Friday Fear: Carmilla

It is 1870. In Hofwasser Village in Styria, the eastern region of Austria that borders Hungary, a strange affliction has struck many young women, the symptoms mysterious and often fatal. One day they are bright, energetic, and full of life, then the next their skin pales as white as milk and they become lethargic, losing their appetites, and gaining a sensitivity to light such that they dare not venture out of doors. Already one young woman has died from this strange sickness and there are two more girls in the village showing symptoms. What is this dreadful illness which has struck the village? Many of the village’s older residents have begun to recall the folktales of the region they learned as children, of black beasts in the darkness, of forest demons that lure innocents to their doom, worse, of the much-feared Upir, a soulless monster that preys on the blood of its victims. Hofwasser Village is also home to Colonel Daniel Morton, a former British attaché to the Austrian service, who has retired and now lives in the schloss, Karnstein Hall. He too has grown concerned about the illness, fearing that it will come to infect both his teenage daughter, Laura, and the young charge, Carmilla, he is looking after.

If all this sounds familiar, then it probably means that you have read Carmilla, the Victorian-era novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Predating Bram Stoker’s Dracula by twenty-five years, this is a classic tale of Gothic romance and vampiric horror with a strong female antagonist, which is now the direct—very direct inspiration for Carmilla, a scenario published by Yeti Spaghetti and Friends. Part of the publisher’s ‘Frightshow Classics’ line, it is ostensibly written for use with Chill or Cryptworld: Chilling Adventures into the Unexplained, the percentile mechanics of the scenario mean that it could easily be adapted to run with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and similar roleplaying games.

Carmilla opens with the Player Characters at Karnstein Hall. They are there with Colonel Daniel Morton to assist him in determining the cause of the malady that has beset the young women of Hofwasser and been cause of one death so far. After some tea—there is actually a lot of tea consumption in the scenario as Karnstein Hall is a bastion of the British Empire in ‘Mitteleuropa’—and the first of several listless encounters with Colonel Morten’s daughter and recent charge, Laura and Carmilla, he asks for the Player Characters’ help. The initial investigation takes place in the nearby village at the homes of the affected women, but later there is scope for research in the library at Karnstein Hall, which reveal some oddities that suggest that the mystery lies closer at home. The Player Characters’ suspicions will be confirmed following the funeral of one of the young women in the village and that will lead to a nasty confrontation in the confines of the Karnstein family mausoleum.

The advice for running Carmilla states that, “As an adaptation of a fairly popular story, players should be willing to suspend their knowledge of plot for the sake of playing their characters more accurately (offering Experience Points for roleplaying can help encourage this).” This is either a challenge or a problem depending upon your point of view, due because what the scenario is asking the players is to roleplay characters who do not know what a vampire is and unlike the players, are not steeped in over a century’s worth of vampiric lore. This is in the face of a situation where the players are fully aware that Laura is the victim of a vampire and that vampire is Carmilla. Literally, aware players could end the scenario in fifteen minutes by going to Carmilla’s bedroom, breaking down its door, and kill her. The scenario does not want the players to do that, but wants them to play through the investigation and experience the effects of the vampire’s predation and determine its cause. The scenario also admits that it proceeds in linear fashion and it does, very much keeping the players away from directly investigating either Laura or Carmilla.

As with other scenarios in the publisher’s ‘Frightshow Classics’ line, Carmilla includes eight pre-generated Player Characters. They are divided between visitors and staff at Karnstein Hall. The staff consist of Madame Raquel Perrodon, governess to Laura Morton; Mademoiselle Beatrix De Lafontaine, the French finishing governess to Laura; and Frau Franziska Pichler, the cook at Karnstein Hall. The visitors include General Gerhard Spielsdorf, a former colleague and new friend of Colonel Morton; Fraulein Johanna Bauer, a young hunter who lives in the nearby woods; Dr. Hans Hartog, a laudanum-addicted medical doctor with an interest in eastern mysticism; Father Augustus Koellerer, the local Catholic priest; and Baron Maximilian Vordenburg, a local noble with a fascination for folklore. Only one of the eight, Mademoiselle Beatrix De Lafontaine, has any Paranormal Abilities and so might give the Player Characters a slight advantage in certain situations.

The scenario is supported with two good maps, one of the village of Hofwasser and the other of the mausoleum where the final confrontation with Carmilla takes place. There is no map of Karnstein Hall, which is slightly disappointing, but its inclusion might have encouraged further exploration of the Morton family home which the scenario would prefer the players not to do. The back cover blurb for the scenario also serves as a handout and there is one handout in the book, which is plain.

Physically, Carmilla is well written and has excellent artwork. The combination of a linear structure and a clear layout means that the scenario is going to be easy to run.

As written, Carmilla is not a challenging scenario to run. As written, Carmilla is going to be a challenging scenario to play. This is because it demands that the players suspend their self-knowledge, locking it away for the length of the scenario, and roleplay characters who have no knowledge of the threat they face and have to learn about it, bit by bit. It does help that ‘Carmilla’ is not a wholly traditional vampire in the style of Dracula and it does help that it is intended to be played in a single session. As an adaptation of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s short story, Carmilla, the scenario is decently done, but as a scenario, Carmilla is making big demands of its players and keeping a straight face because of those demands and not being able to rush off and always investigate where a player might want to, makes it hard work. And this in a scenario designed for casual, one-shot play. If the players are able to do this—or they have not read the original short story, then Carmilla is a serviceable one-shot, easily prepared and run.

Friday Fear: Medieval Mysteries

It is rare that scenarios are set during the period of the Spanish Inquisition, despite it lasting over three-hundred-and-fifty years. ‘Fires of Hatred Defile the Sky’ from Red Eye of Azathoth, a singular foray into the Cthulhu Mythos for Kobold Press, and Chaosium, Inc.’s ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ from Strange Aeons, both published for Call of Cthulhu, are exceptions. Medieval Mysteries takes gamers back to early period of the Spanish Inquisition with two scenarios designed to be played in two hours each. The first is ‘The Shroud of Pestilence’ in which the Player Characters investigate what looks to be an outbreak of the Black Death in a nearby village, but which turns out to be something else, whilst in ‘Heresy’, they attempt to save a group of conversos—Jews who converted to Christianity—from what is effectively, two monsters! This is all packaged with a framing device which lends itself to an ongoing campaign. Published by Yeti Spaghetti and Friends, Medieval Mysteries is a duology of short play time, one-night horror scenarios, the first entry in the series of historical horror adventures in the publisher’s ‘Frightshow Classics’ line. Ostensibly written for use with Chill or Cryptworld: Chilling Adventures into the Unexplained, the percentile mechanics of the scenario mean that it could easily be adapted to run with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and similar roleplaying games.

Medieval Mysteries is set in Spain in about 1490. Whilst the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, as well as much of Spain, are united through marriage of Queen Isabella I (of Castile) and King Ferdinand II (of Aragon), but they remain separate entities. What unites the Iberian peninsula is religion and the growing power of the Inquisition under the command of Inquisitor General Tomas de Torquemada which not only enforces Catholic orthodoxy, but also investigates possible acts of heresy, apostasy, blasphemy, witchcraft, and customs considered to be deviant—often in the most violent of ways. As a default, the Player Characters are all associated with the Santa Maria de Soria monastery, some hundred miles or so north-east of Madrid. The monastery offers a place of relative safety, but hides its own benign secrets. It is led by an abbot whose gift of foresight enables him to see paranormal abilities in others and dangers elsewhere, directing such individuals to seek out, investigate, and defeat supernatural and monstrous threats. Such efforts have to be conducted with great care, since any paranormal ability would be regarded by the Inquisition as mysticism and thus heresy.

In addition to a brief description of the monastery, Medieval Mysteries describes two new skills and two new paranormal abilities. The two new skills are Blacksmithing and Religious Mysticism, which will be of a specific faith, like Taoist Mysticism or Judaic Mysticism. The paranormal abilities are Exorcism and True Sight, both of which are likely to find their way into other scenarios. The pre-generated Player Characters consist of a mix of monks, nuns, and peasants, some with paranormal abilities, some without, but all with some background, a description, and a phobia. Perhaps the only thing missing here is advice on creating Player Characters suitable for the period and setting, since the set-up lends itself to a campaign in the style of The X-Files, but set in medieval Spain.

In ‘Adventure 1: The Shroud of Pestilence’, the Player Characters are directed to the village of Herrero which he initially believed to be suffering from an outbreak of the plague, but after receiving a vision, believes that there is an evil dark shadow looming over both it and its inhabitants. He wants them to investigate the possibility of the infernal. The Player Characters will initially encounter a plague doctor attempting to treat the terrible symptoms. The Player Characters get to examine the bodies that have not yet been buried and examine them for the terrible signs of the plague and interview the very concerned remaining villagers. Although many suspect that the devil himself is responsible, but very quickly, the Player Characters should discover signs indicating that something else is responsible, more monstrous than devilish. The Sense Monsters paranormal skill will be useful confronting this creature.

Despite its brevity, ‘Adventure 1: The Shroud of Pestilence’ packs in a decent amount of investigation and interaction before the Player Characters ascend into the hills and the second half of the scenario, which involves a confrontation with the culprit. This is a combat scene in a cave, a nasty encounter that has a chance, more or less, of instantly killing a Player Character, and that is even before the battle commences. Only one of the Player Characters is equipped with an effective weapon, so he should absolutely be selected. Ultimately, the players and their characters should try and get the creature out of its comfort zone, otherwise, a ‘Total Party Kill’ is a possibility. Which is fine for a one-shot, but not if the players want to continue playing their characters in the next scenario.

In ‘Adventure 2: Heresy’, the abbot sends the Player Characters to the city of Sigüenza where he has learned the Inquisition is about to begin an investigation into rumours of heresy and witchcraft among the conversos, those Jews who converted to Christianity. The abbot wants the Player Characters to investigate such rumours before the Inquisition begins its own heavy-handed inquiries. Talking to people in the converso quarter of the city will reveal that there is a young woman who talks to herself. Use of paranormal may confirm more and if confronted, she will tell the Player Characters that there is heresy being committed in the city, but not amongst the conversos. Rather it is occurring in the St. Jerome Monastery attached to the College of San Antonio de Portaceli, the city’s famed university.

‘Adventure 2: Heresy’ follows the same format as ‘Adventure 1: The Shroud of Pestilence’, but the combat encounter is not quite as deadly and does not mark the end of the scenario. Ideally, it should end with a trial of the culprit after the Player Characters have captured him, with them giving testimony against him. This is not the only way that the scenario can end, another possibility being trials of the conversos. Either way, the Game Master will need to run this to best effect, perhaps playing up the drama and theatre of any such trial more than the scenario does, which really only provides broad details. Overall, ‘Adventure 2: Heresy’ is a more sophisticated and more interesting affair than ‘Adventure 1: The Shroud of Pestilence’. The only thing that the Game Master might want to do is create some Inquisition NPCs as none are provided.

Physically, Medieval Mysteries is a decent looking affair behind a somewhere murky cover. The artwork inside is reasonable and the scenarios are generally well written. The cartography is plain and serviceable.

Both scenarios in Medieval Mysteries end in a little sign-off as if presented by the host of a late-night horror anthology series, so making them slightly different to traditional horror roleplaying scenarios. There is an ominous threat of lurking power and paranoia that pervades both scenarios, though definitely more so in the second scenario than the first. The short, two-hour running time for both scenarios does also means that ‘Adventure 2: Heresy’ is underwritten given no stats for the Inquisitors and the lack of staging for the trial. Nevertheless, it is the better and more interesting of the two scenarios in the book. Overall, the brevity of both scenarios in Medieval Mysteries means that they are easy to prepare and run, with scope to develop them a little further and scope to explore the setting in future releases.

Friday Fear: The Nightmare

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the city of Stockton, California, was beset by a rash of strange deaths amongst its Hmong community. The Hmong were refugees from the Vietnam War and subsequent conflicts in southeast Asia. A total of one-hundred-and-seventeen immigrants and their descendants died under strange circumstances in their sleep, suffering from what doctors called ‘Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome’ or ‘SUNDS’. However, the community did put these deaths down to medical causes, but to a supernatural creature that had accompanied individual families to the USA, continuing to prey upon the men of the families as they slept, literally pressing upon their chests and paralysing them in waking nightmares and feeding upon their terror, killing them in the process, whilst to outsiders making it appear as if they died in their sleep. The Hmong call this creature the ‘Dab Tsog’. That was decades ago, but now the city and its Hmong community has once again been beset by an outbreak of deaths due ‘sleep paralysis’. Could the Dab Tsog have returned to prey on the Hmong community? After losing one of her patients to these nightmares, Dr. Maria Vicente, who conducts studies at a sleep clinic, is beginning to suspect that something is stalking the sleep of her patients and so asks for help from anthropologists, folklorists, and investigators. Published by Yeti Spaghetti and Friends, The Nightmare is a short, one-night horror scenario, part of and third in the publisher’s ‘Frightshow Classics’ line. Ostensibly written for use with Chill or Cryptworld: Chilling Adventures into the Unexplained, the percentile mechanics of the scenario mean that it could easily be adapted to run with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and similar roleplaying games.

The Nightmare, like the first in the ‘Frightshow Classics’ line, Horror in Hopkinsville, before it, is inspired by a real incident, one that also inspired the Nightmare on Elm Street series of horror films. It returns to the story in Stockton and opens with the Player Characters attending Dr. Vicente’s sleep clinic where she is attempting to study the disrupted sleep patterns of a young boy. The Player Characters will have had the opportunity to conduct some research about Stockton, the deaths amongst the Hmong, and the community’s belief that a Dab Tsog was responsible. They will also have discovered that strange lights have been seen in the city as well, but most notably they will have made the link between the Dab Tsog and figure of the ‘Night Hag’ found in other cultures. Thus, the scenario really sets the players and their characters up with what they need to know right from the start. After an encounter in which Dr. Vicente’s young patient has his sleep interrupted in a frighteningly scary fashion and one, if not more, of the Player Characters are lured away, the narrative in the scenario is not to discover that there is supernatural threat abroad in Stockton, but rather to confirm what the Player Characters already think it to be. To do this, they will need to visit the Hmong and ask some questions of the not always trusting members of the community, calling for some good roleplaying.

The Nightmare is a three-act story. In the first, the Player Characters ‘witness’, or at least, experience someone suffering from the predations of the Dab Tsog and the second investigating the reactions of the community. The third brings the story to a climax back at the sleep clinic where, with local help, the Player Characters can lure the Dab Tsog into striking and thus revealing her presence and making her vulnerable. This will result in an intense physical battle in which the Player Characters have very little time in which to attack—so they had better be prepared. She is not the only threat that the Player Characters may face, but she is the toughest one.

In terms of support, the scenario includes a handful of handouts and eight pre-generated Player Characters. They represent a good mix of ages and backgrounds, several have the Investigation skill, others the Paranormal Folklore skill, and a couple the Sense Monsters Paranormal ability. The latter will be very useful, whilst one is a very dab hand with the dagger, which will be extremely useful in the final encounter.

Physically, behind its creepy cover, The Nightmare is decently presented. The artwork is decent and is dark and foreboding throughout, whilst the floorplans of the sleep clinic are nicely done (though oddly, there is no toilet on the floor where it is located). Although the handouts are plain, the pre-generated Player Characters portraits are good.

The Nightmare is short and direct, no surprise given that it is intended to be played in a single session. Like The Blood Countess before it, the scenario very much has the feel of an episode of a television series. For The Blood Countess, this was Kolchak: The Night Stalker, but for The Nightmare this is The X-Files, though a standalone episode, not one tied to the Series’ ongoing plot to do with UFOs and aliens. Overall, The Nightmare is easy to prepare and will provide a good sessions’ worth of creepy horror that might put the players, let alone the characters, off their sleep.

Friday Fear: The Blood Countess

A monster stalks the streets of Los Angeles as a series of bodies of young men and women are found in bodies of water—although the authorities do not yet truly know it. Are these deaths due to the ‘Shoreline Slasher’ or something worse, something out of history, one of the most prolific murderers of the early modern period? Of course, it is the latter. This is the set-up for The Blood Countess, a scenario that is pretty much upfront about who or what is responsible for the deaths, who or what the Player Characters will be investigating, and who or what they will have to defeat. Anyone who knows their history, certainly their bloodier history, and their macabre history, will know who the Blood Countess is. This is Countess Elizabeth Báthory of Ecsed, who was accused of the torture and murder of hundreds of peasant girls and sentenced to immurement. Over the centuries her reputation as a monster has not only grown, but also become associated with vampiric lore. If Dracula is the preeminent vampire, then the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Báthory is his female counterpart. Published by Yeti Spaghetti and Friends, The Blood Countess is a short, one-night horror scenario, part of and second in the publisher’s ‘Frightshow Classics’ line. Ostensibly written for use with Chill or Cryptworld: Chilling Adventures into the Unexplained, the percentile mechanics of the scenario mean that it could easily be adapted to run with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and similar roleplaying games.

The Blood Countess initially focuses on the most recent death, that of Michael Ventnor, his body found with many puncture wounds, and the disappearance of a student, Veronica Brookes. A nicely detailed and laid out investigation, involving a good mix of persuasion and sidestepping the authorities, as well as sneaking into back offices to look at security footage, plus a trip to the city museum to look at some ghoulish torture implements from the European Middle Ages, will ultimately point to a modelling agency, recently founded in the city, and an address in a neighbourhood full of ‘McMansions’. The name of the agency is the De Ecsed Agency and research into the name of the owner, Bethany De Ecsed, will give the players and their character some intimations as to who might be responsible and what they might be up against. Although not subtle, it should add a little shiver to the scenario for the players. The scenario will culminate in the Player Characters breaking into the home of Bethany De Ecsed, making some unsurprisingly bloody discoveries, and hopefully getting away following a nasty confrontation with the murderess.

The scenario is supported with maps of the McMansion, a handout giving a detailed description of the life and legend of Countess Elizabeth Báthory, and an autopsy report for Michael Ventnor. It also comes with eight pre-generated Player Characters, two of which have Paranormal abilities. None are members of law enforcement, though one is an ex-police detective, and some have interests in the occult or weird crimes. The biggest challenge in the scenario is really getting these Player Characters together in order to co-operate on the investigation. Although there are some suggestions, this is where the scenario is at its weakest. Although set in Los Angeles, the scenario is easily relocated to any big city with a body of water where the bodies can be dumped.

Physically, behind its suitably bloody cover, The Blood Countess is decently presented. The artwork is reasonable, the floorplans of the McMansion are clear and easy to use, and the scenario is well written.

The Blood Countess is not a subtle affair, but it is fun, combining a solid, often sympathetic investigation with the lurking threat of a monstrous murderess that the players are going to be aware of almost right from the start of the scenario, adding a little frisson of anticipation as to how ghastly and how dangerous she is actually going to be when the confrontation comes. The investigation itself feels reminiscent of an episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker—and there is an episode of that series involving a vampire in Los Angeles—and playing the scenario in the style of that series could work quite well. Overall, The Blood Countess is a very solid addition to the ‘Frightshow Classics’ line, offering a good session of American pulp horror that pitches the Player Characters up against a tough version of a classic monster.

Friday Fear: Horror in Hopkinsville

On the night of Sunday, 21st August 1955 and the early morning of Monday, 22nd August 1955, five adults and seven children, residents near the communities of Kelly and Hopkinsville in Christian County, Kentucky, were attacked in their farmhouse home. For four hours they held off an assault by small, dark alien creatures peering in through their windows and doors. Were the strange creatures, nicknamed the ‘Hopkinsville Goblins’, actually extraterrestrials from outer space, having just landed in their UFO, something else, or as the United States Air Force officially classified the encounter for a Project Blue Book, a hoax? Although the event has passed into folklore and become a renowned close encounter case amongst UFOlogists, even celebrated as the Little Green Men Days Festival in Kelly community, most regard it as a hoax. Now, your players have an opportunity to find out for themselves as their characters investigate a similar case in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Published by Yeti Spaghetti and Friends, Horror in Hopkinsville is a short, one-night horror scenario, part of and first in the publisher’s ‘Frightshow Classics’ line. Ostensibly written for use with Chill or Cryptworld: Chilling Adventures into the Unexplained, the percentile mechanics of the scenario mean that it could easily be adapted to run with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and similar roleplaying games, whilst its UFOlogical themes that it would very well with Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game.

Horror in Hopkinsville does not concern the infamous Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter directly. Rather it is a sequel in which the Player Characters investigate another incident and so might posit a cause for both. David and Julia Wright have been terrorised in recent weeks by strange and unusual occurrences in and around their house. Scratching sounds on the roof late at night, followed by chittering or ‘clicking’ noises, loud thumps on the side of the house, the electricity in the house flickering, and the camera system that the Wrights installed to capture evidence of the culprits broke down, whilst the motion-sensor lights have proven ineffective, having detected nothing. The Wrights have been unable to find any cause and are almost at their wits’ end, so they want the matter investigated. The scenario suggests several ways in which the Player Characters might get involved—being a friend or relation of the Wrights, other inhabitants in the town having suffered similar incidences and indicate that the Wrights might have witnessed something, the Wrights revealed their story to a local paranormal or UFO study group of which the Player Characters are members, or the Player Characters are members of a secret organisation that investigates the paranormal or UFOs and are responding to a report made by the Wrights. However, the eight Player Characters provided in Horror in Hopkinsville are really only suited to the first three options rather than the fourth.

Prior to the start of the adventure proper, the Player Characters get to do some research, either using the Humanities/History, Journalism, or Paranormal/Folklore skills. Both the skills and their results reveal at the very least the details of the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter, and are also easily adapted to the roleplaying game of the Game Master’s choice. The scenario proper begins with the arrival of the Player Characters at the Wright family home on a quiet Wednesday evening. There they have the opportunity to both interview the family, including with some care, the Wright’s eight-year-old daughter, Tianna, and investigate the house. The inference is, of course, that whatever is plaguing the house, has some connection with Tianna, that, for example, she might be psychic. Investigation quickly reveals evidence that something is going on and this is confirmed as the action quickly heats up. The scenario neatly accounts for most of the options that the Player Characters might take, such as one of their number watching from outside whilst the rest investigate inside, but whatever the Player Characters do, it should lead up to a couple of jump scares and the revelation that there is something under the Wright family home—in the sewers!

If the scenario is fairly tightly plotted up until this point, the Player Characters have more freedom of action after they descend into the sewers under the street around the Wright family home and begin searching for the strange creatures that have been lurking near and scratching the house. Effectively, the scenario becomes a bug hunt in the dark, broken by the cold beam of their torches and the hissing of the white, pasty creatures. The scenario includes some encounter descriptions for when the Player Characters are down in the sewers, but does feel underwritten. Perhaps the possibility of the creatures having kidnapped the Wrights’ baby son might have provided some impetus for the Player Characters to act and it would have been interesting if the creatures’ lair were described so that the Player Characters could not only find it, but also find evidence that the activities of the creatures are connected to the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter?

By the end of the scenario, the authorities will have arrived and the Player Characters will need to justify their actions, running around in the sewers, firing guns being frowned upon. This will take some persuasion, but will be easier if the Player Characters are members of a secret government agency. That agency might want to clean up the area and cover up the story even if they are not.

Physically, Horror in Hopkinsville is well presented, although the choice of font and artwork is a little heavy in style. This though, does not mean that it is bad. The scenario is not badly written, although it does need an edit in places and it is written for an American audience, so the Game Master may need to look up a term or two. The cartography of both the house and the sewers is decent, whilst the front cover is excellent, echoing the look and feel of the classic covers for the Chill roleplaying game and pulp horror paperback books.

Horror in Hopkinsville is designed to be a pulp horror scenario, one that is easy to run and quick to prepare—and that is the case, no matter which roleplaying rules the Game Master decides to use. However, it is not a sophisticated plot or story and the Game Master may want to develop it a bit further herself. However, for a single evening’s worth of straightforward, easy-to-prepare, pulp action horror, Horror in Hopkinsville is a decent choice.

Friday Fantasy: Bloom of the Blood Garden

Dungeon Crawl Classics #103: Bloom of the Blood Garden is a scenario for Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, the Dungeons & Dragons-style retroclone inspired by ‘Appendix N’ of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. Published by Goodman Games, scenarios for Dungeon Crawl Classics tend be darker, gimmer, and even pulpier than traditional Dungeons & Dragons scenarios, even veering close to the Swords & Sorcery subgenre. One of the signature features of Dungeon Crawl Classics and its post-apocalyptic counterpart, Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, is the ‘Character Funnel’. 0Dungeon Crawl Classics #103: Bloom on the Blood Garden is such a Character Funnel, but is could be played with a party of six First Level Player Characters and still be a challenge. Either way, the scenario can be used as a one-shot or to start a campaign in a world of dark goddesses and demonic entities!

Dungeon Crawl Classics #103: Bloom of the Blood Garden is set on the grounds of Cob Hill Manor. The house and its grounds had been long abandoned and the inhabitants of the nearby village without a lord of the manor. More recently, Morto Blango, a wealthy merchant came into the property and moved in, deciding to become a rural landowner and restore the place to what it once was. He hired numerous villagers to work for him. Now several weeks have passed and nobody has heard anything from their friends and relatives employed at the manor, let alone seen any movement on the grounds. Worse there was a fire and everyone could see the manor house itself alight. Why did nobody cry out or run to the village for help. It is unsettling and a mystery that the villagers they want not so much solving as reassuring that their relatives are alive and well. Thus begins Dungeon Crawl Classics #103: Bloom of the Blood Garden.

The scenario opens with the Player Characters at the gates to the manor. Beyond lies an extensive and partially overgrown garden, strewn with strangeness and secrets. There is a pumpkin patch, a topiary garden, a well, and gardens devoted to fungi, lotus flowers, cacti, and even poison! Some of the flora is animated, even ambulatory, and much of its deadly. Working their way through the garden—necessary if they are to get to the ruins of the manor house—the Player Characters are likely to get at least scratched and more likely to have withstand the effects of various poisons. However, not all encounters are necessarily adversarial and the Player Characters are careful, they can sense a feeling of displacement which lingers over the garden and potentially pick up various items which will help them, as well as some clues and secrets which suggest that someone had strange plans for the manor and its grounds. Not necessarily Morto Blango, but someone...

Once the Player Characters reach the top of the garden they will discover the manor house partially burned to the ground. Here they will also discover some of the surviving villagers, possible friends and relatives, as well as strange monsters lurking in the house. The inclusion of the surviving villagers is a nice touch, given that they could all have been found dead, but alive they serve as a pool of ready replacement Zero Level Player Characters should one of the originals die. They also serve as a source of information as to what happened at the manor. They do not know much as they are very frightened, but helpful nevertheless. Investigating the remains of manor will lead to Morto Blango’s last refuge and a very nasty encounter with a thing from beyond time and space!

Dungeon Crawl Classics #103: Bloom of the Blood Garden has much to do with the doings of wizards, but the scenario being a Character Funnel means the Player Characters are totally incapable of dealing with him, instead merely dealing with the consequences of his insidious plans. The Player Characters never encounter him in the scenario, although they will possibly learn of his name and his plans. The scenario is nicely detailed and has a pleasing Lovecraftian feel to it rather than in terms of content, although there is a touch of the Edgar Allan Poe to the piece a la Roger Corman. Where there is an issue with the scenario is the number of ways through the garden to the house. There are three or four routes which the Player Characters could take through the garden, meaning that they might never get to the secrets hidden in the garden or the potential aid to be gained if they explore enough of the garden. So some playthroughs may miss some of the clues and some of the items that might mean the difference between life and death as the scenario comes to its climax. To be fair, this is understandable in terms of design, since the Player Characters are not always going to find everything and Character Funnels are meant to very dangerous. It is more a case of the players and their characters having to balance the need to search for more clues versus the deadliness of the encounters!

There can be no doubt that Dungeon Crawl Classics #103: Bloom of the Blood Garden is deadly. When compared to other scenarios it does feel as if there are more Fortitude and Will saving throws needed in order for the Player Characters to survive. This will make the scenario almost as deadly if played through with First Level Player Characters.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics #103: Bloom of the Blood Garden is well presented. The artwork is excellent and the scenario is clearly written and easy to understand. The maps are as decent as you would expect, and there is the bonus of an interview with the author at the end of the book.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #103: Bloom of the Blood Garden combines two horror genres—the gothic and the Lovecraftian, in an unworldly garden and broken mansion. This is definitely a scenario where ultimately, being too timid will leave the Player Characters poorly equipped to deal with what they will face at the end, but pushing too far is potentially as deadly. Dungeon Crawl Classics #103: Bloom of the Blood Garden is a fine Character Funnel, which starts off quaint and deadly, before turning out downright dangerous.

—oOo—

Goodman Games will be at UK Games Expo

from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th, 2023.

Miskatonic Monday #163: A Cold Wind Blows

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

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

—oOo—

Name: A Cold Wind Blows

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Sara Martinez

Setting: Jazz Age Colorado
Product: Scenario

What You Get: Nine page, 4.77 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Caught out in the cold...

Plot Hook: After staying one night, you will never take a shine to this place.
Plot Support: Three NPCs, three handouts, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Decent.

Pros

# Short Pulp action scenario

# Scenario for Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos

# Trapped with a ‘near impossible to kill monster’ type scenario

# More action than investigation 

# Frigophobia

Cons

# Trapped with a ‘near impossible to kill monster’ type scenario

# More action than investigation

# Consequences of the villain’s actions left undeveloped

# No hotel floorplans

# Short

Conclusion

# Pulp action scenario set at an Overlook Hotel-style hotel

# Investigation frozen out in favour of combat in this Mythos in winter versus high-tech gear scenario

A Hammer Horror Horror Quick-Start

The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! is a quick-start for They Came From Beyond the Grave!, the roleplaying game of the shock, the terror, the eroticism, and the  humor of 1970s horror films. It is inspired by the output of Hammer Film Productions, Amicus Productions, and Roger Corman—so The Curse of Frankenstein and Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter, The City of the Dead and Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, and House of Usher and The Raven, and more... Its tales are not just from the 1970s, but also the nineteenth century, and they are performed by actors with rich, fruity voices ready to project all the way to the back of the auditorium, who are all going to give their all, despite wishing that they were performing on the stage, which is the proper venue for men of their talents and stature. Published by Onyx Path Publishing, The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! provides everything necessary for a gaming group to give the roleplaying game a try and perhaps even use it as the starter scenario to a horror campaign set in the miserable, grim and grimy dark ages of the England in the seventies and the gaslight reaches of the Victorian era. This includes a basic explanation of the rules, a nine-scene scenario—the ‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’ of the title, and five pre-generated Player Characters or protagonists, plus Trademarks for all of the Player Characters, Quip Cards, and Cinematic Cards.

The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! employs the Storypath system. A distillation of the earlier Storyteller system, it is simpler and streamlined, designed for slightly cinematic, effect driven play. The core mechanic uses dice pools of ten-sided dice, typically formed from the combination of a skill and an attribute, for example Intellect and Science to analyse a problem, Aim and Dexterity to fire a gun, and Empathy and Manipulation to unobtrusively get someone to do what a character wants. These skill and attribute combinations are designed to be flexible, with a character’s preferred method being described as a character’s Favoured Approach. So a character whose Favoured Approach is Force, would use Close Combat and Might in a melee fight; if Finesse, Close Combat and Dexterity; and if Resilience, then Close Combat and Stamina.

The aim when rolling, is to score Successes, a Success being a result of eight or more. Rolls of ten count as two in They Came From Beyond the Grave!, rather than the capacity for the player to roll again for further Successes. Typically, a player only needs to roll one Success for a character to succeed at a task, though it can be as many as three, and ideally, he will want to roll more. Not only because Successes can be used to buy off Complications—ranging between one and five—but also because they can be used to buy Stunts which will impose Complications for others, create an Enhancement for another action, or one that makes it difficult to act against a character. Stunts cost at least one Success and each of the five pre-generated protagonists in The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave!  possesses three favoured Stunts. These include ‘Uncover the Truth’, ‘Spot Weakness’, ‘Oracular Gaze’, and more. However, where combat Stunts like ‘Increase Damage’, ‘Knockdown/Trip’, and ‘Pin Down’ are explained, there appears to be no explanation for the three favoured Stunts for each of the Protagonists.

Under the Storypath system, and thus in They Came From Beyond the Grave!, failure is never complete. Either a player can spend a Rewrite to reroll; accept the failure, accept its consequences and a Consolation; or if the roll was a failure and a one was rolled on the die, suffer the consequences of a Botch and earn two Rewrites for the Writer’s Pool.

Both ‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’ and They Came From Beyond the Grave! use a number of mechanics which help enforce the genre. Unlike Party Beach Creature Feature! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beneath the Sea!, the quick-start for They Came From Beneath the Sea!, Protagonists do not have access to Trademarks, each tied to a particular skill, which grant the player two extra dice on a related roll per Trademark, but when activated and there are some Successes left over from the completed task, enable the player to gain Directorial Control of the film. There is scope for them in They Came From Beyond the Grave! as there is space for them on the character sheet, but they do not appear in The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave!.

A Protagonist does have Quips, like ‘I always believed human sacrifice died out.’ or ‘There's your proof — the proof of your own eyes.’ When used, they require everyone around the table to vote whether or not their use is appropriate, but if a Quip is successful, it earns a player another die to a roll or a reroll if a complex action. Rewrites are another genre-enforcing mechanic and are drawn from the Writers’ Pool, which is a group resource. They require all players to agree to their use, but with that agreement, a Rewrite can be used to make rerolls or add dice to a roll, as well as to active Cinematic Powers. Several of these are listed, including ‘I’m a Serious Actor’ which grants a bonus to the Protagonist’s Social Attributes after he uses his serious acting chops to elevate the film; ‘Same Set, Different Movie’ in which the Protagonist—or the actor playing him recognises the set of the film from another and uses it to his advantage; and ‘Waxing Poe-etical’ which has the player narrating the actions of his protagonist in rhyme and everyone joining in to gain an Enhancement for all associated rolls. Several Rewrites are included in The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave!, but only five are used in play.

The rules in The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! are not quite as well explained as they could be. Beyond the basic rules, which are clear enough, the rules for combat are explained in the scenes where they might happen in the scenario and there is no explanation of the Stunts for the Protagonists. That aside, the rules are all easy to use in play. They are specifically designed to encourage and support cinematic play, even badly cinematic play, and whilst they are genre-enforcing, there are quite a few of them. So as much as the players need to lean into the genre and their Protagonists, they also need to lean into the genre-enforcing mechanics—the Rewrites, the Cinematic Powers, and more—to get their full effect. This is not an impediment to play as such, but more of a requirement than players might expect of the roleplaying game.

A Protagonist in Both ‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’ and They Came From Beyond the Grave! has nine Attributes—Intellect, Cunning, Resolving, Might, Dexterity, Stamina, Presence, Manipulation, and Composure; a range a skills, Quips, and Favoured Stunts. A Protagonist also has a Path each for his Archetype, Origin, and Ambition, but these do not play a role in the jump-start, whilst of his three Aspirations, or goals, only the two short term Aspirations really count in The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave!.

The five Protagonists included in The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! consist of an elderly and authorative parapsychology professor, a brilliant, but disillusioned scientist, an ex-cop turned skeptical researcher, an eccentric medium, and a would-be hero dupe. Each is presented in full colour over two pages with the character sheet on one and an illustration and background on the other. The character sheets are easy to read and the background easy to pick up.

The scenario, ‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’, on two stormy separate, but connected, nights. The Protagonists are members of a parapsychology research team from the University of Portsmouth (technically Portsmouth Polytechnic at the time of the scenario) who are visiting Abbeyham Priory, a gothic pile with a long reputation for being haunted and being associated with witch hunts. Once the Protagonists get past the small crowd of protestors objecting to the idea of ghost hunters visiting a place of God and gain entry to the abbey, they find the nuns frosty and unwelcoming. The building is shabby, dusty, and cobweb strewn, the floors creak and there is nowhere to escape the draughts. The nuns seem to watch their every move, and despite what the Protagonists’ ghost hunting equipment fails to detect, there seems to be signs of ghosts everywhere. Well, if not ghosts, then something strange is definitely going on.

The Protagonists are members of a parapsychology research team from the University of Portsmouth (technically Portsmouth Polytechnic at the time of the scenario) who are visiting Abbeyham Priory, a gothic pile with a long reputation for being haunted and being associated with witch hunts. Once the Protagonists get past the small crowd of protestors objecting to the idea of ghost hunters visiting a place of God and gain entry to the abbey, they find the nuns frosty and unwelcoming. The building is shabby, dusty, and cobweb strewn, the floors creak and there is nowhere to escape the draughts. The nuns seem to watch their every move, and despite what the Protagonists’ ghost hunting equipment fails to detect, there seems to be signs of ghosts everywhere. Well, if not ghosts, then something strange is going on!

‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’ is designed to be played in four hours—and so is suitable to be run as a convention scenario—and is designed as a fairly linear countdown to a big finale. Which is entirely fitting for the genre. It contains a detailed description of the abbey, (though there is no map), which the Protagonists have plenty of opportunity to explore and are encouraged to do so to gain clues as to what is exactly going on at the abbey. Some of the clues come from a series of flashback scenes which foreshadow the events of the present in ‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’. These are set in the nineteenth century and involve visitors to Abbeyham Priory very similar to the Protagonists and who are in fact roleplayed by the players as variations upon their Protagonists! As the scenario counts down, its scenes cut back and forth between the present and the past, one set of Protagonists desperately fighting to withstand their inevitable doom, the other set  desperately fighting to withstand their potentially inevitable doom.

Physically, The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! is a slim softback, done in full colour throughout. The artwork is excellent and gloriously depicts the campy, over the top horror of its genre. Therea re two main issues with the quick-start. One is that the rules explanation is underwritten and there are elements, such as the explanations of the Trademark Stunts missing. The other is the structure of the scenario, which writes some of the core rules for the roleplaying game into scenes when they should really have been placed together with the explanation of the basic rules. Consequently, The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! does need a thorough read through as part of preparation, both to grasp the overall rules as well as the structure of the scenario.

It should be noted that ‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’ is a very British scenario. Consequently, it includes an explanation of what ‘jumble’ and a ‘jumble sale’ are and the Protagonists get a scene in an Austin Allegro. Which is either the result of brilliant research or the author getting revenge for childhood nightmares spent in the back seat of one on very long family holidays. Either way, for players of a certain age, it will bring back terrifying flashbacks of their own...

Although it needs a little more preparation than perhaps is necessary to ready the players for the rules, The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! has everything the Director and her players need for one night’s session of a dark and stormy night, creepy nuns and salacious nuns, jump scares, creaks and groans from cheap sets, and over over acting. Anyone looking for down at heel frights and the richest, fruitiest of hammy performances as the clock ticks down to horror should prepare for a night at The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave!

Miskatonic Monday #98: The Curse of Black Teeth Keetes

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

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

—oOo—

Name: The Curse of Black Teeth Keetes

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Perry Grosshans

Setting: An island off Kingsport, New England (Lovecraft Country) for Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos in the Desperate Decade of the nineteen thirties.

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-Eight page, 2.27 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Pirates of the Caribbean meets The Goonies off Lovecraft Country.

Plot Hook: A friend has gone missing on a mysterious island off the New England coast.

Plot Support: Detailed plot, staging advice for the Keeper, seven handouts, three maps, two NPCs, one Mythos entity, Zombie Pirates, and thirty Dimensional Shamblers.

Production Values: Decent.

Pros

# Pirates and/or zombies on a ghost island!

# Can be run with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, but better suited to Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos

# Easy to adjust Cthulhu by Gaslight or the here and now

# Easy to set off other coasts

# Solid, straightforward plot

# Very useful staging advice

# Excellent illustrations

# Good one-shot or convention scenario

Cons

# Needs an edit in places

# Potential for too much combat

# Finale needs careful stanging

# Minor Mythos details may not always match

Conclusion

# Detailed Pulp one-shot with potential Zombie Squad Action

# Pirates Zombies on a ghost island! (Is that not enough for you?)

Clouting Cthulhu

As a darkness falls over a Europe under the heel of the Nazi jackboot, a secret war has begun against the invader, one which at the direction of Winston Churchill, Prime Minster of Great Britain, would “…[S]et Europe ablaze.” This would be led by the Special Operations Executive or SOE, whose operatives, often working with local resistance forces, would carry out acts of sabotage against the Axis war effort, as well as work to establish secret armies which ultimately act in conjunction with Allied invading forces. However, there is a darker, more secret war, this against those Nazi agents and organisations which would command and entreat with the occult and forces beyond the understanding of mankind. Yet even this dark drive is riven by differing ideologies and approaches pandering to Hitler’s whims. The Black Sun consists of Nazi warrior-sorcerers supreme who use foul magic and summoned creatures from nameless dimensions to dominate the battlefields of men, whilst Nachtwölfe, the Night Wolves utilise technology, biological enhancements, and wunderwaffen (wonder weapons) to win the war for Germany. Ultimately, both utilise and fall under the malign influence of the Mythos… Standing against them, ready to thwart their malign efforts are the audacious Allied agents of Britain’s Section M, the United States’ Majestic, and the brave Resistance, willing to risk their lives and their sanity against malicious Nazi villains and the unfathomable gods and monsters of the Mythos themselves, each striving for supremacy in mankind’s darkest yet finest hour!

This is the set-up for Achtung! Cthulhu, the roleplaying game of fast-paced pulp action and Mythos magic published by Modiphius Entertainment. Originally published using Call of Cthulhu, Sixth Edition and Savage Worlds in 2013, and later FATE Core, almost a decade on, it returns in brand new edition. Not though written for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, but rather for use with the publisher’s 2d20 System house mechanics, first seen in Mutant Chronicles and Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of. The result is a roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative action in which the Player Characters can take the fight to the enemy, punch out the Nazis, and wield powerful sorcery or psychic powers against their agents and their Mythos allies, against the backdrop of World War II and the Nazi war machine.

The Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide—heralded as ‘Issue No. 1’ in a series on the cover—starts with a basic introduction to the roleplaying game and its setting, the latter underpinned by a handful of in-game rumours and eyewitness accounts that just hint at some of the horrors to come. It sets the scene before the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide dives into the details of the 2d20 System and Achtung! Cthulhu. Whenever a player wants his Agent to overcome a Test, he rolls two twenty-sided dice, aiming to roll under a target number. The target number is the value of an Attribute plus a Skill, with Difficulty of a task—ranging from zero to five, from researching the latest news in a newspaper morgue to maintaining your composure when confronted by dread Cthulhu on the once sunken island of R’lyeh—determines the number of successes necessary. Rolls under the target number generate successes. Rolls of one or if the Agent has a Focus in the skill, for example, Fighting (Threat Awareness) or Stealth (Rural Stealth), and rolls equal to or under the value of the skill, all count as Critical successes and are worth two successes rather than one. Any successes generated beyond those needed to beat a Difficulty generate Momentum, but any roll of twenty generates a Complication.

Momentum is a group resource shared by all of the players. It can be spent before a roll is made to purchase extra twenty-sided dice—up to three dice can be purchased this way, but the cost goes up the more dice are purchased; to create a Truth about a situation—Truth can make a situation less complicated or more complicated; obtain information by asking the Game Master; or to reduce the time it takes to perform a test. The players are encouraged to use Momentum, a point being lost at the end of each scene. If there is no Momentum, it can be gained by granting the Game master points of Threat, on a one-for-one basis. The Game master expends Threat to alter scenes, empower her NPCs, and add Complications. Threat can also be generated by a player buying off a Complication or even gaining access to exotic or deadly equipment or knowledge.

In addition all Agents possess Fortune Points. These can be spent to automatically gain a Critical Success, reroll the dice, take an additional major action in combat, to avoid defeat, or to make it happen and immediately add a new Truth to a situation. Fortune Points are regained at the start of each adventure, but can also be gained by voluntarily failing a Skill Test or invoking a scar and having an Agent’s past trauma or an injury inhibit his action.

For example, a team of agents is searching Colonel Köhler’s office for documents to photograph. Whilst another agent sneaks in, Eddie Chapman, posing as a German officer, will distract his secretary. The Game Master sets the Difficulty at two, as she is busy and wants to leave for lunch. Eddie combines his Insight Attribute of 11 with his Persuasion skill of 4. Eddie also has the Charm Focus. So Eddie’s player is rolling under a target number of 15 and any roll under the Charm skill’s value will generate Critical successes. Eddie’s player uses a point of Momentum to purchase a third twenty-sided die, so his player has three to roll rather than two. He rolls fourteen, five, and four. This generates a total of five successes—two each for the four and five as Critical successes, and one for the fourteen. Eddie succeeds in distracting the secretary and generates three Momentum. His player adds one to the Momentum pool, but spends two to add a Truth to the game, which is that the secretary is enamoured of Eddie and will accept his dinner invitation.

The Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide goes into some detail for its combat mechanics. It uses the same core mechanics, but adds further uses for Momentum. This starts with the Keep Initiative option. In combat, the Game Master chooses who acts first, typically a Player Character. Then turn proceeds back and forth in turn between the Player Character Agents and the Game Master’s NPCs, but Momentum can be spent to enable an Agent to act straight after another Agent rather than an NPC. In a turn, a character can take a Minor Action—Aim, Draw Item, Movement, or Prepare, and a Major Action—Assist, Attack, Cast a Spell, Catch Breath, Create Truth, Pass, Ready, Rush, Stabilise, or make a Skill Test. Of these, Aim grants an extra twenty-sided die to an attack; Prepare readies a Major Action, typically Cast a Spell; Catch Breath can remove stress or a damage condition; Create Truth adds, alters, or removes a Truth in a situation; and Stabilise is an attempt to give medical attention to someone who is dying.

Skill Tests in combat are made using the appropriate Attribute and Skill, with Melee attacks being opposed rolls and Ranged attacks not. Damage rolls are made with Challenge Dice. Extra Challenge Dice can be added to an attack for high Attributes—a high Brawn for melee attacks and a high Insight for ranged attacks. Each Challenge Die is marked with a ‘1’, ‘2’, two faces left blank, and two marked with the ‘Achtung! Cthulhu’ symbol, which is equal to ‘1 plus effect’. The Effect results on the Challenge Dice come into play with weapon effects. These can be ‘Area’, ‘Piercing X’, ‘Stun’, ‘Vicious’, and so on. For example, a Bat has a ‘Stun’ Condition, firearms have the ‘Vicious’ Condition, and a Lifebuoy Portable Flamethrower, No. 2 Mk. II has the ‘Persistent’ Condition.

The numbers are added up and that indicates the amount of Stress inflicted on the opponent. Resistance will reduce the amount of Stress inflicted, from Armour and Cover for physical Stress, and Courage and Morale for mental Stress. Stress can be mental or physical, so physical might be from getting shot or punched, but mental might be from a spell or having a knife held to the throat! An Agent only has the one Stress track for handling both, and if an Agent suffers five Stress from a single attack or has his Stress track completely filled in, he suffers an Injury. Multiple types of Injury are listed, for example, Amputee or Lingering Shrapnel for a Physical Injury or Compulsive/Obsessive Rituals or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for a Mental Injury. An Injury serves as a Truth which will impede him under certain circumstances, whether mental or physical. If an Agent suffers three Injuries, he is defeated and if he suffers another, he is dead. An Injury, of either type can be healed, but that comes with the possibility of leaving a Scar, a permanent sign of the Injury. An Injury or a Scar can impede an Agent in play and earn him a Fortune Point if either of them causes the Agent to voluntarily fail.

An Agent in Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 is defined by his Attributes, Skills, associated Skill Focuses, Talents, Truths, Belongings, and Contacts. He has six Attributes—Agility, Brawn, Coordination, Insight, Reason, and Will—rated between eight and twelve, with eight being average, whilst his Skills are rated between one and five. To create an Agent, a player chooses an Archetype, for example, Boffin, Con Artist, or Occultist; Nationality; a Background such as Air Force, Labourer, or Spiritual Leader; and a distinct Characteristic, like Bookworm, Owned an Occult Artefact, or Young at Heart. At each stage, an Agent receives bonuses to his Attributes and Skills, as well as Skill Focuses, Talents, Truths, Belongings, and Contacts. The exception is Nationality, which provides a Nationality and Languages as Truths. The process consists of a player making choices at each stage, and the range of Archetype, Nationality, Background, and Characteristic options enable him to create a wide range of character types.

Eddie Chapman
Nationality: British
Archetype: Con Artist
Background: Criminal
Characteristic: Criminal Mindset

ATTRIBUTES
Agility 09 Brawn 07 Coordination 07 Insight 11 Reason 08 Will 09

STRESS TRACK – 10

RESISTANCE
Armour Resistance: 0
Courage Resistance: 1

BONUS DICE
Melee Attacks: 0
Ranged Attacks: +2
Magical/Mental Attacks: +1

SKILLS
Academia 1, Engineering 1, Observation 3 (Instincts), Persuasion 4 (Charm), Resilience 1 (Discipline), Stealth 4 (Urban Stealth), Tactics 1, Vehicles 1

TALENTS
A Way With Words, Subtle Cues, Perfect Timing

TRUTHS
English, Black Market Dealer, Criminal Mindset

LANGUAGES
English, German

BELONGINGS
Disguise Kit

Unlike other roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror, Player Characters—or Agents—can begin play knowing magic. This requires the Occultist Archetype and a Talent with the spellcaster keyword. Magic is either learnt through a Tradition—Runeweaving (draws on the power of Runes to channel the power of the Viking gods), Druidism (animistic and natural beliefs), or Psychic; Dabbling—typically by amateurs who initially learn flawed spells; or Research—through rigorous study. Spells include battlefield magic like Spear of Lug or Curse of Loki, and rituals such as Commune with Deity or Baldur’s Shield, which requires time and the caster to inflict Stress against the ritual’s Stress Track to successfully cast it. Psychic abilities include Combat Perception and Telepathy. A spellcaster has the base Power rating of one, indicating the number of Challenge Dice his player rolls to inflict Stress—both on the target or ritual, or the spellcaster himself as a consequence of casting the spell. Spell types include attack, banishment, blessing, control, curse, discharged, divination, manifestation, and summoning.

Spells can be miscast, indicated by a roll of a Complication on any die, the Complication widening the greater the Difficulty of casting the spell, and they can also be flawed, which means that the spell automatically generates a Complication, extra twenty-sided dice can only be bought using Threat, and there are no Momentum expenditures associated with that version of the spell. Spellcasters can also engage in magical duels. Overall, there are only a handful of spells for each Tradition, and only two Rituals. There are no Mythos spells, although Agents can learn them.

Henry Brinded
Nationality: American
Archetype: Occultist
Background: Academic
Characteristic: Veteran of the Great War

ATTRIBUTES
Agility 06 Brawn 08 Coordination 09 Insight 08 Reason 10 Will 10

STRESS TRACK – 12

RESISTANCE
Armour Resistance: 0
Courage Resistance: 2

BONUS DICE
Melee Attacks: 0
Ranged Attacks: 0
Magical/Mental Attacks: +2

BASE POWER: 2

SPELLS
Wisdom of Frigg, Balm of Belenus

SKILLS
Academia 4 (Linguistics, Occultism), Fighting 1, Observation 2, Persuasion 3 (Invocation), Resilience 2 (Discipline), Stealth 1, Survival 2


TALENTS
Occult Scholar, Library Dweller, Sharpshooter

TRUTHS
English, Professor of Classics

LANGUAGES
English, Latin

Beyond the rules, character creation, and magic, most of the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide is devoted to the arms, armour, equipment and forces of the Allied and Axis powers. This includes guns, tanks, and more, primarily for the American, British, and German forces. There are rules here too for vehicular combat. The coverage of the armed forces is broad, focusing mainly on the special forces and intelligence agencies, and on actual historical agencies rather than the ones operating in the world of Achtung! Cthulhu. Stats are given for various Allied troop types and there is a discussion of the Home Front too.

So the question is, what is missing from the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide? Primarily the Mythos. This is understandable, given that actual knowledge should be for the Game Master to know and the players and their Agents to find out. However, what this also means is that there are no Mythos spells despite some Occultist Agents being allowed to learn them, and perhaps worse, no rules for handling Sanity when encountering the Mythos as per other roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror. Well, okay, perhaps the players and their Agents do not need to know how Sanity is lost—yet, but it is not difficult to surmise as a being a Skill Test using Will and Resilience against a Difficulty which will vary according to the unnatural nature of the Mythos entity encountered or spell cast, with failures leading to Challenge Dice rolls which inflict Stress and mental Injuries. Oddly, whilst there are stats for Allied forces, there are none for the enemy, despite there being stats for German vehicles and tanks.

Physically, the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide is well presented. It does need an edit in places, but it is well written, and there are some excellent examples of play which explain how the roleplaying game is intended to be played. However, the book’s full colour artwork is fantastic. Much of it has been seen in the previous iteration of Achtung! Cthulhu, but the new artwork in the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide is really good, capturing the action, excitement, and horror of the war against the darkest forces of the Axis powers.

Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 is not a roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror for the player who prefers the Purist style of play. It is too action orientated with guns aplenty and Agents who can cast magic, and thus too Pulpy in tone and style. In fact, Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 is not a roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror at all. Rather Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 is instead a roleplaying game of Lovecraftian action horror in which the Player Characters fight evil as well as confront the unknowable—and the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide is a great start to the action and the horror.