The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Inspired by Luke Twigger's Lankhmar reviews, I've decided to blow the dust off the many antique Call of Cthulhu supplements on my games shelf. While you may not be able to get these from Chaosium nowadays, games stores are funny places. You never know what you might find, and of course there's always eBay. I'm going to start comparatively small and work my way up to the big guys, some of which are still in print.

Without further ado, then, let's kick off with "The Asylum." This is a collection of seven scenarios concerning situations that come up a lot in Call of Cthulhu games: an ocean voyage, a trip to a mental institution, an auction, reports of paranormal activity, and a few other things which have a more nebulous connection to the book's theme. Note also that all of these scenarios, as well as some others, were reprinted in "Cthulhu Casebook," which is also out of print.

As a final warning, i should point out that it's impossible to review these scenarios fairly without spoilers.

"The Auction" is the first scenario. The Investigators are attending an auction of occult items in Vienna. The atmosphere of the auction is stressed, and the other buyers are well fleshed out. The players should have a good time getting into bidding wars and intrigues - until, of course, it all goes horribly wrong. From here on out, we're in old-style CofC investigation territory. The auction items themselves are very stylish - as with a lot of Mythos artifacts, the Macguffin itself is something that no rational person would ever want.

"The Madman" is an interesting scenario. Its basic premise - mysterious disappearances in a small town - can be enlivened by the suggested substitution of an insane investigator for the individual responsible for these strange occurences. This scenario does suffer a tiny bit from "Mythos hoedown syndrome" - monsters of quite different types are chumming around here.

"Black Devil Mountain" involves an investigator's brother (every investigator seems to have a huge family full of self-destructive fools) dying and leaving him or her some land. Unsurprisingly, the Mythos is at fault in the brother's death. The NPCs who inhabit the town are well described, but I have one serious problem with this scenario. The form Mythos activity takes on this lonely mountain? A dungeon. That's right. A zoo-dungeon. Stocked with ghouls (that's three out of three scenarios so far), chthonians, wild animals, an "evil owl," walking skeletons, and some zombies. I suppose this scenario was written in 1983, and scenario writers hadn't quite got the hang of the whole "not D&D" thing yet.

"The Asylum" involves, you know, an asylum. Run by a mad scientist. It isn't so much a scenario as a possible setting for a scenario. Thankfully, there are no ghouls. The villain is actually quite interesting, and the atmosphere is pleasantly spooky. I really like this scenario, even though I don't see why the author apparently thought it necessary to print the stats for fourteen exactly identical cultists individually.

"The Mauretania" is designed to be placed within a longer scenario. While crossing the Atlantic, the investigators get caught up in all kinds of craziness aboard one of the age's greatest luxury liners. Apparently, this trip offers some kind of discount fare for lunatics. Like "the Asylun," it's not a scenario so much as a batch of NPCs and plotlines which can be thrown into any sea voyage to liven it up. There is a narrative structure, but it's not terribly important. The only problem with this scenario is the above-mentioned "Mythos hoedown" (I don't know who coined that term, but he did us all a favor) - there are a whopping 27 points' worth of Mythos books on board this tub!

"Gate From the Past" concerns the ubiquitous Gate spell. Some Elder Things are fleeing through a time gate to the present day (well, the 20s) to escape the rampaging rebel shoggoths. Unfortunately, a hungry ceratosaur is wandering around the other side of the gate in the Upper Jurassic. This is basically a slam-bang action, run-like-hell, beer-and-pretzels kind of a scenario with one serious flaw. There are SIX shoggoths in this scenario. Count 'em, six. ONE shoggoth will mop the floor with the investigators, but the team in this scenario are going to be outnumbered by the big nasties. It's going to be a pointless bloodbath. This can be easily remedied, of course, by just leaving five of the big idiots at home.

Lastly, we have "the Westchester House." It's a mystery set in a fictionalized version of San Jose's famous Winchester Mystery House. The setting is madly appropriate, and the scenario idea is simple but effective.

It's a hoax. The Westchester/Winchester House is such a weird place that the investigators will be jumping at their own shadow, but there really is a perfectly rational explanation for the whole thing. It involves forged paintings, jealousy, and murder - good mystery stuff. But no monsters or anything like that. It's just aperfectly normal mystery in a really weird setting.

There you have the scenarios, then. The title scenario and "the Auction" are strong. Only "Black Devil Mountain" really stinks. All the others are good, solid Cthulhu scenarios. All in all, a good package.

A brief word about production: the layout is old-style Chaosium, readable but not fancy. Player handouts are in the middle of the book, which is staple-stitched and therfor can be photocopied without getting badly messed up. The art is by Tom Sullivan, and it's up to his usual high standards - particularly the terrifying cover painting.

So if you see this one on the used shelf - or the "Cthulhu Casebook" which contains these scnarios plus a few extras - do yourself a favor and pick it up. You'll get half a dozen strong scenarios at a reasonable price.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Asylum and Other Tales
Author: Randy McCall, Mark Harmon, David A. Hargrave, M. B. Willner, John Scott Clegg, Elizabeth A. Wolcott, Tom Sullivan, Yurek Chodak Category: game Company/Publisher: Chaosium Line: Call of Cthulhu Cost: out of print, cover price $10 Page count: 80 SKU: 2012 Capsule Review by James Holloway on 04/05/00. Genre tags: Science_fiction Historical Horror	Inspired by Luke Twigger's Lankhmar reviews, I've decided to blow the dust off the many antique Call of Cthulhu supplements on my games shelf. While you may not be able to get these from Chaosium nowadays, games stores are funny places. You never know what you might find, and of course there's always eBay. I'm going to start comparatively small and work my way up to the big guys, some of which are still in print. Without further ado, then, let's kick off with "The Asylum." This is a collection of seven scenarios concerning situations that come up a lot in Call of Cthulhu games: an ocean voyage, a trip to a mental institution, an auction, reports of paranormal activity, and a few other things which have a more nebulous connection to the book's theme. Note also that all of these scenarios, as well as some others, were reprinted in "Cthulhu Casebook," which is also out of print. As a final warning, i should point out that it's impossible to review these scenarios fairly without spoilers. "The Auction" is the first scenario. The Investigators are attending an auction of occult items in Vienna. The atmosphere of the auction is stressed, and the other buyers are well fleshed out. The players should have a good time getting into bidding wars and intrigues - until, of course, it all goes horribly wrong. From here on out, we're in old-style CofC investigation territory. The auction items themselves are very stylish - as with a lot of Mythos artifacts, the Macguffin itself is something that no rational person would ever want. "The Madman" is an interesting scenario. Its basic premise - mysterious disappearances in a small town - can be enlivened by the suggested substitution of an insane investigator for the individual responsible for these strange occurences. This scenario does suffer a tiny bit from "Mythos hoedown syndrome" - monsters of quite different types are chumming around here. "Black Devil Mountain" involves an investigator's brother (every investigator seems to have a huge family full of self-destructive fools) dying and leaving him or her some land. Unsurprisingly, the Mythos is at fault in the brother's death. The NPCs who inhabit the town are well described, but I have one serious problem with this scenario. The form Mythos activity takes on this lonely mountain? A dungeon. That's right. A zoo-dungeon. Stocked with ghouls (that's three out of three scenarios so far), chthonians, wild animals, an "evil owl," walking skeletons, and some zombies. I suppose this scenario was written in 1983, and scenario writers hadn't quite got the hang of the whole "not D&D" thing yet. "The Asylum" involves, you know, an asylum. Run by a mad scientist. It isn't so much a scenario as a possible setting for a scenario. Thankfully, there are no ghouls. The villain is actually quite interesting, and the atmosphere is pleasantly spooky. I really like this scenario, even though I don't see why the author apparently thought it necessary to print the stats for fourteen exactly identical cultists individually. "The Mauretania" is designed to be placed within a longer scenario. While crossing the Atlantic, the investigators get caught up in all kinds of craziness aboard one of the age's greatest luxury liners. Apparently, this trip offers some kind of discount fare for lunatics. Like "the Asylun," it's not a scenario so much as a batch of NPCs and plotlines which can be thrown into any sea voyage to liven it up. There is a narrative structure, but it's not terribly important. The only problem with this scenario is the above-mentioned "Mythos hoedown" (I don't know who coined that term, but he did us all a favor) - there are a whopping 27 points' worth of Mythos books on board this tub! "Gate From the Past" concerns the ubiquitous Gate spell. Some Elder Things are fleeing through a time gate to the present day (well, the 20s) to escape the rampaging rebel shoggoths. Unfortunately, a hungry ceratosaur is wandering around the other side of the gate in the Upper Jurassic. This is basically a slam-bang action, run-like-hell, beer-and-pretzels kind of a scenario with one serious flaw. There are SIX shoggoths in this scenario. Count 'em, six. ONE shoggoth will mop the floor with the investigators, but the team in this scenario are going to be outnumbered by the big nasties. It's going to be a pointless bloodbath. This can be easily remedied, of course, by just leaving five of the big idiots at home. Lastly, we have "the Westchester House." It's a mystery set in a fictionalized version of San Jose's famous Winchester Mystery House. The setting is madly appropriate, and the scenario idea is simple but effective. It's a hoax. The Westchester/Winchester House is such a weird place that the investigators will be jumping at their own shadow, but there really is a perfectly rational explanation for the whole thing. It involves forged paintings, jealousy, and murder - good mystery stuff. But no monsters or anything like that. It's just aperfectly normal mystery in a really weird setting. There you have the scenarios, then. The title scenario and "the Auction" are strong. Only "Black Devil Mountain" really stinks. All the others are good, solid Cthulhu scenarios. All in all, a good package. A brief word about production: the layout is old-style Chaosium, readable but not fancy. Player handouts are in the middle of the book, which is staple-stitched and therfor can be photocopied without getting badly messed up. The art is by Tom Sullivan, and it's up to his usual high standards - particularly the terrifying cover painting. So if you see this one on the used shelf - or the "Cthulhu Casebook" which contains these scnarios plus a few extras - do yourself a favor and pick it up. You'll get half a dozen strong scenarios at a reasonable price. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Asylum and Other Tales