Published by Triad Entertainments in 1996, Dwellers in Shadows is a collection of six scenarios for Call of Cthulhu including adventures for both the 1920s and Cthulhu Now settings. The book consists of 115 pages, 25 of which form an extensive handouts section. It is neither saddle stitched nor staple bound, it is erm, glue-bound ? (ok I'm not sure what this type of binding is called, but you know what I mean). The cover painting by John T. Snyder is a low key piece depicting a distinctly amphibious entity hiding in a rock fissure. This rather timid looking beastie appears to be hiding from persecution by investigators, an interesting change of perspective. Needless to say, this timid nature is not representative of any of the mythonians populating the scenarios. Interior art is by Roddell D Sanford Jr. and includes thumbnail character sketches a la chaosium, but more minimalist in style. I rather like Mr. Sanford's drawings particular the sketch of the gormless policeman Barney Fluter in the first scenario. The book is clearly laid out although featuring some odd font choices for titles etc. Handouts are in a variety of styles, but always legible.
The back page blurb describes "Dwellers" as a collection of plots featuring diverse time frames and settings, and lesser known monsters. I'm not sure if "time frames" refers to historical period or length of play, but the collection is varied on both these fronts. (Although personally I prefer scenario books to be dedicated to a single time period). All six scenarios are competently written and range from "truly excellent and memorable" to "ok, but requiring a fair amount of player good will or work on behalf of the keeper", with no really poor offerings.
"The Watcher in the Bayou" by Mark Elay (18 pages text, 2 pages handouts) set in 1920s Louisiana, has grown on me with every reading. The players are contacted for help by an old timer living on the outskirts of a small town to investigate strange happenings in the Bayou, only to find on arrival that their petitioner has disappeared. The investigators are then drawn into the search for a powerful and dangerous mythos artefact and the manipulations of a secretive cult. The claustrophobic and unfriendly atmosphere of the small town base is brought out well with some memorable NPCs, Barney Fluter mentioned above being my personal favourite. This, together with the innate spookiness of the Bayou itself, provide a great setting for the adventure. The party is likely to become embroiled in a combat heavy situation at the apparent climax of their investigations. I'm not a fan of combat, but it makes sense here and doesn't comprise the entire content of a scenario otherwise heavy with atmospherically spooky scenes. The true climax of the story is much less heavy on the stats, featuring a memorable encounter with an entirely statless monster at the final showdown. Success, …no make that "escape", here requires the investigators to think fast on (and probably with) their feet. This is a real contrast in style to the earlier "battle in the bayou", and for me the more enjoyable scene. There are a couple of slightly silly elements in the scenario - the electric eels in one scene come to mind for example - I'd drop them, and the "screaming heads" near the end are a bit unbelievable although fun in an over the top sort of way. But all in all I really like this scenario. There is a slightly confusing discrepancy between the handouts and the main text on information obtained at the house of the missing letter writer. It looks like a handout may be missing, or perhaps rewritten but the main text not updated to reflect this. This is not a problem however, as the missing handout information identifies an apparent friend as a villain, spoiling the potential surprise. Players may well smell a rat anyway, forcing the final confrontation to occur earlier than presented in the text and possibly missing out the false climax scene. Either way, the main villain is likely to escape this scenario with or without the artefact, not necessarily a bad thing.
The second scenario, "Configurations of the Flesh" (21 pages text, 2 pages handouts), is a thoroughly excellent piece of writing for Cthulhu Now by J. Todd Kingrea. This tale of bizarre serial killings in the Florida Keys contains some truly gruesome moments. Mundane obstacles and threats to the investigators present real difficulties, and the authorities need to be carefully handled for the investigators to succeed in a plot that emphasises investigation and roleplaying. "Configurations" features one of the most believable cults presented in CoC, the individual members having convincing motivations and personalities. The central monster and object of cult worship adds a real touch of irony to the story - its place within the mythos "hierarchy" contrasting nicely with the cultists social position in Florida society. But the real horror in this scenario is not the mythos monster, nor even the sadistic cultists, but rather the contrast between extreme wealth and poverty existing side by side and the indifference of the monstrously over-privileged toward the suffering of their fellows which runs as a theme throughout the piece. Truly the end days are here. This is a stand out piece of writing
"The Dare" by Kevin A. Ross (10 text pages, 7 pages of handouts) is a "one nighter" concerning pre-teen characters spending the night in a haunted house on a dare. This was originally a tournament scenario and is presented in typical tournament style with pregenerated characters etc. as handouts. This is in contrast to most other published CoC tournament scenarios which appear to have undergone more extensive adaptation prior to publishing e.g. "Crack'd and Crook'd Manse", "Tatterdemalion" and "A Resection of Time". This format together with the subject matter result in a scenario that is rather more "Blood Brothers" than straight CoC. As such "the Dare" would be a lot of fun with the right group on the right occasion, but it is not suitable to campaign play or for players expecting a mainstream CoC game. It is a well written scenario, although I suspect that most regular groups will smell a rat over an important NPC who accompanies the party. To overcome this I'd suggest letting one of the players into the secret and having them run that character.
"Whispers out of Mind" by Sam Johnson (10 pages of text, 10 pages of handouts) is set in 1920s Arkham and continually refers to Arkham Unveiled (AU) as a source. It is actually not necessary to own AU to run this adventure, the cross references merely provide more extensive information on various settings, nothing crucial to the game. A bigger problem to my mind is the introductory hook which reads like the opening minutes of the second instalment of a two part tv show - you know, there is a brief run down of events to date just before Starsky and Hutch kick down the door to start the episode. Well, that's how this scenario starts, only the players are informed what *they* have been doing for the last week or so viz - you were contacted by a friend and fellow investigator into mysterious things to meet him in Arkham, he doesn't turn up, instead you meet another friend of his who has been investigating a series of kidnappings by an evil cult, he brings you on board , together you track down the cult to a warehouse where they are about to sacrifice a victim, you kick down the door…..That is the scenario "hook", I have never seen another CoC module begin in this manner and I can't imagine many players accepting this without some protest- "hold on, what do we know about this cult ?" "how did we track them down?" "Er, don't we get to help draw up the plan of action rather than being told we just kick the door in ?". I'm not sure why the scenario starts in this way. Perhaps it is to shorten the playing time, as Triad try to offer one night adventures in most of their packs ? But I'd doubt this scenario could be completed in one evening, there are 10 pages of hand outs for players to digest after all. Perhaps there was some space constraint resulting in the scenario being truncated ? I don't know, no reason is given. Anyway, I'd much rather have had the scenario presented with play starting when the players first arrive to meet their correspondent friend. - So having got that off my chest, what is the rest of the scenario like ? Well, it is clearly enough presented and has some nice moments although certain events must occur at particular points and the final scene has perhaps too easy a victory for the players. Also the villains are a very stereotypical group of mad "Fu Man Chu-ish" foreign cultists with no discernible personal motivation other than being mad "Fu Man Chu-ish" foreign cultists. This is particularly noticeable here, following as it does the highly plausible cultists of "Configurations". But having said that the scenario is perfectly playable if the players will swallow the hook on trust; or failing that if the keeper is willing to put some work in to move the players entry point further back into the plotline.
Michael Szymanski's excellent "Skinwalker" (19 pages, 1 ˝ handout pages) would have been the pick of the bunch were it not for "Configurations" (did I mention I liked that one before ?). This is set in 1990s Arizona on a Navajo reservation, the title being one of the names for a Navajo witch. The investigators are drawn into this one when an archaeologist friend holidaying in Arizona turns up amnesiac and dumbstruck (literally) in the local town - cue investigation. A series of mutilated corpses subsequently turn up and the locals may begin to expect a skinwalker is at work. This scenario contains interesting background information on Navajo culture, great villains with well defined powers and a convincing false dawn/climax which many parties will fall for. The only faults I can find are the lack of stats for the larvae of the monster although they can easily be determined from information in the text; more regrettably there is no real outline for a final confrontation following the false climax. One last moan here from my personal perspective; why are so many of the best scenarios written for my least favourite time period, Cthulhu Now ?
The final scenario "Time and the serpent" by David Pauwels is a time travel story starting in Arkham in the 1920s. The investigators are engaged to track down an AWOL Miskatonic University physics professor who has been on sabbatical in Chicago. All going "well", the party will end up being whisked back in time to rescue the Prof and encounter ancient inhuman magicians and sidekicks. This is an ok scenario, although I'm not a big fan of time travel plots. I'd also drop some of the monsters which may be accidentally encountered. The adventure usefully allows for a range of endings, enabling the keeper to turn a 1920s campaign into a Gaslight or Cthulhu Now campaign. Much of the material presented could be adapted for use with one of the red herrings in the London portion of " Masks of Nyarlathotep" to flesh out the fate of anyone caught up in a certain magical painting.
In conclusion, this is a good scenario pack with some very strong adventures - "Watcher", "Skinwalker" and, most notably, "Configurations". There are no real losers, although "The Dare" can't really be fitted into a campaign and "Whispers" requires a good deal of player acquiescence in the hook or expansion on the part of the keeper. I rate this as triad's second strongest Cthulhu pack to date, after the excellent "The End of the World" (see the review by Lisa Padol in the data base).
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