(WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS)
"KING OF CHICAGO", OVERVIEW.
This scenario book for "Call of Cthulu" is built around two adventures in which the Mythos attempts to use organized crime for its own ends. Topping and tailing the two adventures are a one page article on organized crime in the US during the 1920's and a four page article dealing with the black market, illegal weapons and bribery.
The two adventures are:
"THE KING OF CHICAGO", BY GARY SUMPTER.
In this adventure, apparently set just after the arrest of Al Capone, the PCs are summoned to Chicago by a Detective friend who's stumbled onto "...something big". They arrive just in time to see his office blown up, to solve his murder the PCs must find the link between Johnny Premoli, a member of Chicago's, North Side Gang, bands of derelicts hanging around the disused Union theater and the 1871 Great Fire of Chicago.
The link is the Blackness from the Stars, a Mythos creature, its arrival caused the Great Fire, while the derelicts and Johnny Premoli are pawns in a scheme to take over Chicago, starting with the underworld.
"THE SECRET OF MARSAILLES", BY UGO BARDI.
This adventure begins with the PCs witnessing an attack on an unidentified Frenchman, while they will be unable to save his life, they will discover four clues, the name "Papillon", a book of poems by Baudilaire, the photograph of a beautiful woman and a golden statue of Dagon. Investigations will point the PCs towards the French port of Marsailles. Once they arrive, they will discover a city wracked by a war between the local branches of the Union Corse and the Scicilian Mafia.
The PCs will find the cause of the war to be gold, supplied to the Corsicans by a sinister figure who acts as their second in command. Trailing this figure leads to a gun battle at sea and a brief encounter with Dagon himself.
"KING OF CHICAGO", VERDICT.
This book is a real mixture, the background material and new weapons are of great use to the GM, as are the gambling rules contained in the first adventure. But there are some niggling problems, in the new weapons section the rules for making nitroglycerine state that "..given a successful Chemistry roll and a succession of Dexterity rolls.", the explosive can be made in the PCs house, however nowhere is it stated how many Dexterity rolls are required. Similarly the first adventure does not 'feel' right, with little information given on the consequences of failure.
The second adventure is much better, aside from getting the PCs out of the US, it contains a number of colourful characters who will give the GM an opportunity to demonstrate their roleplaying skills. Furthermore the plot, dealing as it does with an attempt by the Deep Ones to turn Marsailles into a larger version of Innsmouth, is much easier to fit into a campaign. This is especially so if the GM has "Escape from Innsmouth" and "Before the Fall".
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