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Horror's Heart is a short campaign for Call of Cthulhu; it is compatible with any of the 5^th edition rules and can probably be used for earlier versions as well with little difficulty. The campaign is recommended for experienced characters, but since experienced characters are something of a rarity in this game, the players I ran through it had new ones. I just pulled a few punches to compensate and everything was just fine.

The campaign is set in the city of Montreal (Canada) and it is meant to last six game days. The number of gaming sessions it takes to complete is up to the keeper and the players (it took us four game sessions). The campaign opens with PCs being summoned to Montreal by their old friend Father McBride to investigate something for him. Father McBride is overseeing the building of a new church, St. Curtis. This is being built over an old seminary, and during some work in the basement a body is found that is supposedly that of St. Curtis, a saint so obscure that few have ever heard of him. McBride wants PCs to do some research and see if this body is indeed that of St. Curtis. The oddest thing about the body is that its heart has been removed, placed in a silver box, and is perfectly preserved despite the fact it is several hundred years old. The investigation soon collides with one cult, the cult's arch nemesis, the police, a family with some serious criminal connections, and a variety of other things.

The campaign's story is good, the mysteries intriguing, and overall my group and I found it quite good. We managed to even go through an entire game session with no combat whatsoever--the entire time we did nothing but roleplay, which was perhaps one of the best games I've ever run.

The campaign--and the book itself--is not without its problems. I don't really care what a book's art looks like if the story is good, but I have to say the art in this adventure was particularly heinous. Another problem it had was with the layout itself. There are nineteen papers that PCs can find and read that appear throughout this adventure haphazardly, and, although they are all together at the book's end, they are a scattered mishmash.

The campaign itself had some internal inconsistencies and things left completely unexplained. The biggest blooper I could find was that at the beginning of the campaign Father McBride found a book with the body he believes to be a saint. The book is written in a strange language, which McBride tells PCs is Coptic. Later the book resurfaces, but now it is written in Tibetan! While it is possible that McBride was mistaken, it certainly says nothing of the sort in the adventure.

The biggest complaint I got from players was that there were too many mysteries and way too many NPCs. They took notes and still couldn't keep track of everyone and everything. I took detailed notes and had the adventure in front of me and even I had trouble keeping track of everything.

The biggest complaint I myself had about the adventure itself is that its sequence of events are a bit too tight for my taste. There is so much to cover and so much information that if what seems to be a minor clue is missed or I forget to reveal it at one point, it causes serious problems later down the road.

Another problem was when the PCs got creative in solving problems things got really messy. They accidentally killed the mistress of St. Curtis on the first day (as well as blowing up part of the church itself), which became a bit problematic since she became a bit important later on. (Undaunted, I just brought her spirit back and that worked). Still, this complaint is in part my own fault since I only read as much as I planned to run, the idea being that I'd be as ignorant of the adventure's outcome and upcoming clues as PCs. Still, I just adapted here and there, rewrote some bits to fit things, and all was well.

Despite my quibbles, I rather liked this adventure and recommend it to anyone who likes to play Call of Cthulhu, or even those who don't.

Hail Evil!

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Horror's Heart
Author: Sheldon Gillett, Lynn Willis et. all Category: game Company/Publisher: Chaosium Line: Call of Cthulhu Cost: 12.95 Page count: 79 ISBN: 9-78156882068-2 Capsule Review by Mark Strecker on 04/18/00. Genre tags: Horror	Horror's Heart is a short campaign for Call of Cthulhu; it is compatible with any of the 5^th edition rules and can probably be used for earlier versions as well with little difficulty. The campaign is recommended for experienced characters, but since experienced characters are something of a rarity in this game, the players I ran through it had new ones. I just pulled a few punches to compensate and everything was just fine. The campaign is set in the city of Montreal (Canada) and it is meant to last six game days. The number of gaming sessions it takes to complete is up to the keeper and the players (it took us four game sessions). The campaign opens with PCs being summoned to Montreal by their old friend Father McBride to investigate something for him. Father McBride is overseeing the building of a new church, St. Curtis. This is being built over an old seminary, and during some work in the basement a body is found that is supposedly that of St. Curtis, a saint so obscure that few have ever heard of him. McBride wants PCs to do some research and see if this body is indeed that of St. Curtis. The oddest thing about the body is that its heart has been removed, placed in a silver box, and is perfectly preserved despite the fact it is several hundred years old. The investigation soon collides with one cult, the cult's arch nemesis, the police, a family with some serious criminal connections, and a variety of other things. The campaign's story is good, the mysteries intriguing, and overall my group and I found it quite good. We managed to even go through an entire game session with no combat whatsoever--the entire time we did nothing but roleplay, which was perhaps one of the best games I've ever run. The campaign--and the book itself--is not without its problems. I don't really care what a book's art looks like if the story is good, but I have to say the art in this adventure was particularly heinous. Another problem it had was with the layout itself. There are nineteen papers that PCs can find and read that appear throughout this adventure haphazardly, and, although they are all together at the book's end, they are a scattered mishmash. The campaign itself had some internal inconsistencies and things left completely unexplained. The biggest blooper I could find was that at the beginning of the campaign Father McBride found a book with the body he believes to be a saint. The book is written in a strange language, which McBride tells PCs is Coptic. Later the book resurfaces, but now it is written in Tibetan! While it is possible that McBride was mistaken, it certainly says nothing of the sort in the adventure. The biggest complaint I got from players was that there were too many mysteries and way too many NPCs. They took notes and still couldn't keep track of everyone and everything. I took detailed notes and had the adventure in front of me and even I had trouble keeping track of everything. The biggest complaint I myself had about the adventure itself is that its sequence of events are a bit too tight for my taste. There is so much to cover and so much information that if what seems to be a minor clue is missed or I forget to reveal it at one point, it causes serious problems later down the road. Another problem was when the PCs got creative in solving problems things got really messy. They accidentally killed the mistress of St. Curtis on the first day (as well as blowing up part of the church itself), which became a bit problematic since she became a bit important later on. (Undaunted, I just brought her spirit back and that worked). Still, this complaint is in part my own fault since I only read as much as I planned to run, the idea being that I'd be as ignorant of the adventure's outcome and upcoming clues as PCs. Still, I just adapted here and there, rewrote some bits to fit things, and all was well. Despite my quibbles, I rather liked this adventure and recommend it to anyone who likes to play Call of Cthulhu, or even those who don't. Hail Evil! Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 4 (Meaty)