activities and hers. The scenario opens up with a big set piece at one of the parties—the first problem being to get an invitation—which gives the players and their Investigators lots of attendees to interact with, and the Keeper a fun cast to portray. The investigation is nicely detailed and the scenario has a nasty sting in the tale, but ‘The Reeling Midnight’ is primarily a criminal investigation which the Mythos seems to slide into rather than necessarily be the driving force. It possesses a pleasing physicality and would work as an introduction to the Mythos along the Miskatonic Valley.

The second Arkham-set scenario is ‘Wasted Youth’ by Christopher Smith Adair. Again, this possesses both a physicality and a nasty, if not nastier, sting in the tale than ‘The Reeling Midnight’. The physicality here differs though, for it involves a ragged, often grueling chase across the countryside forcing the players to roll checks for skills that their Investigators are unlikely to possess given the typical intellectual, technical, or pugilistic bent of most. This forms the climax of the scenario which begins with Arkham being beset by a rash of dangerous juvenile delinquency, including acts of murderous violence and vandalism. The investigation is made all the more challenging by the fact that it involves children as both victims and protagonists, this also its sting in the tale, as it means directly confronting them. Children being involved may mean it is difficult to get the Investigators involved, but once they are, this is an effectively horrid affair.

Oscar Rios’ ‘Spirit of Industry’ takes the Investigators to Dunwich on a ghost hunt in the company of a journalist (who appeared in the earlier ‘The Reeling Midnight’) in search of a scoop—an old sawmill is reputed to be haunted and there is a reward for proof of the existence of ghosts. This is not necessarily a Mythos scenario in the classic sense, being more like the Stephen King story, ‘The Mangler’, in that the sawmill is possessed and malignly so. However, this is set against the pervading sense of bucolic unease which suffuses through Dunwich, whether from the town’s all too knowing inhabitants or the all too unknowing ones. The scenario is likely to involve two brutal, and potentially, bloody climaxes, but even offers the possibility of a happy ending.

A happy ending is unlikely in ‘Proof of Life’ by Keith Herber. This is set in the small town of Foxfield—introduced here in the pages of New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley—where a disagreement between local farmers and the town supervisor over whether or not to log nearby forests has escalated into blows and a death threat! Investigation reveals that the town supervisor is hiding something and even acting oddly, but the Investigators will need to navigate their way between the town’s factions and interview many of the townsfolk to get this far. This is a type of story which has been told before, that of a Mythos entity or race protecting its long-held presence in an area which annoying ape descendants are now encroaching upon. Fortunately, the scenario never quite tips into cliché, but the motivations of the Mythos threat feel underwhelming given the length to which they go to protect their interests and the monstrous effect this has on the town supervisor and his family.

Oscar Rios’ second contribution to the anthology is ‘Malice Everlasting’, which is the first of two scenarios set in Kingsport, City of Dreams. Like the earlier scenario, this is a tale of possession and possession of a teenage antagonist, but it comes with a classic Lovecraftian ‘revenge from beyond the grave’ plot. There is nothing childish about this villain as he unleashes his revenge upon the descendants of those who hunted him down and executed him in the seventeenth century by striking them suddenly blind. As the Investigators get closer to making this connection, they come to the attention of the antagonist, who begins to hinder their progress to varying degrees—as both eager ally and vengeful villain. The weakest point of the scenario is when that connection is made, and it could have been better handled. Otherwise, this is an excellent combination of investigation and desperate action which climaxes with bang—a summoning of Y’golonac. Unlike ‘Wasted Youth’ where the Investigators are likely to have proof of the antagonists’ actions (or at least witnesses), here they do not, and ultimately, they will be faced by a dilemma which if they get wrong will land them in prison—or worse.

The second scenario set in Kingsport is ‘The Night War’ by Kevin A. Ross, which takes full advantage of the port’s reputation as the city of dreams. Inspired by the works of William Hope Hodgson, the Investigators begin experiencing seemingly realistic nightmares in which they fight in the trenches of the Western Front, night after night, men and women, quickly followed by the rest of Kingsport. The action switches back and forth over the course of several days and nights, the Investigators spending their nights surviving and hunting for clues in this unreal landscape haunted by monsters unknown on the battlefield, and their days following up on those clues in the hope that what they find out will help both them and the people of Kingsport back in the nightmare. A darker and grander depiction of a Dreamlands than that typically seen in Call of Cthulhu, its subject matter and its staging, imposing and perhaps heavy-going rather than delicate, may be off-putting for some players. Seen though as a desperate mission to save a man’s mind in somewhere the Investigators either never thought they would return to or even thought they would have experienced, and the scenario is an interesting take on what a Dreamlands scenario could be like.

New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley ended with ‘The Night War’, but New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, Second Edition has one more scenario. This is ‘A Mother’s Love’ by Seth Skorkowsky, which brings crime to Innsmouth. The Frog Gang, led by Tobias ‘Frog’ Sisk, has robbed a local bank and hightailed it into his hometown of Innsmouth, with the local police and Federal agents on their tail. The officers of the town’s police department are prepared to help—to an extent—but their main motivation is avoiding bringing further attention to Innsmouth and its secrets. Not the first time that crime has come to Innsmouth—it did that in ‘The Innsmouth Connection’ from Before the Fall, but to much lesser effect. ‘A Mother’s Love’ is a short, slightly strange investigation that will quickly lead to a blazing shootout between the Innsmouth Police Department, the Federal Agents, and the survivors of the Frog Gang. Of course, if the Federal Agents learn too much, it could turn into a shootout and clawfest between them and the Innsmouth Police Department (as well as others). Unlike the other scenarios in the anthology, ‘A Mother’s Love’ is best suited as a one-shot, perhaps as a prequel to Escape from Innsmouth, as it works best with one Investigator being a member of the Bureau of Investigation and so is more difficult to work into a campaign. ‘A Mother’s Love’ is punchier than most scenarios set in Lovecraft Country, but it has a nice sense of tension to it though, whether that is between the Federal Agents and the Innsmouth Police Department, or between what the players are likely to know and their Investigators otherwise.

Physically, New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, Second Edition is hit and miss, though more hit than miss. Behind the bland cover, the layout is clean and tidy. It needs a slight edit in places and the illustrations vary in quality, some of them bland and muddy, some of them decent, plus the internal cartography is more serviceable then characterful. Unfortunately, the colour artwork in this second edition does not have the charm of the pen and ink illustrations of the original. However, the regional cartography is decent, the handouts are excellent—especially the newspaper articles which are hidden in full page handouts, and town vistas of Arkham, Dunwich, Foxfield, Kingsport, and Innsmouth that preface their respective sections, are handsome indeed. Included in the new hardback is a set of six pre-generated Investigators (including one from my hometown) which again, are decently done and all on a new, alternate version of the Investigator sheet for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition.

New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley was the best supplement published for Call of Cthulhu in 2008. In fact, it was the best release for the roleplaying game since 2007’s Secrets of Kenya and 2006’s Tatters of the King. It gave a platform for new voices and new ideas for Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying and proved that the then new rash of third-party publishers could produce content that was mature and sophisticated. Not every scenario in New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley could be regarded as perfect in 2008, or indeed perfect with the publication of the second edition in 2020, but it was an audacious debut. New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, Second Edition returns that audacity to print, bringing back support for Lovecraft Country just as it did in 2008.

Dark Detritus

Things We leave Behind is the first release from Stygian Fox Publishing. It is an anthology of six scenarios for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, all firmly set in the modern day and the USA. It brings together the author of the superb modern day mini-campaign, Lost in the Lights; the editor of Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition; the author of The Legacy of Arrius Lurco, the campaign that is the best support for Cthulhu Invictus to date; and diverse hands. Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the collection draws upon sources such as Pagan Publishing’s Delta Green, the works of the Coen Brothers in both Fargo and Blood Simple, and the television series, True Detective, to present six very modern and very dreadful situations in North America. Note that all six scenarios do deal with adult themes and should be best played by mature gamers.

The anthology opens with Jeffrey Moeller’s ‘Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home’ which begins with the abduction of Regina Balfour, a five year old girl in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. As shocking as this incident is, it stands out for three reasons. The first is that after grabbing Regina and then passing her to a co-conspirator, the abductor commits suicide. The second is that the abductor turns out to be a retired Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent. The third is that Regina’s parents run the extreme Christian fundamentalist Church of the Passover Angel. The question is not just what drove a man to abduct a child, but what drove a retired federal agent to abduct a child and then kill himself? It is a powerful setup, one designed for player characters who are themselves in law enforcement or associated with it, although a suggested alternative is for them to be a television news crew looking for one hell of a scoop. In fact, this also means that ‘Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home’ is a good addition to any Delta Green campaign.

Mixing paranoia, religious mania, and its subversion, ‘Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home’ is a strong investigative scenario, not necessarily subtle in the muscularity of its tone, but its Mythos elements are for the most part obfuscated and merely hinted at. Its subtleties are also kept quite well hidden and players who embrace that muscularity and charge headlong into its story may find themselves in a for a very nasty surprise. Nevertheless, this is an impressive opening scenario for both Things We Leave Behind and Stygian Fox Publishing.

If ‘Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home’ delivers an opening jab to the torso, then ‘Forget Me Not’ more than delivers an uppercut to the chin. Written by Brian M. Sammons (and surprisingly not another author in the collection given the Mythos foe at the scenario's heart), this opens en medias res—or rather post media res—with the investigators waking up, sitting in a van after having crashed on a quiet road somewhere in middle America. With them they have filming equipment and various forms of identity. Except for those they have no exact memory of where they are, how they got there, what they have been filming, and who they are. This sets up a dual investigation, first into the mystery of their backgrounds and what they have been doing, and then into the mystery of what got them involved in the first place.

It takes a little effort to set up upon the part of the Keeper and it does need the players to buy into that setup in order to work effectively. The effect though is worth it as this is a finely wrought set up with a payoff that packs an emotional punch. Scenarios involving amnesia have been done before for Call of Cthulhu, most notably with Pagan Publishing's ‘In Media Res’ from The Unspeakable Oath #10 and The Resurrected Vol. 3: Out of the Vault. That scenario is regarded as being something of a classic, but ‘Forget Me Not’ is a well written, well judged addition to the sub-genre.  that really delivers on its setup.

Simon Brake’s ‘Roots’ also takes place in mid-west and also involves a missing girl, this time the eldest and adopted daughter of a friend of the investigators, Mary. It appears that the daughter, Karen, has has contact contact from her mother and gone to visit her in a nearby, isolated town. Alternatively, the player characters might be private investigators hired to get her back, but this is quite a small scale story to get the federal authorities involved. Karen’s destination is also small scale, a town of white picket fences and an unsettling orderliness amidst woods that hide much…

‘Roots’ has echoes of the film, The Wicker Man, but harks back more to the type of grim and bloody faerie tale that you do not tell your children at bedtime, so A Company of Wolves also. Unfortunately after examining ‘Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home’ and ‘Forget Me Not’, the truth is that ‘Roots’ feels a little underwhelming. This is because there is neither the muscularity or urgency of the previous two scenarios in ‘Roots’. In other words, it is not as direct as those two scenarios. Instead, it is much more of a situation to be explored and investigated, and although there is a threat—such as it is—involved, it is not antagonistic threat. It has no desire to spread its strangeness beyond the confines of the surrounding woods, nor does it wish any ill will towards the investigators. Only in their meddling will they come to any harm… Also, ‘Roots’ is not quite as Lovecraftian as the other scenarios in the collection, feeling earthier and more faerie gothic. This though, does not make it a bad scenario or anything less of a horror scenario, but rather it is different.

‘Hell in Texas’ by Scott Dorward takes us to the Lone Star State and another manifestation of evangelical Christianity—the ‘hell house’. These are attractions run by a church in and around Halloween to warn parishioners of the sin to be found in society with gruesome exhibits and vignettes. Typically they warn of the dangers of sex, abortion, homosexuality, drug and alcohol use, and of course, the seven deadly sins. All ending with the choice to be made between Heaven and Hell. The scenario takes place in the fictional town of Leland, Texas, where the Father Weaver of the Leland Free Evangelical Church has set up a hell house for the forthcoming halloween. Unfortunately, a troubled young volunteer committed suicide while decorating an exhibit. This makes the opening of the Leland hell house a much juicier story. The investigators can become involved at the request of the late volunteer’s father, they might be even a new crew covering the story, or they might be be members of the congregation.

Of course, this being a horror scenario, the hell or ‘haunted’ house of the story is actually haunted; and this being a Call of Cthulhu scenario, it is not haunted by just any old ghost. This is a ghost that will take advantage of the economic and social desperation that pervades the town of Leland and drive the weak and the susceptible to radical acts. Preventing these are perhaps the best that any group of investigators can hope to gain in ‘Hell in Texas’ as all hell breaks out in hell house and in the town. This is not an investigation that leads to a direct confrontation with the Mythos threat present in the town, but rather a confrontation with its manipulation in the hell house in operation. There a sense of the Grand Guignol in the author’s enjoyably macabre description of the hell house in operation—and he comments that it could have been much, much worse had he drawn directly from real world hell houses—which brings to the scenario to its probable gruesome finale. The scenario has echoes of the  classic scenario, ‘The Haunting’, but definitely goes in its own direction.

Jeffrey Moeller’s second scenario in Things We Leave Behind is both clever and silly—or has the very great potential to be so. ‘The Night Season’ is set in the rarely visited—at least in terms of Call of Cthulhu—city of Anchorage, Alaska, where the investigators might be asked to re-examine the suicide of a teenage boy some years earlier, perhaps by his parents or after coming across the case. Robert Horn was found locked in his bedroom with a strange, apologetic suicide note after having stabbed himself in the stomach. The question is, what drove an athletic teenager to kill himself?

Experienced players—and perhaps experienced investigators too—of Call of Cthulhu will quickly realise that the Dreamlands are involved, but not exactly how. As the characters investigate, strange things start happening first around them and then to them. What is particularly odd is how these strange things happen out of thin air and then disappear again. What is even odder is that they are all related to a cult Science Fiction television series. As the scenario progresses, the length and frequency of these events grow and grow until they come to dominate it. Now the Keeper can have a lot of fun with these and even more fun if everyone knows the television series being referenced. The scenario includes one to essentially avoid copyright issues, but the author hints heavily at how several well known series can be used and notably, as Things We Leave Behind was being released in PDF, it was the fiftieth anniversary of a certain famous Science Fiction franchise… (One fun option would actually to run the later scenes in the scenario using the RPG based on that property.) What this means is that ‘The Night Season’ possesses a potential for silliness found in few scenarios for Call of Cthulhu. This may well divide the potential audience for the scenario, which in actuality presents an interesting and original situation and dilemma

Rounding out the anthology is ‘Intimate Encounters’, a bonus scenario by the prolific Oscar Rios. The investigators—perhaps journalists, private investigators, or occult investigators—are tracking a serial killer known as the ‘Lipo Killer’ because he leaves his victims drained of their body fat. This very has the feel of a traditional investigation and is reminiscent of an episode of the television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker or The X-Files. This is perhaps the most straightforward scenario in the collection, but is none the worse for that.

Physically, Things We Leave Behind is nicely presented. The layout is clean and simple, but still with a slightly rough character. The cartography is as good as you would expect from the publisher and the artwork is for the most part excellent, being just slightly off kilter. Although it needs a slight edit here and there, for a first book, Things We Leave Behind is professionally presented. Further, a nice touch is that the names of everyone involved—artists, editors, cartographers, et al—is list on the book’s front cover.

There is not a bad scenario in Things We Leave Behind, but ‘Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home’ and ‘Forget Me Not’ both stand out as fantastic scenarios, whilst ‘The Night Season’ is both fantastic and fantastically absurd. This is a good anthology and a good anthology of scenarios for the modern day, quite possibly the best anthology since the publication of Chaosium, Inc.’s The Stars Are Right. Perhaps the highest praise that can be paid to Things We Leave Behind is that is not hard to imagine Miskatonic River Press publishing this collection, but what is definitely true is that Things We Leave Behind is the first great release for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition.

A sex horrificam

For its third title, Golden Goblin Press returns to the setting of its principal author’s finest hour. That author is the prolific Oscar Rios, that finest hour is The Legacy of Arrius Lurco  and that setting is Cthulhu Invictus. As a setting, Cthulhu Invictus presents an approach to investigating the Cthulhu Mythos shorn of its reliance upon libraries, newspaper archives, and Mythos tomes, instead requiring the investigators to ask others lots and lots of questions, do an awful lot of watching, and sneak about a fair bit. In other words, more detective legwork rather than research. Similarly, the reliance upon firearms found in conducting investigations in the Jazz Age of the 1920s, makes such investigations and confrontations with the Mythos more fraught affairs. Unfortunately, Cthulhu Invictus never quite received the support it deserved from its publisher, Chaosium, Inc., but its potential was certainly realised in The Legacy of Arrius Lurco, published by the late, much missed, Miskatonic River Press, the only campaign published for Cthulhu Invictus, and arguably one of the best campaigns published for Call of Cthulhu in over a decade. Now, having putting out a third companion for Call of Cthulhu in the form of Island of Ignorance – The Third Cthulhu Companion and an anthology of scenarios set in New Orleans with Tales of the Crescent City: Adventures in Jazz Era New Orleans, Golden Goblin Press bring us an anthology of scenarios for Cthulhu Invictus in the form of De Horrore Cosmico: Six Scenarios for Cthulhu Invictus.

Written for Call of Cthulhu, Sixth Edition—in all likelihood one of the last supplements to be so—and published via Kickstarter, De Horrore Cosmico is an anthology of six scenarios for Cthulhu Invictus that take the investigators to southern Gaul, Britannia, Aegyptus, Sicilia, Caledonia, and of course, Rome. What really makes these six scenarios standout is that their inspiration is not just the works of H.P. Lovecraft, but in each and every case, specific works of H.P. Lovecraft. This is no mere matter of updating these stories as if they were being presented for the twenty-first century, but rather a case of their being adapted to fit the history, mores, and culture of Ancient Rome. The danger here is that this is window dressing, merely setting up the means for the investigators to play out the plots of the stories that serve as their inspiration rather than something new. Fortunately, De Horrore Cosmico does not fall prey to such dangers… As this is a review of Cthulhu Invictus scenario anthology, spoilers abound.

The six opens with ‘The Vetting of Marius Asina’, Jeffrey Moeller’s interpretation of ‘Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and his Family’. The investigators are hired to go to the city of Massalia in southern Gaul and there investigate the background of Marius Asina to see if he is suitable for elevation beyond his current rank of senator. Rich if modest and thought to be of lowly origins, his background is a mystery and his family secretive. This requires careful and methodical investigation, thus highlighting the primary investigative process in Cthulhu Invictus. There is though, good reason for the family’s secrecy and the family is ready to protect such secrets. At its heart, as with the inspiration, this scenario is about tainted ancestry, one that the family would best prefer kept hidden. This is a fine start to the anthology, a rich re-imagining that presents not a threat as such, but a situation, one that in truth the presence of the investigators will disturb rather than thwart.

‘Doom’, inspired by ‘The Doom that came to Sarnath’, is written by Chad Bowser, the co-author of Cthulhu Invictus. Of the six scenarios in De Horrore Cosmico, ‘Doom’ is the most straightforward and the simplest, and the only one to present a direct threat to Rome. The investigators are again hired, this time by a patron who has been suffering from nightmare that foretell of the destruction of Rome. Perhaps this has something to do with a raid that the patron made upon a village whilst serving in the legions many years past? Although ‘Doom’ has some fine moments—particularly relating to the nature of portents of doom in Ancient Rome and in an encounter with a desiccated magus—but in comparison with the other five scenarios in the collection, it lacks sophistication and depth, and underwhelms because of this.

Publisher Oscar Rios’ contribution to the anthology is ‘Murmillo’. Its inspiration is ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’ and its structure is not dissimilar to that of the earlier ‘The Vetting of Marius Asina’. Here though the investigators are directed to go after a young man who is determined to become a gladiator, against his father’s wishes lest the boy bring disgrace upon the family name. The trail leads from one gladiator school to another and eventually to the doors of an isolated school dedicated to producing one type of gladiator for the arena—the Murmillo or ‘Fish Men’. The school values its privacy—and for good reason—but much like the town of Innsmouth that inspires the scenario, ‘Murmillo’ presents another situation that if not benign, at least keeps its inherent malignancy self-contained.

Phredd Grove’s ‘Kith and Kine’ takes the investigators to southwestern Britannia and is inspired by both ‘The Rats in the Walls’ and ‘The Whisperer in the Darkness’. With the legions busy elsewhere in the province, rumours have surfaced of a rebellion in the south, and with no-one to hand to suppress this uprising, the investigators are sent to look into these rumours. The question, do the potential rebels have cause? If not against Rome, then against those that Rome has put in charge?  ‘Kith And Kine’ pitches the investigators amidst inter-cult rivalries and feuding, which they will need to thread their way through in order to reveal the secrets in this scenario. The inspirations are less obvious in ‘Kith And Kine’ than the other entries in the book, and unlike the majority of those other scenarios, there is more agency at work upon the part of the antagonists. This is also the author’s first published scenario, but is a solid affair that has the feel of its setting despite being written by an American.

The penultimate scenario is ‘The Devil’s Mouth’. Written by Stuart Boon, it should be no surprise that this takes the investigators beyond the edge of the known world and the Wall of Hadrian into Caledonia, given that he is the author of the Origins Award winning Shadows Over Scotland. Assigned to a diplomatic mission, the investigators find themselves having to delve deep below the mountains of Scotland in order to perform a rescue mission in this scenario inspired by ‘At the Mountains of Madness’. The effect of which is make it feel like a mini-version of Beyond the Mountains of Madness and as with that campaign, the exploratory nature of ‘The Devil’s Mouth’ means that in places, play may slow to a crawl and the Keeper may have difficulty maintaining the interest of his players. Nevertheless, this focuses on the alien and the weird aspects of the Mythos and the exploration may be an interesting experience for any investigator who has some scientific knowledge.

The last scenario is written by the authors of the recently re-released Horror on the Orient Express, Penelope Love and Mark Morrison. Their inspiration for ‘The Case of Tillius Orestes Sempronius’ is ‘The Case of Charles Dexter Ward’ and finds the investigators in Rome where they are asked by a patrician to check upon his son who is convalescing at the family's country estate. The son has been ill for some time and has suffered from memory lapses. Given the inspiration it will be obvious that something is amiss fairly quickly, but proving it is another matter and that where the scenario’s challenge comes in and where it gets interesting.

Lastly—as raised by a Stretch Goal reached by the kickstarter—De Horrore Cosmico presents another sextet, not of scenarios, but of Patrons. The role of patronage played in Ancient Rome cannot be overestimated and that carries over into Cthulhu Invictus, where it provides investigators a degree of protection, financial support, and in many cases, direction. They include an attorney who serves as the intermediary for various peoples, including one that will amuse any theory conspiracists; a general with contacts throughout the empire; a poet with a penchant for the esoteric; and more… Any one of the six would serve as the driving force behind any campaign or ongoing game, either send the investigators off to the mysteries and missions described in De Horrore Cosmico—or any other collection of Cthulhu Invictus scenarios. This in fact, would be the only way in which the six scenarios in De Horrore Cosmico could used together as a campaign and to that end, it would have been nice if possible links to the six scenarios could have been given for each of its six patrons.

Physically, De Horrore Cosmico is reasonably presented. The choice of a marble effect behind the text does give the book a rather gray appearance, an effect not helped by the art and maps being too dark in places. That said, both the art and the cartography are well done, the former in particular capturing some of the anthology’s more notable revelatory scenes.

De Horrore Cosmico is a solid sextet of scenarios that successfully avoids the dangers of simply rewriting its stated inspirational sources, in most cases cleverly combining them with aspects of Roman culture. For example, the vetting process as seen in ‘The Vetting of Marius Asina’ and the combination of the Murmillo class of gladiator with certain type of batrachian threat in  ‘Murmillo’. For the most part, another aspect of Call of Cthulhu that De Horrore Cosmico also avoids is presenting its Mythos elements as threats, this being partly down its sources as much as it is its authors. This means that the anthology places an interesting take upon the Mythos, less confrontational and more passive in its malignancy. Though of course, this does not mean that the Mythos ‘dangers’ presented in De Horrore Cosmico will not react should the investigators uncover their secrets. It also means that De Horrore Cosmico: Six Scenarios for Cthulhu Invictus is mature set of scenarios, its horror pleasingly understated and awaiting discovery by the investigators.

Big Easy Fears

Tales of the Crescent City: Adventures in Jazz Era New Orleans is the second offering from Golden Goblin Press for Call of Cthulhu, following on from Island of Ignorance – The Third Cthulhu Companion. Again funded via Kickstarter, Tales of the Crescent City is a companion volume to Chasoium, Inc.’s Secrets of New Orleans: A 1920s Sourcebook to the Crescent City and a sequel of sorts to Miskatonic River Press’ anthology of scenarios set in New York, Tales of the Sleepless City. It presents an introduction to, and an overview of, the city of New Orleans; an examination of both a major figure in the Mythos and a major Mythos influence upon the city; and a septet of scenarios, including a revised reprint of a classic adventure. The latter, like the rest of the scenarios in the collection are written for use with Call of Cthulhu, Sixth Edition, though as with all Call of Cthulhu scenarios, they are compatible with the forthcoming Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition.

The first good news about Tales of the Crescent City is that it is a better book than Island of Ignorance. It is physically neater and better designed, the editing is clean and tidy, and of course, the subject matter and setting give the anthology focus. It feels closely modelled upon the aforementioned Tales of the Sleepless City and as a result, is an assured product that bodes well for future releases from Golden Goblin Press.

Although the Keeper and his players will get the most out of Tales of the Crescent City if they have access to copy of Chaosium’s Secrets of New Orleans—previously printed as The New Orleans Guidebook, it is not absolutely necessary for either to own a copy of that supplement. Included in this new anthology is an introduction to the Big Easy, one that nicely sums up the key points that everyone needs to know—the matter of race and colour, the rampant corruption, the endemic presence of crime and gangsters, the importance of civility and thus the Credit Rating skill, and the fact that the city is below sea level. This is accompanied by a thorough overview of the city’s various neighbourhoods and parishes, including floor plans for its typical dwellings. Illustrated throughout with period photographs, there is enough information here that a Keeper need not refer to Secrets of New Orleans when running Tales of the Crescent City.

Readers familiar with H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction will know that New Orleans is home to Étienne-Laurent de Marigny, America’s most knowledgeable mystic, mathematician, and orientalist. It is fitting that he is accorded a lengthy article all to himself, providing an autobiography of the man as well as hinting at what he knows about the Mythos—which is actually quite a lot given that he is not actually insane. There is the danger in having a figure such as de Marigny present in a campaign—and that is what Tales of the Crescent City is really intended to be part of—in that he becomes a crutch the players and their investigators come to rely upon when their investigations fail. Offsetting that possibility is one of the key points raised earlier in the book, that of the need for civility and thus the Credit Rating skill in their dealings with de Marigny. As fascinated as he is with the outré and the occult, he has no desire to be involved in scandal or criminal activities, both of which the investigators are likely to find themselves involved in. Rounding out this short series of articles are some notes on the Yellow Sign and The King in Yellow, yet more support for the scenarios that follow in Tales of the Crescent City. 

The support is certainly required in the case of said notes on the Yellow Sign, since the septet of scenarios is bookended by appearances of the Yellow Sign and The King in Yellow. The first of these is a reprint and update of Kevin Ross’ classic ‘Tell me, have You Seen the Yellow Sign?’ originally published in Chaosium’s long out of print The Great Old Ones. Like many scenarios that deal with the Yellow Sign and The King in Yellow, at the heart of ‘Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?’ is an attempt to bring to Earth both Hastur and the city of Carcosa; thus it feels like a cliché. Yet that is unfair, as arguably, ‘Tell me, have You Seen the Yellow Sign?’ set the pattern for such scenarios to come and what matters is the story built around the cultists’ plans to bring Hastur to Earth. In this case, ‘Tell me, have You Seen the Yellow Sign?’ draws the investigators into a richly portrayal of New Orleans life and culture, in particular, that of Mardi Gras. This is carnival season, a big celebration, in which it is socially acceptable to join ‘Krewes’ and participate in big masked parades.

The investigators find themselves asked by Étienne-Laurent de Marigny to investigate an occult symbol found clutched in the hand of a recently deceased reporter. The police think it was suicide, but his editor thinks otherwise, especially after the reporter told him that he believed that one of the krewes he was writing about was involved in the occult. De Marigny does not have the time to investigate, which is where the player characters come in. Experienced Call of Cthulhu players will recognise the symbol, but they will enjoy both the investigation into the reporter’s death and into identifying the symbol. Both will take the investigators to the heights of the city’s high society and deep into the sodden wilderness. As the investigators draw ever closer to identifying the symbol, the symbol seems to draw closer to them and the city… This is a richly detailed scenario, with lots of investigation and atmosphere with a pleasingly personal element to the story.

As the title of C. Michael Hurst’s ‘Bloodlines’ suggests, this is a scenario about questionable parentage and the degeneration of the species, classic Lovecratian themes both. The investigators are hired by a researcher to confirm the lineage and wealth of his employer’s fiancée—what the researcher has learned threatens what is his only source of income. By the time they go to meet him, the researcher is dead and his mother begs them to continue the task lest she be made destitute. How did the researcher come to die and did it have anything to do with the family history of Cora DeCroix? Once again, this takes the investigators from the heights of society to swamps beyond the city, though the society is somewhat dissolute… In comparison with the previous scenario, ‘Bloodlines’ is a more restrained affair, the Mythos not as intentionally malign in nature, and morally, more grey than black and white. Indeed, distinguishing the villains of the piece may leave the investigators with a dilemma on their hands. That said, the Egyptian-themed Great Old One feels a little out of place in the city and almost incidental to the plot, although its use explains the supposed ‘monsters’ of the piece, plus of course, it has been used in other scenarios.

By coincidence, the third scenario, ‘Needles’, also has an Egyptian theme. By Daniel Harms, it also begins with the investigators coming to the aid of someone else, though not at his request. Instead, they respond to a scream in the night to discover a local doctor in deadly peril from a trio of dark, surgically masked men. Coming to his aid, they will soon learn that the doctor is a wanted man, but by whom lies at the heart of the scenario. This is not a scenario for anyone suffering from Trypophobia, and makes an interesting use of Glaaki, even though that Great Old One does not make an appearance. The scenario very much has a pulp sensibility, which makes it quite a lot of fun especially in its ‘house of horrors’ denouement, but this also means that some of the cult’s motivation is underwritten rather than being fully developed as it should be. At its heart though is the Mythos fuelled interpretation of the ‘Night Doctors’ of both African American and New Orleans folklore, an aspect that may not necessarily come to the fore as much as it should—unless the investigators have contacts with the Black community of the Crescent City or one of their number is Black.

Almost as if one theme is being carried over from one scenario to the next, there is a medical aspect to Stuart Boon’s ‘The Quickening Spiral’ in which the investigators must race against the clock to prevent a deadly contagion known as Red River Fever from overwhelming first New Orleans, then Louisiana, and beyond! The investigators are asked to look into the possibility that it might have been caused by something unnatural—could it be the result of a Voodoo curse? What is curious about this scenario is that its human plot—a heady mix of small ‘conspiracies’, Voodoo, and revenge—is very much more pulpy than the almost incidental Mythos plot. Nevertheless, this is a pacier affair the presents a potential threat to the world on a relatively small scale.

Oscar Rios’ own contribution to Tales of the Crescent City is ‘Song and Dance’ and concerns the effect of the subversion and its effect by one god of another. The first is the Great Old One is Y’Golonac, who subverts not other figures of the Mythos, but figures from a real world mythology. This is a big audacious piece, assured in its aims, but one that might be seen to veer away from the Mythos in its use of real world mythology figures and perhaps in its tone as the ending feels more like that of a James Bond movie as the investigators have to stage a rescue from the villain of the piece’s lair. Set in 1925, it opens with a wave of depression that sweeps the world, driving artists and performers into depression and then suicide, but then the reverse happens—mania!  This manifests at yet another of New Orleans’ great celebrations, at which the investigators are present, but it works all the better if they become more intimately involved and one of their number be an affected artist. The downside to the mania is not just debilitating, but drives its sufferers to the grave giving the scenario a desperate deadline. To be fair, there is relatively little plot to ‘Song and Dance’, but it oozes atmosphere and at times menace. 

The penultimate adventure in Tales of the Crescent City is Jeff Moeller’s ‘Five Lights at the Crossroads’, which is a much slighter affair then the other six in the anthology. It begins with the investigators’ discovery of the body of a well-dressed black man, seemingly crushed where he lies. If the investigators do the decent thing and go and tell his employer about his death, he is nowhere to be found and his other servants are oddly evasive. Where is he and how did his servant come to die under such odd circumstances? Unfortunately, whilst the scenario does involve a decent amount of investigative legwork to get to its climatic confrontation, at its heart it does something that may frustrate the players—keep them from their quarry until it is all but too late. Given the grave, not to say, deadly consequences of their failure, their efforts may seem out of all proportion to said consequences… Nevertheless, the scenario can be said to be about gathering the clues and information enough to get to its confrontation. It is disappointing though, and the least interesting scenario in the anthology especially given that the author has written better scenarios. 

Rounding out the scenarios is the other bookend to ‘Tell me, have you seen the Yellow Sign?’. Again written by Kevin Ross, ‘Asylum: The Return of the Yellow Sign’ is a sequel of sorts that takes place two years after ‘Have you seen the Yellow Sign?’ and notes are included to that end. Much like in the previous ‘The Light at the Crossroads’, the investigators will find themselves chasing after someone, in this case the strangely pallid figure who gate-crashed the high class soiree, the Disabled Veterans Benefit Ball and confronted swell about town, Alan Leroy. What did the stranger want with the charismatic young man who fled in the turbulent aftermath of the confrontation? As the investigators look for clues, they will also find themselves on Leroy’s trail and as their efforts progress, not only will the stranger come to them, but New Orleans begins to fall—perhaps once again?—under a curious madness…

This is a less heavily plotted affair than the earlier ‘Tell me, have you seen the Yellow Sign?’. It is potentially no less atmospheric, for it is expected that the Keeper build much of the minor, though no less weird or creepy, details around the investigators’ efforts. At its heart the investigators are caught up in the effort by the infamous play, The King in Yellow, to reassert its inevitability. Of course, the outcome of ‘Asylum: The Return of the Yellow Sign’ is not necessarily inevitable, but attempting to achieve any other outcome presents a difficult challenge. Overall, despite it needing careful handling upon the part of the Keeper, ‘Asylum: The Return of the Yellow Sign’ is an excellent scenario that brings Tales of the Crescent City to mature and malign climax.

Physically, Tales of the Crescent City is well presented. The layout is clean and very readable, whilst the book is solidly edited. If there is a downside to the book’s look, it is that the art is perhaps a little too cartoon-like in places. Elsewhere the art is well done, as is the cartography.

Undoubtedly, the material supporting the septet of scenarios in Tales of the Crescent City is excellent given the relatively few pages devoted to the setting. Unfortunately, as a whole, the scenarios are not excellent, being uneven in tone and plot, perhaps even flat in feel in the one case. The septet does have a pulp feel, especially the middle scenarios—and they also have another weakness. As much as the scenarios in Tales from the Crescent City present a broad swathe of challenges and foes to contend with and investigate, what it does not do is present much in the way of depth. It dwells too much upon high society and its mores as well as Voodoo and Mardi Gras, and so never gives the investigators the opportunity to explore a fleshed out view of the city. Nevertheless, the addition of notes in each of the scenarios to help turn the seven into a loose campaign set within the Big Easy are a very welcome addition.

Uneven in places, Tales of the Crescent City does a fine job of presenting the public face of New Orleans and the insidious influences that lurk behind the joyously bravura façade. It brings back a classic scenario and gives it a much deserved sequel—could there be a sequel to make ‘Tell me, have you seen the Yellow Sign?’ and ‘Asylum: The Return of the Yellow Sign’ part of a trilogy? Perhaps in a second volume of scenarios set in New Orleans, one that delves deeper into its secrets and themes…? Tales of the Crescent City: Adventures in Jazz Era New Orleans is a solid anthology that shows Golden Goblin Press' books are getting better and better.

Pagan Publishing's Peculiar

The early years of the 21st century was a fallow period for Pagan Publishing with no new material for Call of Cthulhu from the highly regarded publisher until the publication of the scenario, Final Flight, in 2007. That one-shot would be followed in 2009 by a sourcebook, which if it had been released by its intended publisher, would have meant that Pagan Publishing would have gone the whole decade without releasing any new material, let alone a sourcebook. The Mysteries of Mesoamerica began life as a project for author and illustrator, by Blair Reynolds’ RM308 Graphics & Publishing. Unfortunately, RM308 was unable to complete The Mysteries of Mesoamerica and it would be Pagan Publishing that brought the sourcebook to fruition, though five years on, the same cannot yet be said of The Mysteries of Mesoamerica’s sister book, Mysteries of the Old West. Despite his not publishing the book, Blair Reynolds’ touch is indelibly worked into every one of the sourcebook’s pages—The Mysteries of Mesoamerica is beautifully and thematically illustrated and laid out. This should be no surprise given the visual quality of Pagan Publishing’s earlier The Realm of Shadows, but to date, certainly no English-speaking Call of Cthulhu publisher has managed to release a book as visually appealing and as visually well designed as The Mysteries of Mesoamerica—though certain titles from Miskatonic River Press have come close.

The Mysteries of Mesoamerica: 1920s Sourcebook and Mythos Adventures for Mexico and Central America is a supplement devoted to the burgeoning field of Mesoamerican archaeology during Call of Cthulhu’s classic period of the Jazz Age. It has thus a diverse number of subjects to cover, both ancient and modern. These subjects include the various cultures that dominated the region of Central America prior to the coming of Christopher Columbus—the Olmecs, the Toltecs, the Mayans, the Aztecs, and others; their numerous deities and their religion—with its fixation upon blood, sacrifice, and death; their weapons of war and how they fought their wars; and calendrics, the highly involved means used by the pre-Columbian inhabitants to keep the time and organise their society. It brings the history up to date, covering the status of the countries of Central America—British Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico—during the first three decades of the twentieth century, as well as their geographies and politics. The Mysteries of Mesoamerica also details various figures of note that travelled throughout the region and brought to light the fantastic historical finds long left hidden under the region’s thick jungle canopy.

So what of the Mythos and The Mysteries of Mesoamerica? Right from the outset, its intent, as made clear in the introduction, is not to equate the deities of the ancient Mesoamerica with those of the Cthulhu Mythos. Rather, as the introduction also states, this is left up to individual cults and cultists to interpret however the Keeper wants. Examples of this underwrite several of the supplement’s scenarios. The supplement though, does present a means of combining Mesoamerican archaeology with Mythos in the form of glyphs for seven of the most notable deities of the Mythos. These can be used add flavour and detail to a Keeper’s scenario without his having to equate the deities himself.

The setting material in The Mysteries of Mesoamerica is supported by four scenarios. Three of these are set during the 1920s, so can be slotted into an ongoing campaign with little difficulty. The first though, is set in 1914, so is more difficult to run as more than a one-shot, though it might work as a prequel adventure that introduces a group to the dangers of, if not the Mythos, then at least that there is something outré out there and that it is very, very dangerous. (Indeed, it would make for an interesting first encounter for the investigators with the late, much lamented, Jackson Elias of Masks of Nyarlathotep fame). This first of the four is ‘The Well of Sacrifice’, which in the years since has gained a reputation as a sanguinary party killer. Written by John H. Crowe III—an author best known for the campaign’s Walker In The Wastes and The Realm of Shadows as well as the recent anthology, Bumps in the Night—it initially feels underwhelming with the investigators having already arrived in Mérida, the capital of the Yucatán in Mexico, having already worked at various archaeological sites in the region. The investigators have the opportunity to explore and catalogue a previously unknown city, but its ruinous condition leaves only one site of interest. Shorn of the Mythos, ‘The Well of Sacrifice’ is a survival horror scenario, one that is short and sweet, so it would actually work well as a one-shot or convention scenario.

Essentially, ‘The Well of Sacrifice’ sets the pattern for the following three scenarios—the investigators visit somewhere ancient, investigate the site, and then discover something inordinately evil that will probably be their undoing. Now to extent, this is symptomatic of the archaeologically themed scenario and whilst it is difficult to get away from, at least one of the other scenarios offers a variation upon this.

Brian Appleton’s ‘Menhirs in the Grotto’ moves the quartet on to 1923 and a dig near Texcoco, not far from Mexico City. Here a new Aztec site has been uncovered and the investigators and their employers have been permission to excavate it, although under the close supervision of the University of Mexico City. In comparison to ‘The Well of Sacrifice’, this is much more of a traditional Call of Cthulhu scenario, complete with strange deaths, curious lights over the site, and a cult with its own agenda. It is a well-executed affair, with much more going on around the site than in the other scenarios, but it is not quite as interesting as the third scenario, ‘The Heretics’. Written by John H. Crowe III, it is set in 1925 and as the title hints at, it casts the investigators between two rival Mythos sects, each with a radically different interpretation of a certain deity. It begins in the city of Mérida, where unlike ‘The Well of Sacrifice’, the investigators have time to conduct some research and enjoy some local colour—and are given the detail to do so—before moving off into the jungle. Once at the site, the ancient city of Mayapán, the investigators will eventually find themselves caught between the two cults as they battle for possession of a certain sacred site… Like ‘Menhirs in the Grotto’ before it, ‘The Heretics’ is an involving scenario, one which has a good build up to its hectic climax.

Rounding out the quartet is ‘The Temple of the Toad’ by Brian Appleton. A sequel to the Robert E. Howard story, ‘The Thing on the Roof’, it is set in Honduras in 1927. The investigators are asked by a colleague to join him in the search for the Temple of the Toad. A short if somewhat linear affair, it has some pleasing connections to the Call of Cthulhu canon, and a pulpier feel than the previous three scenarios. The scenarios in the quartet are a bit too spread out to be run as a continuous campaign and probably too similar in structure.

As good as the background information is and the scenarios are in The Mysteries of Mesoamerica, it is not a perfect sourcebook. The problem is one of support for the Keeper in helping him run scenarios and campaigns set in Central America during the period. There is no guidance as to how to set up a campaign in the region and no advice as to how to involve the investigators in general, let alone information about how they might reach the region. Some of this appears in individual scenarios, just as information about how to set up an archaeological expedition and its requirements are covered in one of the scenarios, but not in any campaign or setting advice. Outside of this, there is no advice as what types of characters are needed to play The Mysteries of Mesoamerica or what Occupations would be appropriate for the setting. Certainly, there is no advice on playing investigators or portraying NPCs from the region, whether of Hispanic or native origins.

This lack of application also applies to the scenarios themselves. All four do take place in Mesoamerica yes, but they feel isolated from their contemporary settings. There is little within each of the four scenarios to indicate what is going on in the countries when and where they are set. Which seems a pity given the setting material presented earlier in The Mysteries of Mesoamerica.

Physically, The Mysteries of Mesoamerica is, as has already been mentioned, a beautiful book. Its layout is thematically crisp with rich detailed artwork. A nice touch is the R.I.P. notices for the investigators who died in the process of playtesting the four scenarios; each includes illustration of the investigator—or investigators, the dates of his or their deaths, and a poignant quote. The only downside to the layout is that the boxed text is slightly difficult to read, especially if the Keeper needs to refer to it in a hurry. The book includes an extensive bibliography, but sadly not an index.

The Mysteries of Mesoamerica is thus incomplete. Its source material is excellent, its scenarios are solid, and it is beautifully presented, but its lack of application, its lack of advice, and its lack of support for the Keeper, all undermine the intent of the designers and the publishers. Perhaps the most disappointing book published by Pagan Publishing, it nevertheless contains content that is solid and useful. Thus, The Mysteries of Mesoamerica: 1920s Sourcebook and Mythos Adventures for Mexico and Central America is Pagan Publishing’s curate’s egg.

Reviews from R'lyeh Christmas Dozen 2013

Since 2001, I have contributed to a series of lists in December at Ogrecave.com, suggesting not necessarily the best board and roleplaying games of the preceding year, but the titles that you might like to receive and give. Initiating a break with tradition – in that the following is just the one list and in that for reasons beyond its control, OgreCave.com is not running its own lists – Reviews from R’lyeh would once again like present its own list. Further, as is also traditional, Reviews from R’lyeh has not devolved into the need to cast about “Baleful Blandishments” to all concerned or otherwise based upon the arbitrary organisation of days. So as Reviews from R’lyeh presents the what is my dozenth’s Christmas List Dozen, I can only hope that the twelve below includes one of your favourites, or even better still, includes a game that you do not have and someone is happy to hide in gaudy paper and place under that dead tree for you.

Tales of the Sleepless City 
(Miskatonic River Press), $29.95/£21.99
It is sad news indeed that Tales of the Sleepless City, an anthology of scenarios set in New York during the Jazz Age, is Miskatonic River Press’ swansong for Call of Cthulhu. This beautifully presented book contains six scenarios that bring the Big Apple to life like no supplement for Call of Cthulhu before! Let your investigators discover how far reactionaries will go to preserve the fabric of New York, expose them to bloody horrors in the museum, or have them experience Harlem in mourning. Send them into Hell’s Kitchen to live in a slum tenement owned by the worst slum landlord possible, have them expose a dark future for one young child in Chinatown, or let them truly enjoy a night at the opera… Tales of the Sleepless City is the best Call of Cthulhu title of 2013 – it is such a pity that we shall not see its like again from Miskatonic River Press.

Hanabi (Cocktail Games), $11.99/£8.99
Remember how 7 Wonders made the Ogrecave.com Christmas list back in 2011 after not winning the ‘Spiel des Jahres’ (German ‘Game of the Year’), but winning its new bigger brother award, the ‘Kennerspiel des Jahres’ (roughly ‘Connoisseur-Enthusiast Game of the Year’)? Well this year we include an actual ‘Spiel des Jahres’ winner, one from the designer of 7 Wonders – Antoine Bauz. His award winning design is Hanabi, a clever game in which the players race to bring about the most impressive fireworks display. This requires that the players work together in order to launch the fireworks in the right order, which means everyone playing their cards in the right order. The twist in this co-operative card game is that everyone can see each other’s cards, but they cannot see their own! This is a clever little card game about communicating the right information with your other players in order to win the game.

13th Age (Pelgrane Press), $44.95/£39.99
What do you get when a designer of Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition and a designer of Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition decide to create a fantasy RPG together? The result is Rob Heinsoo and Jonathon Tweet’s 13th Age, a furiously fun take upon playing Dungeons & Dragons. It still uses the d20 System, but streamlines the mechanics and play style for faster game, combining well-designed character Classes with story-telling aspects that both tie the heroes into the broadly drawn setting and make them stand out as potentially epic champions. With Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition not out until GenCon 2014, 13th Age is the freshest take upon Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying in years.

Ogre Designer’s Edition
(Steve Jackson Games), $100/£85
If in 2013 the gaming hobby, the elephant in the room that is Dungeons & Dragons was on holiday, then pound for pound, its spot was occupied by a 26 lbs. tank. Big enough and heavy enough to scare your game’s collection, the Ogre Designer’s Edition brings back Steve Jackson’s first game design in a very complete combination of the original classic Ogre and G.E.V. two-player game, plus more. Five maps, hundreds of counters, and over seventy 3D Ogres and buildings, all in a big box! What’s an ‘Ogre’ you ask? A big tank, a big damned tank under the command of an A.I. and bristling with big guns, big rockets, and big nukes, all rumbling towards you… Can you stop it before it stops the units under your command…?

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords - Base Set 
(Paizo Publishing), $59.99/£49.99
Remember the original Adventure Path campaign for Rise of the Runelords and how we liked it last year enough to include Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path Anniversary Edition on the 2012 Ogrecave.com Christmas List? This year, you get to play it all over again with the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords, a game that distils the essence of both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Rise of the Runelords into an elegant and quick playing deck-building card game that plays equally well for four players as it does for the single player. The game pitches a party of adventurers in a series of scenarios against various villains and their henchmen who are hidden – find the henchmen and the heroes have a chance of finding and defeating the villain. The adventurers need to have the right skills, right spells, and right equipment all at the right time – and if they succeed they get better. All represented on the cards, which makes for both slick game play and extended game play over the course of the Rise of the Runelords campaign.

Firefly: The Game
(Gale Force Nine), $50/£44.99 
If there is one RPG that we are looking forward to in 2014, it is Margaret Weis Productions’ Firefly Role-Playing Game – of which you can find a taster here – but that is coming in 2014. In the meantime, you can fly the ‘friendly’ ‘Verse in search of a profit aboard your own Firefly Class transport in this well-appointed boardgame from Gale Force Nine. Some jobs will be legal, some jobs will be illegal, and some may bring the attention of the Alliance or worse, Reavers! All you need is the right ship, the right crew, and the right job – maybe it’s a job for Badger, maybe for Niska, but it just needs to go shiny. The game does not always go smooth, but if you are a fan of the television series, then is exactly what you want. Find a crew. Find a job. Keep flying…

Fate Core System (Evil Hat Productions), $25/£16.99
In most RPGs you sit down, create a character and start playing a world of the GM’s creation (or purchase). In Fate Core System, the new edition of the Fate System first seen in Spirit of the Century, you sit down and work with your fellow players and the GM to decide upon a world and the elements in it. This presents enormous flexibility in creating the game that everyone wants to play, whether that is protecting small town Texas from the scum of the universe in 1961, strapping on a jetpack to free the Solar System from the yoke of the Mongol Horde, or wielding the arcane arts against the greatest of Napoleon Bonaparte’s sorcerers! It means that right from the start, the players have narrative control of who their characters are and what their place in the world is, the GM taking his cue from these characters and the narrative that they demand. This is a game about dramatic characters and their adventures and the means to build and run them. (Two supplements – Fate Worlds: Worlds on Fire and Fate Worlds: Worlds in Shadow each come with six ready-to-play settings should the GM and his players not have the time to create worlds of their own, or just want to cut to the chase).

Love Letter (Alderac Entertainment Group), $11.99/£7.99
Princess Annette is unhappy and has locked herself away in the castle; as a suitor can you make her happy once again? To do that you need to get a love letter to her, but between you and the Princess stands the palace bureaucracy – from the lowly guards and priests up through the barons, handmaidens, the King, and the Prince to the Countess and the Princess herself. Each and every one of these august – and not august personages – has a special ability that will advance or block your path to the Princess, but no suitor knows whose favours his rivals currently possess. This is a quick-playing game of bluff and deduction that plays perfectly between other games.

Adventures in Kaphornia 01 – Draconian Rhapsody: A Fantasy Movie For Your Game Table (Chronicle City), $19.99/£13.99
Sadly, roleplaying takes time and there are times when it would be great to have something that you can pick and play with a minimum of preparation. Originally published in German by Ulisses Spiele GmbH, Draconian Rhapsody is just one solution. It is not an RPG as such, but rather a scenario that comes with everything necessary to play – except dice of course! It includes ready-to-play characters, simple rules, and of course an adventure that everyone can jump straight into. Arriving in Kaphornia, through circumstances beyond their control the adventurers discover that Countess Esmeralda of Belzheim needs a dragon, alive and inside of a week. Can they capture the dragon for her in this definitely cinematic, if slightly humorous adventure? Draconian Rhapsody is at its heart a fantasy action movie that you can play through in an evening.

Numenera (Monte Cook Games), $59.99/£39.99
Were the people of the Ninth Age ignorant of the past, then perhaps Clarke’s Law, that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” might be true. In the very far future of the Ninth Age, humanity is surrounded by the fragments and remains of the previous ages – swirls of nanotechnology, impossibly manicured buildings and landscapes, creatures and peoples bio-engineered to some unknown ends, data streams from still-orbiting satellites, and devices and objects weird and wondrous. Such devices, known as the ‘numenera’, can often be used by the peoples of the Ninth Age, or if not, adapted to a new purpose – perhaps by the Amber Priests. With Numenera, the author’s first RPG of his own design, Monte Cook lets us explore a world of fantastical science to build a bright new future.

Eternal Lies (Pelgrane Press), $49.95/£32.95 
In the 1920s, doughty and stalwart men and women banded together to investigate and thwart the menace presented by threats beyond mankind’s understanding and sanity. We have played out such attempts in Masks of Nyarlathotep, Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, and The Day of the Beast, each in their own way classic campaigns for Call of Cthulhu, but there is one question that has never been asked. What if they failed? This is the set-up for Eternal Lies, the first full campaign for Trail of Cthulhu, Pelgrane Press’ RPG of clue-orientated Lovecraftian investigative horror. In this globe-spanning campaign, the investigators must follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, uncovering clues old and new, not just to reveal the nature of the menace, but to determine where their predecessors went wrong. This is superb interpretation of a classic format that promises month after month of sanity searing play around the world.

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game (Fantasy Flight Games), $59.95/£39.99
The gaming hobby feels all the better for having an RPG based in the Star Wars universe on its shelves and in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, Fantasy Flight Games gives us the first of a trilogy of new Star Wars RPGs. In the one you play Bounty Hunters, Colonists, Explorers, Hired Guns, Smugglers, and Technicians attempting to get by on the Outer Rim, far from the centre of the galaxy, but not so far that the Empire is no longer a threat. The new mechanics use a set of dice particular to the game whose results drive the adventure onwards with results that might ensure a hero’s successes whilst upping the threat or giving him an advantage, all in support of the game’s cinematic style of play. Already supported with several supplements, the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire – Beginner Game is also available to help you get started.

Against the Slave Lords
(Wizards of the Coast), $49.95/£34.99 
With no new official Dungeons & Dragons titles of note this year, perhaps the best were the nostalgia titles repackaged and re-released by Wizards of the Coast. Against the Slave Lords collates four scenarios – A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity, A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade, A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, and A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition. Previously released as the collection, Scourge of the Slave Lords (A1–4) which was voted the twentieth greatest Dungeons & Dragons scenario of all time, Against the Slave Lords is a campaign for characters of fourth through seventh levels set in the World of Greyhawk that pitches them against an insidious gang of slavers. Presented as a pleasing hardback that not contains the original four scenarios, but also adds a fifth scenario designed to introduce player characters to the campaign, which means that Against the Slave Lords can not only be played by us old nostalgic players, but new ones too.