The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I first saw Fatal Experiments six years ago, when two brothers in my gaming group purchased it, planning to someday run the adventures contained within it; at that time I was the only Keeper in the group, and was called upon to run Call of Cthulhu one to three times a week. The first time I missed a session of CoC was a year later, when I went down to Origins '95 for a day. Upon my return I learned every investigator in the campaign save one had died in the course of an adventure from Fatal Experiments, with all the players agreeing the scenario was God-awful. A few months later I got to read Fatal Experiments and, influenced by my players' opinions on it, decided it was a waste of money. Now, years later, I've purchased my own copy of the book, and have not only read it without my gaming group's opinions coloring my judgement but run two of the three adventures within its pages. I must now say that Fatal Experiments is one of the finest CoC books published in the 1990s.

Enough babble, on with the review. The first section of the book covers antique and odd firearms. The first two thoughts you had after reading that last sentence were probably:

A) Why is there a section on firearms in an adventure collection?

B) Why bother introducing new firearms, since most Mythos monstrosities are immune to them?

Both questions went through my head when I read this section, and were part of the reason I thought so poorly of the book. Now I realize the fun this section has given players; why settle for a paltry 12 gauge now that the 2 gauge shotgun is available? And what investigator wouldn't want to be able to use Dragon's Breath rounds in his shotgun, like characters from Vampire can? Joy!

The first adventure in the book is "Tatterdemalion." Once a convention adventure, this story involves an insane playwright and his allies, who have come in contact with the King in Yellow. I'm always leery of Cthulhu adventures originally written as tournament scenarios, as I've seen too many designed so that all investigators end up insane or dead by the end of the adventure, no matter how hard the players work. "Tatterdemalion" does allow a Keeper to end it in such a manner, along with both violent and non-violent methods of resolution to the scenario; I'm quite impressed by that. The adventure has a unique way of separating the investigators from the rational world, with a mystic construct that both prevents the investigators from seeking help and explains why no one notice's all the evil afoot. It's a refreshing change from all the other CoC adventures I've read where everything is set in the middle of nowhere just so investigators can't escape or go for help. Perhaps the best compliment I can give this adventure is that in my 18 years of gaming this is only the second adventure I've ever run that evoked actual fear in my players.

Next is the abomination "Songs of Fantari," the adventure I mentioned earlier that caused my players major aggravation. Let me sum up this adventure by using a term a player in my group came up with: "Cthulhu is pronounced 'Ka-Screw-U'." In Songs the plot is that a group of Deep Ones entrances investigators, takes them to their lair, and perform unholy experiments upon them. Want to have sex with a Deep One, or grow an extra limb or head that regenerates if you amputate it? How about being exsanguinated or cooked as a Deep One meal? All these horrible fates and more are available for your Keeper to inflict on investigators, with almost no chance for player-characters to survive, much less get a chance to fight their Deep One characters. Perhaps the most infuriating thing about this adventure is that the author states the adventure was designed for beginning characters, and that the Keeper should try to keep most alive for another session. Gee, maybe if the adventure wasn't such a deathtrap that would be possible! Even the glimpses into Deep One society don't make this adventure worth the paper it's printed on. This scenario should never have been published.

Finally is "Lurker in the Crypt." You have to read this one yourself to fully appreciate how perfect it is. The ever-popular ghouls are the "stars" of this adventure, sharing the spotlight with a Great Old One, his spawn, some unique undead, and an assortment of other Mythos entities whom I admit seem to appear for no good reason. Set in (and under) New York City, this adventure contains a good balance of investigating, fear, and violence. If the players are smart (and the Keeper kind) investigators may find themselves actually able to go to the authorities and be believed there's unholy evil afoot for a change, meaning the NYPD may be playing red-shirted security guards from Star Trek to your investigators; this is not a bad thing, given how deadly this adventure is. I ran this adventure four times over the years, with investigators ranging in experience from newly-made to having been played every week for three years, and out of 25 characters only three escaped alive, never mind completing the adventure. This is a great adventure that should not be missed, and I am upset Pagan Publishing ignored it entirely when writing up the ghouls of NYC for Delta Green: Countdown.

Before I go, two bits of trivia for you. When Fatal Experiments was originally solicited the ads mentioned the presence of tasty blue fungus in this book, of which there is none. Talking to the nice folks at Chaosium revealed to me that at one time one of the adventures in Dark Designs was originally slated to appear in Fatal Experiments, an odd thing given that's a book of 1890s adventures and Fatal Experiments' scenarios are set in the 1920s; this is why the back cover of FE says there's four scenarios in the book. Also, there's mention of a giant spider on one of the maps in "Lurker in the Crypt." I have been informed this was one of several items cut out of the final draft of the adventure. If the author happens to be reading this I'd love to know what else was cut from the adventure.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Fatal Experiments
Author: Watts, Love, Miller, Bulman, Detwiler, Ross, Isinwyll, Dunn, Gibbons, Geier, and Triplett-Smith Category: game Company/Publisher: Chaosium Line: Call of Cthulhu Cost: 18.95 Page count: 128 ISBN: 0-933635-72-9 SKU: 2328 Playtest Review by Ralph Dula on 04/30/00. Genre tags: Historical Horror	I first saw Fatal Experiments six years ago, when two brothers in my gaming group purchased it, planning to someday run the adventures contained within it; at that time I was the only Keeper in the group, and was called upon to run Call of Cthulhu one to three times a week. The first time I missed a session of CoC was a year later, when I went down to Origins '95 for a day. Upon my return I learned every investigator in the campaign save one had died in the course of an adventure from Fatal Experiments, with all the players agreeing the scenario was God-awful. A few months later I got to read Fatal Experiments and, influenced by my players' opinions on it, decided it was a waste of money. Now, years later, I've purchased my own copy of the book, and have not only read it without my gaming group's opinions coloring my judgement but run two of the three adventures within its pages. I must now say that Fatal Experiments is one of the finest CoC books published in the 1990s. Enough babble, on with the review. The first section of the book covers antique and odd firearms. The first two thoughts you had after reading that last sentence were probably: A) Why is there a section on firearms in an adventure collection? B) Why bother introducing new firearms, since most Mythos monstrosities are immune to them? Both questions went through my head when I read this section, and were part of the reason I thought so poorly of the book. Now I realize the fun this section has given players; why settle for a paltry 12 gauge now that the 2 gauge shotgun is available? And what investigator wouldn't want to be able to use Dragon's Breath rounds in his shotgun, like characters from Vampire can? Joy! The first adventure in the book is "Tatterdemalion." Once a convention adventure, this story involves an insane playwright and his allies, who have come in contact with the King in Yellow. I'm always leery of Cthulhu adventures originally written as tournament scenarios, as I've seen too many designed so that all investigators end up insane or dead by the end of the adventure, no matter how hard the players work. "Tatterdemalion" does allow a Keeper to end it in such a manner, along with both violent and non-violent methods of resolution to the scenario; I'm quite impressed by that. The adventure has a unique way of separating the investigators from the rational world, with a mystic construct that both prevents the investigators from seeking help and explains why no one notice's all the evil afoot. It's a refreshing change from all the other CoC adventures I've read where everything is set in the middle of nowhere just so investigators can't escape or go for help. Perhaps the best compliment I can give this adventure is that in my 18 years of gaming this is only the second adventure I've ever run that evoked actual fear in my players. Next is the abomination "Songs of Fantari," the adventure I mentioned earlier that caused my players major aggravation. Let me sum up this adventure by using a term a player in my group came up with: "Cthulhu is pronounced 'Ka-Screw-U'." In Songs the plot is that a group of Deep Ones entrances investigators, takes them to their lair, and perform unholy experiments upon them. Want to have sex with a Deep One, or grow an extra limb or head that regenerates if you amputate it? How about being exsanguinated or cooked as a Deep One meal? All these horrible fates and more are available for your Keeper to inflict on investigators, with almost no chance for player-characters to survive, much less get a chance to fight their Deep One characters. Perhaps the most infuriating thing about this adventure is that the author states the adventure was designed for beginning characters, and that the Keeper should try to keep most alive for another session. Gee, maybe if the adventure wasn't such a deathtrap that would be possible! Even the glimpses into Deep One society don't make this adventure worth the paper it's printed on. This scenario should never have been published. Finally is "Lurker in the Crypt." You have to read this one yourself to fully appreciate how perfect it is. The ever-popular ghouls are the "stars" of this adventure, sharing the spotlight with a Great Old One, his spawn, some unique undead, and an assortment of other Mythos entities whom I admit seem to appear for no good reason. Set in (and under) New York City, this adventure contains a good balance of investigating, fear, and violence. If the players are smart (and the Keeper kind) investigators may find themselves actually able to go to the authorities and be believed there's unholy evil afoot for a change, meaning the NYPD may be playing red-shirted security guards from Star Trek to your investigators; this is not a bad thing, given how deadly this adventure is. I ran this adventure four times over the years, with investigators ranging in experience from newly-made to having been played every week for three years, and out of 25 characters only three escaped alive, never mind completing the adventure. This is a great adventure that should not be missed, and I am upset Pagan Publishing ignored it entirely when writing up the ghouls of NYC for Delta Green: Countdown. Before I go, two bits of trivia for you. When Fatal Experiments was originally solicited the ads mentioned the presence of tasty blue fungus in this book, of which there is none. Talking to the nice folks at Chaosium revealed to me that at one time one of the adventures in Dark Designs was originally slated to appear in Fatal Experiments, an odd thing given that's a book of 1890s adventures and Fatal Experiments' scenarios are set in the 1920s; this is why the back cover of FE says there's four scenarios in the book. Also, there's mention of a giant spider on one of the maps in "Lurker in the Crypt." I have been informed this was one of several items cut out of the final draft of the adventure. If the author happens to be reading this I'd love to know what else was cut from the adventure. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)