As the 2nd Edition of
GURPS Horror
pointed out, the Weimar Republic - Germany in the 1920s - make a swell
background for any kind of horror campaign. High glamor existed side by
side with desperate powerty, and high culture and artism with brutal
street battles and political instability. And the feeling of doom that
is so vital for horror adventures is easy to evoke, as the players will
be all too aware that sometime soon the Nazis are going to take over and
plunge Europe into an abyss of war and genocide.
With this in mind, it seemed natural that Pegasus
Press, the German publisher of Call of Cthulhu, would take a look at the
shiny but rotten core of the Republik.And
with Berlin - Im Herzen der grossen Stadt, they did just that.
Combining a sourcebook of the city of Berlin with two adventures that
take place there at least a part of the time, this book gives you all
you need to run a campaign in the city's Golden Twenties - which
truthfully weren't all that golden...
But first, a word about the art and layout of the
book. The cover is gorgeous, and the layout is up to the usual high
standards of Pegasus Press. The various period photos help setting the
mood. But the best part is the gorgeous full-color map of 20s Berlin
included with the book...
Golden glänzt Berlin (Golden Shines Berlin)
This chapter gives you the basics of the city.
Kleiner Bummel durch Berlin details
Berlin's various neighborhoods - and as the city had just incorporated
many surrounding towns and communities, these neighborhoods are diverse
indeed. From the urban
Mitte to
the high industrial
Moabit,
from the prestigeus
Charlottenburg
to the workers' barracks in Wedding,
from the rural Zehlendorf to
the airport in Tempelhof,
Berlin is not one town, but many. Vom
Leben in der Stadt covers the city's entertainment industry, from
theatres, varieties, to the movie industry that could give Hollywood a
run for its money (No, really. Those were the days...). Berufsleben und Einkommen in Berlin um 1925
how the various investigator occupations fit into the city, and what
they usually earn. Nach Wissen Suchende covers the major universities,
libraries, and museums of Berlin - always a major point of interest of
the average investigator...
Finally, Von den Dingen in der Zeitung presents a
timeline of the major events in Berlin in the years from 1920 to 1929,
which include a failed coup attempt, hyper-inflation (what to do when
your loaf of bread costs 420 billion Marks?),
riots, murders by right-wing militias, a visit by a cetain Adolf
Hitler, another visit by the king of Afghansitan, mass unemployment,
and mass Nazi rallies... Truely, never a dull moment.
All of this gives you a good idea of how life in
Berlin was back then - and plenty of ideas on how to make the life of
your investigators miserable!
Der tanzende Faun (The Dancing Faun)
In this adventure, the investigators are looking for
Love. Well, sort of...
After a fateful evening in one of the many
nightclubs of Berlin, the investigators get involved with a beautiful
young actress, and the people who surround her. Gradually, they sink
into a morass of madness and murder, and will likely have many
memorable encounters with many Berliners, ranging from the police to
the criminal underworld. They might participate in the biggest movie
production of the decade (well, they and 35,000 other people), and
learn more about Berlin's thriving porn movie producers than they
really wanted. Once they have some measure of understanding about what
the hell is going on, they can travel to the grand finale to another
European country - which is currently in the process of being taken
over by fascists. (Ah, to be American and having only the Prohibition
to worry about...)
This adventure looks like it can be a lot of fun -
with the right players. As you might gather from the comments above,
this isn't the right adventure to run if your players get nervous at
the mere mentioning of the word "sex". It is also neccessary that at
least some of the players are willing to take cues from the keeper,
instead of insisting that they play their character
exactly as they imagine it...
Jahrhundertsommer (The Summer of the Century)
It is the summer of 1925, and Berlin is suffering
from a heat wave. A perfect time to go for a swim, but unfortunately,
the investigators won't have the time for that as they have to find a
kidnapper and his victim. But who are these other stange people the
investigators keep on bumping into?
As they puzzle out the clues on their way and learn
that the stakes are far bigger than they had imagined, they will have
to face some deadly and otherworldly foes. Can they stop them in time -
or will the
Jahrhundertsommer last
forever?
The better part of the adventure is mostly
investigative, and in fact I would recommend against running this
adventure with players who don't pay enough attention to the game - if
they miss too many clues, it will require some heavy GM fudging to
bring them back on track.
There's only one minor problem I have with the
adventure: If the PCs fail to reach their goal, the text recommends a
cheap cop-out that will make most of their efforts pointless. Sure,
they might have saved one life with their efforts, but that's nothing
when compared to the many lives their failure would "realistically"
cost. Personally, I'd let the PCs feel the consequences of their
(in-)actions, even if any future campaigns would realistically slip
into the realm of Alternate Histories...
Still, this advice is easily ignored, and doesn't
really detract from an otherwise excellent adventure.
Conclusion
All in all, I was very satisfied with this purchase,
and I am looking forward to future Pegasus Press releases if they can
maintain the same standard of quality. The Berlin gazetteer serves its
purpose very well, and the adventures leave little to be desired (even
though I would have liked at least one adventure that doesn't only
start in Berlin, but also
ends there...). I can recommend
this to anyone who can read German and is interested in Call of
Cthulhu. And for those who can't read German, never fear - I hear
there's a translation in the making...
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