Monograph Misfire I

Since 2003, the Miskatonic University Library Association series of monographs has been Chaosium, Inc.’s way of making other works available to players of both Call of Cthulhu and Basic RolePlay. Bar the printing, each monograph’s author is responsible for the writing, the editing, and the layout, so far the quality of entries in the series have varied widely and has led to some dreadful releases. Fortunately, Return of the Ripper: An 1890s Scenario for Call of Cthulhu and Cthulhu By Gaslight is far from dreadful in terms of both editing and layout, and potentially far from dreadful in terms of storytelling and writing.

Supplements for Cthulhu by Gaslight are rare, either as titles available via standard distribution channels or as Monographs, but the truth is that in coming to Return of the Ripper, I bring a personal prejudice. The truth is that I dislike bringing Sherlock Holmes into my Victorian era roleplaying and I dislike bringing in Jack the Ripper into my Victorian era roleplaying, and I particularly dislike bringing in either into my Lovecraftian investigative horror roleplaying set in the Victorian era. I have no issue against Sherlock Holmes, enjoying both the fiction and the adaptations, particularly the radio versions starring Clive Merrison, Michael Williams, and Andrew Sachs, but Holmes is such a towering force of intellect and deduction that for him not to have deduced the existence of the Mythos, let alone determine the identity of the Ripper, seems absurd. Holmes is also so singular a figure and so synonymous with the period that the players are likely to obsess over him, their wanting to gain an audience with him and potentially his insight in-game. Further, he is a fictional character, and there are invariably enough fictional elements in my Lovecraftian investigative horror roleplaying and those elements are Lovecraft’s. Lastly, he is too easy a device to use to denote that it is the late Victorian era such that his use as a device is lazy writing. Basically though, his inclusion in Victorian era roleplaying is anything other than obligatory.

As to Jack the Ripper, his use suffers from many of the same problems as Sherlock Holmes, but the tendency of roleplaying writing is to present the Ripper killings as a mystery to be solved. This runs counter to the nature of the crimes and their inexplicable nature – there is no explanation to them 125 years after they occurred and their perpetrator likewise remains unknown. In presenting the Ripper killings as a mystery to be solved, the answer in Lovecraftian investigative horror roleplaying is always somehow related to the Cthulhu Mythos. It is rarely done well and it invariably detracts from the horror of the killings themselves.

Fundamentally though, the use of either Sherlock Holmes or Jack the Ripper in Victorian era roleplaying is a cliché. The use of both is just plain boring.

And so to Return of the Ripper, which as the title suggests, is about Jack the Ripper and being written for use with Call of Cthulhu, does involve Lovecraftian investigative horror roleplaying. With those black marks already against it, the monograph brings with it an awful lot of baggage of its very own. The author of the Return of the Ripper is William Barton and he also happened to write Cthulhu by Gaslight. As the author of the latter, Barton originally intended to include Return of the Ripper in the original 1986 Cthulhu by Gaslight boxed set as a counterpart to the scenario, ‘The Yorkshire Horrors’, but it was deemed too long and unsuitable as it provided a ‘supernatural’ or Mythos explanation to the Ripper killings. Of course, as the author points out, Chaosium would go on to publish a scenario that gave a Mythos explanation to the predations of the Ripper – ‘Signs Writ in Scarlet’ from the 1993 anthology, Sacraments of Evil. Slip forward fifteen years and Chaosium’s Monograph programme enabled the author to bring what would have otherwise have been a lost scenario to print.

Return of the Ripper is set in the London of 1893. As it opens, there has been a brutal slaying of a prostitute in Whitechapel. This is only five years after the body of Mary Jane Kelly, the last of the victims of the most infamous murderer in history, Jack the Ripper, was discovered. Never caught, has ‘Saucy Jack’ returned to enact his bloody killings once again?

Designed for a group of between four and eight investigators, one of whom should have some experience with the Mythos and possibly know the spell, Elder Sign, it is also suggested that such a group consist primarily of inquiry agents and journalists. Indeed, a group of merchants will directly approach a player character inquiry agent to gain his aid in ridding the East End of London of this foul threat. Alternative hooks are given for journalists, scholarly experts, and so on. Once they decide to probe the killings, the investigators must negotiate with the police; question the inhabitants of the notorious slums; search for information ahead of rival sleuths, and more… The Ripper though, is not the only outré threat that stalks the fogbound, ill lit streets of the heart of empire. Determining the nature of both these threats and the identity of the Ripper will be difficult and not just because the investigation process is difficult, but also because presenting the Return of the Ripper is equally as difficult.

It is telling that the author of the Return of the Ripper states up front that the scenario “…is less linear than many CoC scenarios.” for the Return of the Ripper is anything other than linear in structure. Which is odd given the linearity of the author’s most well-known scenario, ‘The Curse of Chaugnar Faugn’ from Curse of the Chthonians: Four Odysseys Into Deadly Intrigue, but what the Return of the Ripper actually is, is a toolkit to create an investigation into a second series of Ripper killings. Along with hooks to get the investigators involved, the Monograph includes details of their enemies and allies, places of interest, clues and rumours, extensive encounters, and more. Indeed, there is everything here and more from which the Keeper can draw to help him craft a solid scenario, except that is, any sense of narrative structure, and worse, the ‘more’ of Return of the Ripper is a serious impediment to the Keeper in constructing that narrative.

The ‘more’ of Return of the Ripper is that it is ferociously overwritten and it suffers from the repetition of detail after detail, especially with regard to villains of the piece. It is easy to see how the original manuscript ballooned from sixty to over three hundred pages, because simply it is all here. Every possible encounter, every little detail, all are covered, and whilst this admirable, it makes the Monograph hard to read, let alone digest and begin to put together as an adventure.

Putting aside the scenario’s use of the Ripper Mythos, Return of the Ripper also makes extensive use of the Holmes Mythos, the Cthulhu Mythos, and to a much lesser extent, the Dracula Mythos. Of these, the use of the Ripper Mythos and the Cthulhu Mythos are to be expected, but the use of the Holmes Mythos is jarring, with various characters turning up and references being made, one of which is made into Ripper’s minion. As for the man himself, Return of the Ripper is set in 1893, so as far as anyone knows, he died at the Reichenbach Falls the previous year, so at least he cannot appear to break the scenario. Brought all together and the Mythos mix feels as if the author is over-egging the pudding. As does naming one of the villains of the piece, Macabre, which as surname is about as subtle being hit over the head with a sign that reads, “My name is Lord Villainy Villainous McVillain, High-Chief Villain of the Clan McVillain and you can tell that I am a villain by the way I twirl my facial hair.” How are the players expected to take such a name seriously?

In addition, the author makes use of a number of skills that are not part of the Call of Cthulhu, Sixth Edition or earlier edition rules. They are at least explained in an appendix, rather than the Keeper being expected to refer to either The Gaslight Companion or A Cthulhian Miscellany. The first of these Monographs is yet to see print, although the second one, also by the author of Return of the Ripper, is in print. None of the use of the skills listed in the appendix is obligatory, and indeed, it could be argued that some of them are redundant. For example, ‘Observation’ is more Sherlock Holmes than Call of Cthulhu and does little more than Spot Hidden does; ‘Deduction’ is equally more Sherlock Holmes than Call of Cthulhu and does little more than an Idea roll does; and ‘Seduction’ is just a variation upon the Persuade skill.

Physically, Return of the Ripper is reasonably produced for a Monograph. Some art is used to break up what is mostly dense text, but it is not always as clear as it could be. Similarly, the maps are not always as clear, and there could have been more maps of the scenario’s various locations.

Return of the Ripper certainly makes demands of the Keeper to run and present, hampered as it is by the absence of a narrative structure upon which he could hang the elements given in the Monograph. Further, it demands that he and his players accept the idea that there is a Mythos explanation behind the Ripper killings and that Sherlock Holmes actually exists, which for some may be too big a pair of hurdles to overcome. If they can, then there is material enough to support an investigation into the Mythos activities of the Ripper, but it will be hard work.

Halloween Horror 2

Since 2003, the Miskatonic University Library Association series of monographs has been Chaosium, Inc.’s way of making other works available to players of both Call of Cthulhu and Basic RolePlay. Bar the printing, each monograph’s author is responsible for the writing, the editing, and the layout, so far the quality of entries in the series have varied widely and has led to some dreadful releases. Unfortunately, whilst Halloween Horror 2: Eight Horrors for One Special Night is far from dreadful in terms of both editing and layout, or indeed storytelling and writing, it is lacking with regard to all four aspects.

Halloween Horror 2 dates from 2006 and collates eight of the entries in Chaosium’s 2006 Halloween Adventure Contest, following on from the trio collected in the previous year’s Halloween Horror monograph. It presents three scenarios for the classic Call of Cthulhu period of the 1920s, three for the contemporary period of Cthulhu Now, one for the contemporary period of Secrets of Japan, and one for Cthulhu Dark Ages. The anthology would be followed by Halloween Horror Returns! in 2007 and then Bride of Halloween Horror in 2009.

The octet opens with Brandon Hanlan’s ‘Of Angels and Bones’, which is designed for two to four players and is set during the 1920s. Specifically it is set in the Illinois town of Totun in 1924 a year after the head of the Church of the Loving Saviour, Pastor Gene Pleate, was killed following a protest against the celebration of Halloween and then several years old corpses were discovered in his basement. The cause of their deaths could not be confirmed, let alone the circumstances, but the scandal was enough to drive his flock to disband. In the year since, almost nothing of note has happened in the town, although as Halloween approaches, strange lights have been seen in the skies nearby. Which is something of a problem, for ‘Of Angels and Bones’ suffers from a problem to all too many Call of Cthulhu scenarios – not enough of a hook to entice the investigators to well, investigate. This is not to say that there not uninteresting things to investigate and not uninteresting NPCs to interact with, but getting the investigators to Totun is an issue, as is the fact that the scenario’s actual climax and ending are extraneous. It feels as if the author felt that the ending was not strong enough and essentially came up with a variation of the town under siege by zombies. ‘Of Angels and Bones’ is a situation in search of a scenario…

‘The Devil’s Agents’ by Shawn Proctor is designed for a similarly sized group and is also set during the 1920s. It takes place in Lovecraft Country and casts the player characters, of which there are four pre-generated ones provided, as ne’er do wells and potential cultists devoted to Shub-Niggurath. Under the obedient sway of Simon, the cult leader, they are tasked with a number of assignments necessary to build towards Simon’s first great undertaking. This includes robbery, murder, and more, all acts that will attract not only the police, but also the attention of a very atypical investigator party. This situation presents a potentially interesting roleplaying challenge and is supported by a new Sanity mechanic that allows the Sanity of the player characters to dip far below zero. Unfortunately, the mechanic is not fully developed as it lacks an explanation of how Sanity is lost once it reaches zero, especially when it is gained for successfully undertaking actions that further the cult’s aims. This is not helped when the four pre-generated characters begin play with no Sanity and no suggestion given as to how this Sanity was lost. It should be noted that naming these after the cast and characters of the film Shaun of the Dead is not conducive to serious play. Again, there is an interesting set up and set of possibilities in this scenario, but both are hampered by poor development.

Brian Hensley's ‘Haunted Molesbury’ is a modern set Call of Cthulhu scenario, nominally set in the United Kingdom, but really in a small piece of the USA. It is specifically about Halloween or at least a Halloween event organised by the men and woman of RAF Molesbury, a US airbase in the United Kingdom. The investigators are the guests of a friend who is serving at the base and are asked to enjoy the festivities. The scenario is linear and limited, being primarily designed to get the investigators through and involved in the scarefest. This scenario is pleasingly straightforward and easy to run and as much as its Americana feels false, it is actually befits the scenario.

‘Way Down. In Ioway.’ by X.D. Eness is designed for three to six investigators and takes place in rural Iwo in the 1920s. It takes a radical approach to the Cthulhu Mythos and builds the scenario around two falsehoods. First, that the Mythos is nothing but a construct, and second, that its adherents can lured into a trap. Then it involves the player characters. They are employees at Viscill Countywide Press who are asked by the company’s owner, Sherwin Farne, to housesit for a week. Then strange things start happening, all culminating on the night of Halloween. The problem is that there is little that the player characters can do bar wait it out and then be told what is going on. There is little that they can find out themselves and this is bound to be an exercise in frustration upon the part of the players.

John Kennedy’s ‘The Smokestack Horror’ is set in the modern day and is set in a high school where there is a new report that a teacher has had a nervous breakdown, screaming about “…[K]ids being in league with worms…”. This is deemed sufficient reason enough for the investigators to visit the school and attempt to find out what is going on. The problem is that from almost any angle, this would be all but impossible. The investigators have to come up with a reason why they would on school grounds let alone be investigating given the school is unlikely to let anyone lacking any kind of authority just wander around. That said, once a means has been found, there are still plenty of human obstacles in the way before the investigators can unearth what is going on and the horror is reasonably handled.

The tone is turbo-charged by Oscar Rios and Walter Attridge in their modern set scenario, ‘Halloween Candy’. The investigators are agents of the newly formed Department of Homeland Security who on Halloween are suddenly given a new assignment – go to the town of Cogan Springs and determine who has been ordering rare compounds that can be combined to produce a dangerous drug and why. This is not so much a scenario of ‘Survival Horror’ as ‘Action Horror’, unashamedly and unsubtly so, one that would make for an all action ‘Night at the Opera’ for Pagan Publishing's Delta Green. That is if the investigators survive and the world does not end…

Simon Yee’s ‘Enter the Gaijin’ is also a modern set scenario, but one that makes use of the supplement Secrets of Japan rather than Cthulhu Now. It is thus a rare incidence of scenario using that supplement. Beginning with a series of home invasions and a bank robbery, it takes the investigators from Arkham, Massachusetts to Japan and suitable for investigators who are Federal agents, so as with ‘Halloween Candy’, would with Pagan Publishing’s Delta Green. Although short, it involves some solid investigation and unlike several of the other entries in Halloween Horror 2 does not overdo the horror.

Rounding the supplement is ‘A Ring of Toadstools’, a Cthulhu Dark Ages scenario by Oscar Rios. The scenario can take place anywhere in the British Isles, but has an obviously Celtic feel to it, involving as it does faery folklore. The investigators are visitors to Sogailraugh and so are invited to participate in the town’s All Hallows Festival. This gives them the opportunity to interact with the inhabitants before events take a strange turn. Noreen, the daughter of the local lord and lady is to be christened on the day, but her mother claims that she has been kidnapped! The player characters need to take all of folklore to heart if they are to find out what happened to Noreen and get her back. In some ways this feels like a Dungeons & Dragons scenario given its fantastical rather than Mythos elements, but in places it is no less horrifying and in comparison to many of the scenarios in the anthology, ‘A Ring of Toadstools’ is the most rounded out piece in the book. If there is an issue with the scenario, it is its lack of Mythos content and it is the lack of parallels drawn between the folklore and the Mythos. Otherwise, ‘A Ring of Toadstools’ at least brings Halloween Horror 2 to a satisfying close.

Physically, Halloween Horror 2 is simply laid out and simply uninteresting. The editing is imperfect, but not exceptionally so… Only ‘A Ring of Toadstools’ is illustrated, but again, not to any great standard. Then again, the standards for the Miskatonic University Library Association series of monographs is not high.

Unfortunately, there is little to really to distinguish Halloween Horror 2 from any other Miskatonic University Library Association Monograph. Too many of the scenarios need work, especially in their hooks, which at best makes Halloween Horror 2: Eight Horrors for One Special Night something for a Keeper to tinker with. 

A Norse Trilogy

Since 2003, the Miskatonic University Library Association series of monographs has been Chaosium, Inc.’s way of making other works available to players of both Call of Cthulhu and Basic RolePlay. Bar the printing, each monograph’s author is responsible for the writing, the editing, and the layout, so far the quality of entries in the series have varied widely and has led to some dreadful releases. Fortunately, The Ravenar Sagas: Three Viking Adventures for Cthulhu Dark Ages is far from dreadful in terms of both editing and layout, and far from dreadful in terms of storytelling and writing.

The Ravenar Sagas is the second campaign from Oscar Rios, a Call of Cthulhu author best known for The Legacy of Arrius Lurco, the Cthulhu Invictus campaign published by the late lamented Miskatonic River Press. His previous campaign, also a Monograph, was Ripples from Carcosa, a trilogy of connected scenarios set in the periods of Cthulhu Invictus, Cthulhu Dark Ages, and the near future of the End Times, but separated by millennia. The Ravenar Sagas marks his second return to the period of Cthulhu Dark Ages, the setting when the dread Necronomicon was freely distributed and the forces of the Mythos all but ran wild… Where Cthulhu Dark Ages focused primarily on mainland Europe as a setting, The Ravenar Sagas takes its adventurers to the edge of Europe and beyond…

Although the subtitle of the campaign suggests that The Ravenar Sagas consists of “Three Viking Adventures”, the Monograph actually contains three adventures for six Northmen who as friends crew the newly built small knorr, the Ravenar. Together, the six are men of action, well-armed, fearless, and eager to carve out legends for themselves, and over the course of three adventures and thirteen years, their heroic deeds will lend themselves to a great saga, one of love, betrayal, and horrors from beyond. In the course of the adventure the characters will age thirteen years, so versions are provided for each of the three scenarios that in turn will take the investigators to and from Norway to Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland.

The saga begins in 989 AD with ‘The Unsung Saga’, an action orientated scenario originally used as a demonstration adventure for Cthulhu Dark Ages. The six adventurers are tasked by their chieftain to go in search of his son, Svengar who has not returned from a hunting expedition to the Faeroes Islands. What the adventurers learn is that Svengar had other things on his mind than hunting and if they are to mount a rescue, they must strike a curious bargain and venture into the lair of some wholly wild creatures.

If ‘The Unsung Saga’ was a fairly straight forward affair, ‘The Second Saga’ is more complex and detailed, and thus a more interesting scenario. It is set three years later and Svengar has prospered, turning the failing settlement of Neskasyla into a welcoming and friendly place that looks to succeed for years to come. In the process, Svengar has made himself a popular leader as well as a growing family. Invited to spend Yuletide with Svengar and his wife in Neskasyla, the adventurers find themselves, along with the inhabitants of the settlement, besieged by the unnatural, both in terms of the weather and things that no man should have dealings with. 

The adventurers will have much more to do in ‘The Second Saga’. There is work to be done in Neskasyla as well as play, fellow visitors to rescue, and an enveloping storm to pierce if the adventurers are to thwart the ‘real’ danger to the settlement. Long-time devotees of Call of Cthulhu will recognise the entities used in this scenario, but they are appropriately used and challenging foes given the setting and what the player characters must face them with. Overall, this is an engaging and enjoyable affair with much for the player characters to do.

The trilogy comes to a close with ‘The Vinland Saga’, which takes place a decade after those of ‘The Second Saga’ in 1002 AD. The adventurers are ten years older and experienced ship captains who are called to war following the news that Svengar is dead! He had gone to the aid of his steward, Ozgar, who had established a colony of his own in Vinland that was attacked by an alliance of dark native tribes and rival Northmen. In their defence of the colony Svengar was struck down and killed and now his wife wants revenge!

Whilst ‘The Vinland Saga’ brings The Ravenar Sagas to a rousing climax, it suffers from being too combat-orientated. It consists of one combat encounter after another and the problem is that Call of Cthulhu is not very forgiving when it comes to combat. Nevertheless, some of them are nicely staged and are unlike any the players will encounter in a normal game of Call of Cthulhu.

The Ravenar Sagas is rounded out with the ‘actual’ history of the Sagas and how they came to be uncovered from a burial mound in Iceland in 1884. Here they are also presented as a Mythos Tome so that a group of investigators could read them in the Gaslight, Jazz, or Modern Age and actually learn from them by playing out the events they are said to portray…

Physically, The Ravenar Sagas is decently presented for a Monograph. It needs another edit, but the layout is light enough to counter the lack of illustrations. If there is an issue with the book it is that the maps are indistinct. In hindsight, it probably would have been better had they been done by hand.

As a trilogy, The Ravenar Sagas does a good job of presenting a ‘Viking’ Saga. As a set of scenarios, it is an uneven affair in terms of investigation over combat, and of the three, the middle one, ‘The Second Saga’ is the most balanced and the best written. In fact, it would actually make a reasonable addition to any collection. It consisting of three scenarios, each several years apart, means that a Keeper could easily slot other scenarios in between the three included here. The Ravenar Sagas continues Oscar Rios’ penchant for untraditional Call of Cthulhu scenarios in terms of the investigative process and the action.

Triple Ripple Yellow

Since 2003, the Miskatonic University Library Association series of monographs has been Chaosium, Inc.’s way of making other works available to players of both Call of Cthulhu and Basic RolePlay. Bar the printing, each monograph’s author is responsible for the writing, the editing, and the layout, so far the quality of entries in the series have varied widely and has led to some dreadful releases. Fortunately, Ripples from Carcosa: Confronting Hastur Across Time and Space is far from dreadful in terms of both editing and layout, or indeed storytelling and writing.

Ripples from Carcosa dates from 2005 and is Oscar Rios’ first campaign. As its title and subtitle suggests it presents a campaign against a single threat not in single era, but several. More specifically three eras, each of which at the time of publication were supported by Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu, though not so currently. They include the Ancient Rome of CthulhuInvictus, then a fellow Monograph; the Dark Ages of Cthulhu Dark Ages, only recently translated from the German version; and End Time: Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying At The World's End, a Monograph that detailed a near future in which mankind has fled the Earth as the stars have come right. As of 2013, Cthulhu Invictus is in print as a full book available at your local friendly, gaming store and indeed would be the setting for Rios’ well-received campaign from Miskatonic River Press, The Legacy of Arrius Lurco. Of the other two supplements, Cthulhu Dark Ages remains out of print and End Time is still only available as a Monograph. Fortunately, none of these three supplements are absolutely necessary to running any of the scenarios in Ripples from Carcosa.

The trilogy opens with ‘Adventus Regis’ or “Arrival of the King” in which various Roman citizens have come to Vestalanium to undertake a vacation, some with their children. Treated to every luxury, the highlight of their week’s stay is sure to be the performance of a new play, the first in five years by the famed playwright, Livius Carbo. The town is rife with rumours about the play, which will be staged at the town’s arena the following night and the characters will see the following night. Worse everyone seems on edge, but perhaps once the play has been performed, tensions will lessen? The scenario consists of relatively little investigation, initially there is little for the characters to discover and little for them to put together. Instead, everything is revealed in a bloody climax of madness, mayhem, and murder that interestingly sees the characters coming to the aftermath of a Mythos summoning.

It continues with ‘Herald to the Yellow King’, which is set in the kingdom of Shereborne in Wessex during the Dark Ages. Ten years ago, Lord Boniface made a promise to Wessex’s oldest man not to cut down an ancient oak, but now that has happened and as part of his household, Lord Boniface tasks the characters to ride out to Derek’s Holding and offer an apology upon his behalf. Setting out in the last few days before the Yule festival, what the characters find is a village in disarray, a scene of madness. As the weather draws in, they are sent out again and again in search of answers to what happened in Derek’s Holding, but what they find is more madness, more mayhem, and more murder. As the season draws in, they must return to Lord Boniface’s castle where they find that the answers they seek have arrived before them.

The last scenario in Ripples in Carcosa is ‘Heir to Carcosa’ which takes place in The United Colonial Coalition Asteroid Colonies in 2147. There, four asteroids are home to a secret alliance between humans, Elder Things, and the Great Race of Yith, trying to remain hidden from both an Earth abandoned following the rise of R’lyeh in 2045 and the remnants of mankind on Mars. The characters are the crew of the UCC Gladius, an armed vessel tasked undertaking various missions and with keeping the existence of the colonies a secret. Via a trade with the Mi-go, they learn of another vessel operating near the colonies. The crew is ordered to intercept the ship, disable and board it in order to learn what the crew knows and then repair the ship for UCC use. Repairing the ship and determining the crew’s objective involves an interesting trip into the past.

In addition to the three scenarios, Ripples from Carcosa includes an examination of Hastur, the King in Yellow, and the play of the same name. Initially it only compiles what has been seen before, bearing in mind that this Monograph was published in 2005 and the Great Old, his avatar, and The King in Yellow have been revisited several times since. It expands upon this in supplementary chapters by examining the worship of Hastur in both the Roman Empire and the Dark Ages, including several adventure seeds also. Instead of presenting the worship of Hastur in the period of the End Time, the supplement instead presents enough background to run ‘Heir to Carcosa’ without recourse to owning the End Time Monograph. That said, all three scenarios could be run without reference being made to their setting sourcebooks.

Each scenario in Ripples from Carcosa comes with a set of six pre-generated investigators, and whilst they can be used to play each of the scenarios as a one-shot, they are fundamental to playing the trilogy as a campaign. Variations upon each of the six characters appear in three scenarios and exposure to the Mythos of Hastur allows an investigator to recall dimly the events of a previous scenario to gain insight as to his current predicament. Whilst it would be possible for the Keeper to add further scenarios, these three – and it has to be three with Hastur! Hastur! Hastur! – do intentionally take place a millennium apart and the Keeper would have to develop the characters in each case.

Physically, Ripples from Carcosa is well produced. If the artwork is perhaps a little scrappy, there is at least some effort made to give the book a little style, and there is evidence of some editing. It feels cramped in places, especially the investigator sheets for each scenario.

Campaigns through time and using the reincarnation concept to provide continuity between eras have been done since the release of Ripples from Carcosa, most notably the Dungeons & Dragons influenced Red Eye of Azathoth from Open Design, but arguably Ripples from Carcosa was the first. The three scenarios here show a progressive spiral into madness that are the hallmarks of Hastur’s influences as well as what has become the author’s trademark avoidance of Call of Cthulhu’s traditional investigative methods. As a campaign, Ripples from Carcosa is far from a traditional Call of Cthulhu campaign – it dispenses with the onionskin format and there is no climax to the campaign, instead has the characters face the same threat, or rather variations upon it, again and again. In a sense this is unsatisfying for both the players and the Keeper because of this, but each scenario in Ripples from Carcosa is satisfying enough to stand on its own. Together though, they impart a sense of continuing despair across the ages as Ripples from Carcosa: Confronting Hastur Across Time and Space.

Four for War

Since 2003, the Miskatonic University Library Association series of monographs has been Chaosium’s way of making other works available to players of both Call of Cthulhu and Basic RolePlay. Bar the printing, each monograph’s author is responsible for the writing, the editing, and the layout, so far the quality of entries in the series have varied widely and has led to some dreadful releases. Fortunately, Shadows of War: Four Scenarios Set In and Around the Second World War is far from dreadful in terms of both editing and layout, or indeed storytelling and writing.

World War Two would seem to be ripe ground upon which to roleplay games of Lovecraftian investigative horror so it is surprising that no publisher has released either scenarios or a campaign during that period. Yet despite there being three supplements forthcoming that support for Call of Cthulhu campaigns during World War Two – Achtung! Cthulhu from Modiphius Press, World War Cthulhu: The Darkest Hour from Cubicle Seven Entertainment, and Pagan Publishing's Our Darkest Hour, it is oft forgot that the premier RPG of Lovecraftian investigative horror actually has already visited the world's biggest conflict – five times. Not though in the form of something that could be purchased via your local friendly gaming store, but in Monograph format. One is in the obvious ‘Where Byakhees Dare’ from Toying with Humans, the other is in the form of Shadows of War, a quartet of scenarios that comprise the longest Monograph to date.

The anthology opens with a crisis before quickly coming, quite literally down to earth. ‘Goodnight Vienna’ begins aboard a B24 Liberator, its crew being forced to bail out over North Africa after getting lost and running out of fuel on the return leg of a mission to bomb Italy. Initially the crew’s focus will be on their survival in the harsh desert environment and on their drive to get to somewhere safe. Along the way though, evidence begins to mount that they are following in another group’s footsteps and that at least one member of that group suspected that something was amiss. Are the downed airmen destined for the same fate?

Once past the heavily scripted opening, care needs to be taken that the characters do not wander off and die in the desert – that would make for a dull game. Designed to be played by as many as eight participants, a smaller group is catered for with a smaller bomber and a set of British characters. If the characters can be kept on track, then ‘Goodnight Vienna’ is a pleasing slow burn survival horror one-shot.

‘No Pasaran!’ turns the clock to 1938 and the later stages of the Spanish Civil War. The characters are radicals and idealists serving with the International Brigades against the Fascists. They are stationed in Barcelona, members of the Friederich Engels Brigade, ill-equipped, but welcomed and saluted by the local populace, the characters get to experience life in the barracks, in a city under war time, and on check point duty. The city is rife with rumours about the war, about the political situation, and about the recent murder of a much respected bookseller. Eventually, the characters get what they want – a posting to active duty!

Sadly the posting is not to the front, but to a backwater region known as the Sierra Verde. The journey up country begins a descent into hell that intensifies and mirrors the horrors of war that have been visited upon the region in the past, leading to a confrontation with both the natives and those who have gone native! That this has a cinematic feel to it is no surprise given its primary sources of inspiration – Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. ‘No Pasaran!’ suffers from the lack of a map or two and some will decry that it is all too obvious in its inspiration, but is otherwise an effective homage adapted to a usually ignored period of history.

‘Thracian Gold’, the third scenario, turns the clock forward towards the end of the war. It is 1944 and news has come to Allied intelligence of an incredible archaeological find in Bulgaria, a country which though nominally allied with the Axis powers, is likely to tip into anarchy as partisans, monarchists, and the invading Soviet army vie for power. Were any one of these factions to gain possession of these artefacts, the possibility that they might never be seen again represents a terrible cultural and scientific loss to both the world and Bulgaria. Fortunately, the Area Head of Intelligence for Allied Command is an archaeologist and expert on the region so wants to lead a mission to snatch the artefacts before anyone else can. 

The resulting scenario has some parallels with the Balkan section of Horror on the Orient Express in that it concerns eyes, multi-angular viewing, and caves, but here the characters find themselves chasing a Great Old One’s thralls out of Bulgaria in order to prevent its summoning – and that in the midst of a war zone. Initially, the scenario feels vague, but this is in part intentional and it takes a shock or two to pull events and the investigators together.

The last scenario in the book is set after the war and has the most traditional Call of Cthulhu feel of all of the scenarios in the book. ‘Isle of Lost Souls’ is set in 1952 and casts the investigators as a relief team sent by the University of Bristol to determine both the fate of, and continue the work of, an archaeological expedition it sent to a Greek island. Although much of the investigators’ efforts will be spent in continuing the dig, the scenario also presents them with a greater freedom than in the preceding three scenarios. The scenario is also the most complex of the four, requiring careful staging upon the part of the Keeper as he places one strange incident after another, often repeating and building on those that occur before. The latter serve to build a strange almost ghostly atmosphere towards the scenario’s potentially bloody climax.

Although events in World War Two have a bearing on ‘Isle of Lost Souls’, its post-war setting mean that it feels a little out of place as part of the Shadows of War. Its inclusion is in keeping with the other three scenarios in the anthology in that they all have a Mediterranean setting, but the truth is that ‘Isle of Lost Souls’ could have been included in any ‘general’ anthology and not felt out of place. 

Physically, all four scenarios are well presented, well written, and come with reasonable hand-outs and pre-generated investigators. That is, for a Monograph. Some of the artwork has not been reproduced as clearly as it could have been and the maps are muddy in places. Like nearly every Monograph, Shadows of War does need an edit in places.

One criticism of this anthology is that the first three – ‘Goodnight Vienna’, ‘No Pasaran!’, and ‘Thracian Gold’ all suffer from being too linear, but in their defence, the situations they describe do limit the actions of the characters. Another would be the lack of investigation involved in the first three – hence the use of ‘character’ over ‘investigator’ in this review, but again the situations do not allow for much in the way of investigation in the classic Call of Cthulhu sense. Of the four, ‘Goodnight Vienna’ provides a short, sharp effective shock, but ‘Isle of Lost Souls’ is probably the best of the four, which being the most traditional scenario in terms of play and setting is at odds with the war settings of the previous three. Otherwise, Shadows of War is a solid anthology of one-shots for Call of Cthulhu.

By Jove... Cthulhu in Space

Here is a sad piece of news. There is no official Science Fiction setting for Call of Cthulhu. Although over the years, the genre has been visited rarely, most notably in the scenarios, “Blood Moon” in Strange Aeons and “The Last Log,” Marcus L. Rowland’s fondly remembered contribution to White Dwarf #56, the genre itself remains ignored and its potential undeveloped. That said, the genre has not been ignored by Chaosium’s Miskatonic University Library Association series of monographs, which since 2003, has been the publisher’s means of making other works available to players of both Call of Cthulhu and Basic Role Play. Bar the printing, each monograph’s author is responsible for the writing, the editing, and the layout, so the quality of the series varies widely and has led to some dreadful releases. Notable Science Fiction Monographs include End Time, Once Men, and Cthulhu Rising. None of these three are being reviewed here, but rather a supplement for Cthulhu Rising, entitled Jovian Nightmares.

Cthulhu Rising: Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying in the 23rd Century describes a near future set in 2271, inspired by movies such as Alien, Aliens, and Outland. In a time when the United Earth Federation together with innumerable corporate interests have explored and colonised the Solar System and beyond, it asks the question, “If in aeons past, entities and races of the Mythos have filtered down from space and distant stars to Earth, what happens if humanity follows them back into space and discovers them?” The setting supplement provided everything necessary to play – background, the Mythos of 2071, and character generation – bar actual scenarios. This is an omission that Jovian Nightmares: A Sourcebook For Cthulhu Rising — Call Of Cthulhu Roleplaying In The 23rd Century addresses. That said, as a single setting, Cthulhu Rising is superbly supported by the author’s own website, including standalone adventures and campaigns that involve civilian and military characters.

As its title suggests, Jovian Nightmares focuses on the gas giant Jupiter and its sprawling system of rings, moons, and other satellites – a region known as Circum-Jove – as well as all of the settlements and outposts that mankind has established in the previous 150 years. These include the cities that hang from the underside of the ice mantle that cover Europa’s world ocean; Nanotech Valley on Ganymede, home to a high tech hub devoted to nanotechnology; and the Orbital Gas Mines that float through the upper reaches of Jupiter’s atmosphere mining for Helium-3. Circum-Jove is home to numerous organisations, from the governmental like the Circum-Jove Administration and the Federal Law Enforcement Authority (FLEA) to non-government organisations such as the criminal Estrella Negra, Covenant Europa, the latter a terrorist threat dedicated to freeing Europa from human occupation, and the Ganymede Club, an invitation-only, private members club dedicated to radically dangerous sports such as interplanetary shuttle racing in the upper Jovian atmosphere and diving in the Europan World-Ocean. This is in addition to numerous corporations, companies, and combines that have a presence in Circum-Jove.

Much of Jovian Nightmares is devoted to detailing both these organisations and these places in Circum-Jove, with each of the Galilean Moons receiving several pages each. The background also includes a lengthy history, covering the years between 1973 and 2271. In terms of character support, Jovian Nightmares adds several new Occupations particular to the Circum-Jove region, although most work as equally well elsewhere, including Black Marketeer, Docker, FLEA Field Agent, Interstellar Colonial Marine, and Terrorist. Both Keeper and players will need access to Cthulhu Rising to get the full use out of these, although a Keeper could easily use them as inspiration for his own Science Fiction Call of Cthulhu setting.

Roughly half of the supplement is for the Keeper’s eyes only. It details many of the secrets to be found in Circum-Jove, some of them of a Mythos nature, others more mundane. These are organised first by planet, and then moon by moon, in turn also dealing with the various Mythos races that have a presence or an influence over the region. Some of them are obvious, such as the fact that Europa being an ocean world means that it should surprise no-one that the moon is also home to a certain species of ultra-terrestrial batrachian humanoids… Other secrets what or whom has been causing the disappearances in the labyrinthine catacombs beneath Ganymede and what caused the Red Eye of Jupiter, but fortunately, none of the secrets here are particularly radical, nor do they jar with the feel of the setting, which would have perhaps been worse.

The scenario in Jovian Nightmares, “Escape Velocity,” casts the player characters as convicted criminals sentenced to lengthy terms of Penal Involuntary Servitude aboard the Jovian Discoverer IV, an orbital gas-mining platform. Backgrounds are given for six pre-generated characters, though the Keeper will need to download the actual characters. After been  punished and sedated following a fight between their number, the characters awake to find their cell hatches open, a klaxon sounding in the distance, and a body outside their cells… Although they will not know it initially, this scenario is a race against the clock to determine what happened aboard the platform and then get off to safety. It is a detailed affair that the Keeper will need to handle it with care to keep up the pace, especially if he wants to fit into one session as the author suggests.

Rounding out the supplement is a septet of Adventure Seeds. These cover a range of set ups, from corporate troubleshooters and security personnel to surveyors and members of a salvage team, so it is unlikely that a Keeper would use them with the one set of characters. Each of the Adventure Seeds comes with several options as to what is going on, but each will need no little development upon the Keeper’s part.

Physically, Jovian Nightmares is neatly and tidily presented. In fact, it is much better laid out and edited than the average Monograph. The maps are perhaps a little workmanlike, the lack of detail not quite matching the grit and grift of the genre. That said, the artwork, which is drawn by the author, does, and it is a pity that there is not more of it. The scenario handouts could have been a bit more interesting too.

Ultimately, Jovian Nightmares leaves the reader wanting more. Whether that is more detail, more background, more secrets, or more scenarios. Actually probably the latter in favour of dropping the fiction, which does not necessarily add all that much to the setting or the supplement. The issue really though, is that Jovian Nightmares can only provide an overview – and it should be said that it is a good overview – of Circum-Jove. Jovian Nightmares is indicative of the potential in the setting and the failure to see it properly developed into an official Call of Cthulhu setting.

Rise of the Dud II

Since 2003, the Miskatonic University Library Association series of monographs has been Chaosium’s way of making other works available to players of both Call of Cthulhu and Basic RolePlay. Bar the printing, each monograph’s author is responsible for the writing, the editing, and the layout, so far the quality of entries in the series have varied widely and has led to some dreadful releases. Fortunately, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid is far from dreadful in terms either editing or layout, but unfortunately, just like the scenario that it is sequel to, Rise of the Dead, is dreadful in terms of storytelling and writing.

As outlined in Rise of the Dead, the setting for this series of scenarios lies a year into the future. Within the last twelve months, the world has gone to hell in a handcart. Mass sacrifices have been discovered around the world; the planet suffered a near miss with a red comet; and as fragments of the comet fell to Earth, causing earthquakes and tsunamis, world leaders were assassinated. As the scenario opens on this new post-apocalyptic future, the red comet orbits the Earth and survivors from this unnatural apocalypse face a new threat – the dead can walk. Worse, there are men and women who are capable of controlling and directing these newly arisen members of the corpse cortege. They appear to be members of a cult devoted to a being known as Zaoth.

Much of this most recent information was gained by a group of survivalists who also managed to steal a helicopter from the cultists before fleeing to Morgan Farm, a secluded retreat in Vermont. Since the apocalypse, the retreat has also become to a number of diverse groups, from local residents and an engineering team to a detachment of US Army Rangers and a BBC documentary team. The player characters – and I stress “player characters,” for like Rise of the Dead before it, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid involves no investigation whatsoever – do not come from any of these diverse groups and nor are they the same ones that appeared in Rise of the Dead. Apart from a small time crook, the six pre-generated player characters are either ex-military or wilderness guides. Their task is simple. Obtain equipment and uniforms used by the Cult of Zaoth and disguised as cultists infiltrate a nearby cult headquarters with the aim of obtaining as much information on the cult’s aims and activities as possible.

Designed for four to six players, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid describes itself as “A complete b-movie style convention scenario with highly detailed characters and hand-outs intended for a theatrical style presentation in a single long session.” Unfortunately, and just like Rise of the Dead, this is mostly true. Interestingly, this description also manages to be unhelpful in that it raises the purchaser’s expectations. The scenario is complete in that it comes with everything necessary to play, but as a b-movie style scenario, it fails to evoke anything of that genre’s feel or style, and the only exploitative aspect to Rise of the Dead II: The Raid is the fact that it is sold as a scenario for Call of Cthulhu. Just as with its forebear, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid is actually a zombie apocalypse scenario better suited for use with Basic RolePlay, there being no discernable Cthulhu Mythos present. Of course, if Rise of the Dead II: The Raid was a b-movie, it would be an extraordinarily long one at a five to seven hour second feature.

In terms of theatrical style, the author provides staging advice throughout Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, suggesting how lighting and sound can be used to enhance the play experience. Which seems appropriate because the scenario reads just like a play that the players have to sit through whilst the Keeper doles out thick dollops of dialogue and exposition. Lastly, whilst the scenario does come with both detailed characters and hand-outs, the characters are neither interesting nor engaging, and the hand-outs fail to serve either the scenario or the pre-generated characters. In fact, it is a case of the other way around. The scenario feels more like it serves the hand-outs! The only other function of the hand-outs is to set the scenario up – all seven pages of them. There are no hand-outs to be found during the actual play of the scenario, but then that is no surprise, as already mentioned, the scenario involves no investigation either.

As to the scenario’s actual play, there is surprisingly less combat involved in Rise of the Dead II: The Raid than in Rise of the Dead. Not very much less though, and what there is, is replaced by some sneaking around. The other improvement over Rise of the Dead is that Rise of the Dead II: The Raid does offer some player choice as to their characters’ actions. Or rather, the one choice – the route of their escape from the cult headquarters, because otherwise, the players and their characters have absolutely no choice. They are either pushed or led from one scene to the next, almost as if they following the plot on rails, and it should pointed out that the given provides no opportunity to achieve the aims set during the extensive player character introduction. Escaping from the cult headquarters is seen as successfully completing Rise of the Dead II: The Raid – so its plot can be summed up as “Go over there. Get captured. Run away. No repetition, hesitation, or deviation.”

Rise of the Dead II: The Raid offers no complexity in terms of background, challenges, or roleplaying. The threat faced by the player characters is mundane in terms of the genre, and whilst there is a little more information on Zaoth, the Mythos entity behind the situation described in the series, it still comes across as a “cookie-cutter” creation. Why an actual Mythos entity as described in Call of Cthulhu was not used, is a mystery, though if the entity did not have the name of Zaoth, his followers would not have looked quite so cool with another capital letter on their armbands. Still as with Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, Zaoth might still as well have been named “Debbie” for all of the effect that he has on either the scenario or the player characters.

Physically, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid is an improvement over Rise of the Dead. It is neater and tidier, and is profusely illustrated with photographs of people dressed up as zombies. Not the zombies particular to Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, but zombies none the less. Slightly odd is the fact that the hand-outs were better in Rise of the Dead than in Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, but only because the background for both scenarios is delivered as series of newspaper articles in Rise of the Dead rather than as one long narrative as in Rise of the Dead II: The Raid. Even so, this is all but irrelevant given what little bearing the hand-outs have on this scenario. The maps are decent enough though, and that is probably the best thing that anyone outside of the author can say about Rise of the Dead II: The Raid.

Given how dull Rise of the Dead is, it is no surprise that its sequel is a match in every aspect. Yet because our expectations have already been lowered by Rise of the Dead, the sequel feels worse. Worse because even with such expectations, what scant efforts have been made to improve the scenario – the extensive use of the photographs, for example – have no discernable effect on the end result. If the prequel was dull, the sequel is worse: Rise of the Dead II: The Raid is banal to the point that nobody should be paying for it.

Rise of the Dud

Since 2003, the Miskatonic University Library Association series of monographs has been Chaosium’s way of making other works available to players of both Call of Cthulhu and Basic RolePlay. Bar the printing, each monograph’s author is responsible for the writing, the editing, and the layout, so far the quality of entries in the series have varied widely and has led to some dreadful releases. Fortunately, Rise of the Dead is far from dreadful in terms either editing or layout, but unfortunately, is dreadful in terms of storytelling and writing.

The setting for Rise of the Dead is one year into the future. Within the last twelve months, the world has gone to hell in a handcart. Mass sacrifices have been discovered around the world; the planet suffered a near miss with a red comet; and as fragments of the comet fell to Earth, causing earthquakes and tsunamis, world leaders were assassinated. As the scenario opens on this new post-apocalyptic future, the red comet now orbiting our planet ominously, a group of survivalists have arrived at one of the recent meteor strikes, their geologist wanting a sample. These are the player characters, and I stress “player characters,” for Rise of the Dead involves no investigation whatsoever.

Designed for four to eight players, Rise of the Dead is described on the cover as “A Post-Apocalyptic Scenario for Call of Cthulhu,” and in the frontispiece as the first part of a series and as “A Complete Scenario Kit.” All of which is mostly true. Mostly true in that it does describe a post-apocalyptic scenario for Call of Cthulhu; that it is part of a series – the second part, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid is already out and the full title of this part, Rise of the Dead Part I: The Arrival, is also given in the frontispiece; that it is complete as is; and that it is a kit in that the author gives everything to build one thing only, and that one thing in exact, unerring detail sans modification or deviation. Where it is not mostly true is that it is not a scenario in that it does not present a complex situation which the players have to apply any thought to solving its problems. Instead, the solution lies in the application of good old fashioned iron, or rather, firearms. Right from the start, the player characters are presented with one combat situation after another, and out of the scenario’s six scenes, just one of them will absolutely not be resolved by the application of force. Unless the player characters – or even the players – decide to shoot each other.

The last untruism is that Rise of the Dead is a scenario for Call of Cthulhu. Whilst it is true that it is written for use with the Call of Cthulhu rules, the Mythos is completely absent. The only threats faced by the player characters – other than that of their players having to essentially sit through this affair – consist of other men with guns and zombies. Now there is an alien entity mentioned in the scenario’s introduction, but given the fact that the author tells us nothing about him, he might as well have been named “Debbie” for all of the effect that he has on either the scenario or the player characters. Otherwise, Rise of the Dead is not a Call of Cthulhu scenario, but a zombie apocalypse scenario. To be honest, the clue – and I say clue in its loosest possible sense, because that title is about as subtle as a dead giveaway -- is in the scenario’s title.

Even so, am I wrong to have expected something more than a linear exercise in nose leading? To have expected something that demands more of the players? Either way, Rise of the Dead offers neither and nor does it provide anything out of the ordinary when it comes to the zombies. Arguably, Rise of the Dead should have been offered for the Basic RolePlay system rather than for Call of Cthulhu whilst also being offered as a standard horror scenario. Had that been done, then the purchaser’s expectations might not have been raised with it being for the wrong game.

Physically, Rise of the Dead is adequately done. It does not help the Keeper that there is little explanation prior to the scenario’s beginning. There are no illustrations, but there are maps and these are nice and clear. What few hand-outs given in the scenario really only set the scene for its opening scene despite the fact that they are actually more interesting than the supposed adventure to come. Eight pre-generated survivalist player characters are given, each ready to play. They are quite detailed, but not all that interesting, and it does not help that their backgrounds are written in the third person, so fail to engage the reader. It would have been better had they been written in the second person so that the reader and thus potential player could better identify with them. Also, several of the potential player characters identify NPCs important to them. Unfortunately, none of these NPCs appear in the scenario. So that is one potential set of character motivations completely ignored then.

Throughout the scenario the author gives staging advice, suggesting what lighting, music, and sound effects to use, and at the end, explains its origins as a campaign that had been adapted into a series of convention scenarios. This is as about as much Keeper advice as the scenario provides. Then again, how much advice does the Keeper need to have if all he is expected to do is point guns and the undead at his player characters? Oh hold on. There is piece of dialogue that needs to be read out to the players. This is about as demanding as it gets, so all the Keeper has to do is emote his best William Shatner impersonation, roll the dice, and cross off the numbers.

If Rise of the Dead is a convention scenario, and it is, then it should say so on its cover. That it does not is misleading. Just as saying that this scenario is for Call of Cthulhu is misleading. It is a horror scenario and nothing more, one that is hindered by its lack of depth and detail, and hampered by its linear structure. There is though, a potentially interesting campaign to be found in the pages of Rise of the Dead. Unfortunately, it is only described in the scenario’s hand-outs, and we have to make do with this dull sequel instead.

Madness Begins With The Author...

"Blah, blah, blah. Secret Plans.

Blah, blah, blah. Submarine off the coast.

Blah, blah, blah. Bent pyramid.

Blah, blah, blah. Omar Shakti's Cat."

The very title of Five Go Mad in Egypt might well be the finest thing about this recent Monograph for Call of Cthulhu from Chaosium. It is a homage to Five Go Mad In Dorset, the infamous parody of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five children’s stories from the early 1980s, so that title is redolent with comedic possibilities. Unfortunately anyone coming to Five Go Mad in Egypt expecting a send up of the British stiff upper lip and the hypocrisy and ridiculous nature of British attitudes to the world in general will surely be disappointed. My own homage at the top of the review is about as funny as Five Go Mad in Egypt gets. 

Since the beginning of the Miskatonic University Library Association series, the issue has always been one of quality. In fact, this issue has been built into the line, because each Monograph is published by Chaosium with the understanding that while its content will be of interest to the Keeper, such elements as layout and editing are left up to the author to handle. This has led to some quite terrible Monographs being published by Chaosium and because few if any are reviewed; too often the purchaser is expected to buy them sight unseen. This all too often leads to disappointment. Fortunately the good floats to the top and there are indeed Monographs worthy of a Keeper’s attention. Titles such as The Pastores, Primal State, and Kingdom of the Blind all spring to mind. 

Unfortunately, Five Go Mad in Egypt does not reach such lofty heights. It is far from being truly terrible, so it is no Mystic Alliances, but its author commits a number of errors so basic as to hamstring what could have been a decent, if Pulpy adventure.

In terms of layout, Five Go Mad in Egypt manages to be both neat and tidy – and both terrible and ugly. The first and most obvious problem is that the book is entirely laid out in double space type, making it actually awkward to read. Second is the problem that the text just runs on with no attention paid to section or chapter breaks. Third, all of the book’s visual elements, whether illustrations (predominately comprised of actually quite suitable photographs) maps or handouts are either too small, too dark, or just plain indistinct; sometimes a combination of all three problems.

The author’s worst sin though is the fact that he does not know how to write a scenario. Any piece of writing for a roleplaying game is actually two things. First and most obviously, it is a work of the imagination. Second it is a piece of technical writing, because it has to impart particular pieces of information at a certain time so that the referee, or in this case the Keeper, can easily digest and prepare this information to impart to his players.

From reading Five Go Mad in Egypt, there can be no doubt that the author has an imagination and that he has applied it to the scenario, although rarely is it well expressed. This lack of clear expression only compounds the lack of technical skill in terms of writing scenarios. For example, there is no scenario background – the background section being given over to the history of an NPC who appears in the scenario’s opening scene as the investigators’ patron and then never again; the villain of the piece is not mentioned until page nine of the scenario at the end of said opening scene and you do not learn that he is undead until page sixty-four; six pages each are devoted to a chase through the halls of the British Museum and to just walking up the drive of the villain’s London home – six pages including photographs; important NPCs appear without rhyme, reason, or explanation, and events occur in a similar fashion...

The problem is this: the author is writing in a stream of consciousness. He has not given thought to how the Keeper is going to run Five Go Mad in Egypt, leaving the Keeper to make much, much needed reference to the sections at the rear of the Monograph. Primarily this will be to find out anything about the scenario’s plot which is outlined in the description of its main two NPCs – Doctor Nyugati and Marlene Delamere. In addition, the author is all too often concerned with how the investigators might think or feel, and with suggesting where they might like to go, such as the tentacle plant filled maze in the gardens of the villain’s London house.

The subject for Five Go Mad in Egypt comes from its subtitle, “Investigating the Sphinx Tomb.” The investigators are invited to attend a dinner at the British Museum where they will be hired to work as archaeologists, occultists, or security on the expedition to investigate a tomb beneath the Sphinx. While at the dinner, an artefact in possession of their host has to be stolen so that the investigators can run around the museum at night and discover that the thief was a Mummy donated to the British Museum by an American millionaire and philanthropist, Doctor Nyugati. The remainder of the scenario concerns itself with the chase after the good Doctor, encountering the various zombies and death traps that he has left in his wake. Eventually, the investigators will follow him into the Sphinx Tomb and there try and prevent him from summoning great Cthulhu and so ending the world.

Leaving the terrible writing and the linear nature of the scenario aside, the author’s grasp of the Mythos, at least as far as Call of Cthulhu is concerned, is poor. Why is Cthulhu being summoned in Egypt? Why is he being summoned in Egypt below the Sphinx, an artefact and monument known to be important to Nyarlathotep in Call of Cthulhu? Further, why coin a servitor Mythos race – the “Black Winged Ones” – when already suitable species exist, such as Byakhee and Hunting Horrors? Not to worry, because the Black Winged Ones are identified as Hunting Horrors at the rear of the book.

One area where Five Go Mad in Egypt attempts to outshine virtually almost every other release for Call of Cthulhu is in the number of handouts. None are included in the book itself, but the purchaser can download a 10.44 Mb, 140 page PDF that contains 138 handouts, most of them repeated from the book, but here repeated in full size. The problem is that, yes, you can have too much of a good thing. Nobody actually needs five photographs of Croydon Aerodrome, not the Keeper and certainly not his players. Croydon Aerodrome might, but no one else...

There is one last problem with Five Go Mad in Egypt and it is not the fault of the author. Rather, it is the fault of the publisher. Chaosium is supposed to exercise some control over the quality of the Monographs that it publishes. There is no evidence that any such quality control was exercised as far as Five Go Mad in Egypt is concerned. Further, because Monograph prices are set by their page count and because the text is double spaced and interspersed by innumerable photographs, the price of Five Go Mad in Egypt has been severely inflated.

Despite all of these issues, Five Go Mad in Egypt has the potential to be the “outline” for a very Pulpy scenario. Potential because it is not yet a fully fledged outline just as it is very far from being a proper scenario.

Ultimately, and despite the fact that its title is both brilliant and meaningless, Five Go Mad in Egypt: Investigating the Sphinx Tomb is underwritten and over padded, under organised and overpriced. That it is so bad is down to the author, but that it is so bad and available to buy is the fault of everyone at Chaosium.