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Tales of Terror is somewhat of a rarity in gaming; it's a collection of -- not adventures -- but adventure seeds. It's the sort of thing one finds in gaming magazines with some frequency, but it's far less common as a sourcebook. Which is a shame, because if there were more adventure seed collections of this quality, the gaming world would be a better place.

For your nine dollars, you get over 50 Call of Cthulhu adventure seeds in a handy 7.5 x 8.5 inch package. Each seed is about a page long, and includes a description of a situation with three possible explanations for the weirdness. The explanations range from full-blown Mythos horror to the purely human, allowing Keepers to easily tailor the ideas to their campaigns.

There are no game mechanics in Tales of Terror; in most cases, there's little indication of even a time period for the situation. While this book is most useful to Call of Cthulhu players, one could adapt it to just about any horror game, with the caveat that the Mythos-oriented content will be much less useful. The seeds will suit campaigns set anywhere in this century, or even Victorian campaigns.

The writing is generally excellent. Presumably the editor was able to pick the very best from a number of submissions, and he picked well. Each scenario is appropriately evocative, capable of serving the imaginative Keeper as an evening's entertainment or as a small note of horror woven into an ongoing scenario.

One will not find Tales of Terror in stores; it must be ordered by mail, directly from Pagan Publishing. The rewards are well worth the effort.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Tales of Terror
Author: Steve Hatherley (editor) Category: game Company/Publisher: Pagan Publishing Cost: $9.00 Page count: 64 ISBN: 1-887797-07-6 Capsule Review by Bryant Durrell on 08/22/98. Genre tags: none	Tales of Terror is somewhat of a rarity in gaming; it's a collection of -- not adventures -- but adventure seeds. It's the sort of thing one finds in gaming magazines with some frequency, but it's far less common as a sourcebook. Which is a shame, because if there were more adventure seed collections of this quality, the gaming world would be a better place. For your nine dollars, you get over 50 Call of Cthulhu adventure seeds in a handy 7.5 x 8.5 inch package. Each seed is about a page long, and includes a description of a situation with three possible explanations for the weirdness. The explanations range from full-blown Mythos horror to the purely human, allowing Keepers to easily tailor the ideas to their campaigns. There are no game mechanics in Tales of Terror; in most cases, there's little indication of even a time period for the situation. While this book is most useful to Call of Cthulhu players, one could adapt it to just about any horror game, with the caveat that the Mythos-oriented content will be much less useful. The seeds will suit campaigns set anywhere in this century, or even Victorian campaigns. The writing is generally excellent. Presumably the editor was able to pick the very best from a number of submissions, and he picked well. Each scenario is appropriately evocative, capable of serving the imaginative Keeper as an evening's entertainment or as a small note of horror woven into an ongoing scenario. One will not find Tales of Terror in stores; it must be ordered by mail, directly from Pagan Publishing. The rewards are well worth the effort. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)