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Fragments of Fear, the Second Cthulhu Companion, was published by Chaosium in 1985 and has been OOP for a number of years. At 48 staple bound pages, "Fragments" is three quarters the length of the original Cthulhu Companion (CC) and contains the same mix of rules articles (15 pages), background information (9 pages) and scenarios (19 pages). Unlike the CC however, Fragments has aged rather badly.

The cover painting by Tom Sullivan depicts a panicking explorer attempting to hide from a pursuing group of zombies. Interior art is sparse, consisting of only two drawings (again by the talented Mr. Sullivan) and silhouette style illustrations making up a monster size comparison chart.

The rules articles include a reprinting of spells from early Cthulhu supplements, new monsters and statistics for some real like predators. All of this information is now available in the rulebook. Of the background material, 4 ½ pages are made up by a fold out size comparison chart printed on sturdy paper - again this information has been reprinted in at least some of the subsequent rulebook editions. Call of Cthulhu Questions deals with issues such as "why does it take so long to read mythos books?", and "why do I loose SAN repeatedly for the same type of monster?" This is of some interest, but rather brief (1 1/3 pages) and most of the issues discussed have been covered in later products such as the Keepers Companion. Similarly a once useful map of Innsmouth had been superseded somewhat by "Escape from Innsmouth". More useful perhaps are a selection of real world ritual curses, an unsettling quotation form a 19th century book of medical abnormalities (1 page), and a second snippet of notes from the late Prof. Sadowski entitled "On the Ubiquity of Cthulhu" (1 ½ pages). A well known poem by HPL, "Nemesis", rounds of the non-scenario material.

"The Underground Menace" (4 pages) is the first of the two scenarios and was reprinted in the 4th edition rulebook. I cannot find the author credits for this scenario, but I think it was written by Sandy Petersen. Sandy is the granddaddy of Cthulhu, having started it all and has written many classic pieces for the game. Unfortunately this is not one those classics. "The underground menace" deals with a cultist trying to establish a base for the mythos on Lake superior. It is rather scant and not very convincing, featuring very little investigation and an emphasis on combat as a solution. The final revelation underground is interesting, but the rest of the scenario is pretty weak.

The second scenario "Valley of the Four shrines" by Bob Heggie is somewhat longer (15 pages) and has not to my knowledge been reprinted. This scenario reads more like a RuneQuest adventure than a CoC mystery, featuring random encounter charts and a heavy emphasis on combat. It begins with the discovery a notebook page and map inside the cover of a mythos book describing a lost valley in the Congo containing Mythos carvings. The jungles of the Congo should be a great setting for a tense adventure, but "Valley of the four shrines" gets lost in random encounters with "hostile natives", "cannibals" and "Arabs" (also hostile). There is some attempt to involve players in the internal politics of one of the encountered tribes but it is not followed up later in the scenario. Once the players reach the valley they may dodge the zombies and interact with the likeable locals. Then there are the four titular shrines to explore, unfortunately this is a repetitive dungeon crawl with guardian monsters and magical treasures in each. A "floating temple" on the valley's lake is somewhat more interesting, giving the opportunity to meet an entity form the earth's distant path. There are some nice moments in this scenario, I like the fact that the cultists in the valley are actually amongst the friendliest folks encountered and no direct threat to anyone, despite the inherent evil of their patron deities. There is the chance for a brief encounter with an ancient member of the great race. But overall I found this scenario to be a disappointment. This is a shame as surprisingly few CoC adventures have been set in Africa outside of Egypt. Bear in mind however, that I'm not a fan of combat orientated games, if you like that type of scenario then you may love "the Valley". For my money however, "Terror from the Stars" (reprinted in "Cthulhu Classics") contains two much better adventures with a jungle exploration theme, albeit set in South America.

In summary, Fragments is perhaps the weakest of the early CoC supplements and the passage of time has further weakened the book as large parts have been incorporated into core rulebooks or superseded. Neither of the two scenarios has a patch on those in the original CC - although to be fair I have not played these out unlike those in the CC, most of which I ran at least once many (many) years ago. The remaining articles are of some interest but not enough to justify a purchase unless you are (like me) an inveterate collector of Cthulic material. Given the choice go for the original Cthulhu Companion every time.

Fragments of Fear, the Second Cthulhu Companion
Fragments of Fear, the Second Cthulhu Companion Capsule Review by Chris Ward on 08/08/01 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse) Perhaps the weakest of the early Cthulhu supplements, "Fragments" has not aged well. Choose the original Cthulhu Companion everytime. Product: Fragments of Fear, the Second Cthulhu Companion Author: Petersen, Heggie, Willis and Hamblin Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Chaosium Line: Call of Cthulhu Cost: OOP Page count: 48 Year published: 1985 ISBN: SKU: Chaosium 2310 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Chris Ward on 08/08/01 Genre tags: Historical Horror	Fragments of Fear, the Second Cthulhu Companion, was published by Chaosium in 1985 and has been OOP for a number of years. At 48 staple bound pages, "Fragments" is three quarters the length of the original Cthulhu Companion (CC) and contains the same mix of rules articles (15 pages), background information (9 pages) and scenarios (19 pages). Unlike the CC however, Fragments has aged rather badly. The cover painting by Tom Sullivan depicts a panicking explorer attempting to hide from a pursuing group of zombies. Interior art is sparse, consisting of only two drawings (again by the talented Mr. Sullivan) and silhouette style illustrations making up a monster size comparison chart. The rules articles include a reprinting of spells from early Cthulhu supplements, new monsters and statistics for some real like predators. All of this information is now available in the rulebook. Of the background material, 4 ½ pages are made up by a fold out size comparison chart printed on sturdy paper - again this information has been reprinted in at least some of the subsequent rulebook editions. Call of Cthulhu Questions deals with issues such as "why does it take so long to read mythos books?", and "why do I loose SAN repeatedly for the same type of monster?" This is of some interest, but rather brief (1 1/3 pages) and most of the issues discussed have been covered in later products such as the Keepers Companion. Similarly a once useful map of Innsmouth had been superseded somewhat by "Escape from Innsmouth". More useful perhaps are a selection of real world ritual curses, an unsettling quotation form a 19th century book of medical abnormalities (1 page), and a second snippet of notes from the late Prof. Sadowski entitled "On the Ubiquity of Cthulhu" (1 ½ pages). A well known poem by HPL, "Nemesis", rounds of the non-scenario material. "The Underground Menace" (4 pages) is the first of the two scenarios and was reprinted in the 4th edition rulebook. I cannot find the author credits for this scenario, but I think it was written by Sandy Petersen. Sandy is the granddaddy of Cthulhu, having started it all and has written many classic pieces for the game. Unfortunately this is not one those classics. "The underground menace" deals with a cultist trying to establish a base for the mythos on Lake superior. It is rather scant and not very convincing, featuring very little investigation and an emphasis on combat as a solution. The final revelation underground is interesting, but the rest of the scenario is pretty weak. The second scenario "Valley of the Four shrines" by Bob Heggie is somewhat longer (15 pages) and has not to my knowledge been reprinted. This scenario reads more like a RuneQuest adventure than a CoC mystery, featuring random encounter charts and a heavy emphasis on combat. It begins with the discovery a notebook page and map inside the cover of a mythos book describing a lost valley in the Congo containing Mythos carvings. The jungles of the Congo should be a great setting for a tense adventure, but "Valley of the four shrines" gets lost in random encounters with "hostile natives", "cannibals" and "Arabs" (also hostile). There is some attempt to involve players in the internal politics of one of the encountered tribes but it is not followed up later in the scenario. Once the players reach the valley they may dodge the zombies and interact with the likeable locals. Then there are the four titular shrines to explore, unfortunately this is a repetitive dungeon crawl with guardian monsters and magical treasures in each. A "floating temple" on the valley's lake is somewhat more interesting, giving the opportunity to meet an entity form the earth's distant path. There are some nice moments in this scenario, I like the fact that the cultists in the valley are actually amongst the friendliest folks encountered and no direct threat to anyone, despite the inherent evil of their patron deities. There is the chance for a brief encounter with an ancient member of the great race. But overall I found this scenario to be a disappointment. This is a shame as surprisingly few CoC adventures have been set in Africa outside of Egypt. Bear in mind however, that I'm not a fan of combat orientated games, if you like that type of scenario then you may love "the Valley". For my money however, "Terror from the Stars" (reprinted in "Cthulhu Classics") contains two much better adventures with a jungle exploration theme, albeit set in South America. In summary, Fragments is perhaps the weakest of the early CoC supplements and the passage of time has further weakened the book as large parts have been incorporated into core rulebooks or superseded. Neither of the two scenarios has a patch on those in the original CC - although to be fair I have not played these out unlike those in the CC, most of which I ran at least once many (many) years ago. The remaining articles are of some interest but not enough to justify a purchase unless you are (like me) an inveterate collector of Cthulic material. Given the choice go for the original Cthulhu Companion every time.