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This is a review of the Witch Cycle, two loosely linked scenarios for Call of Cthulhu. Both are available as free downloads from Yog-Sothoth.com.

The Devil's Children - The Witch Cycle part I

by David Conyers, David Godley & David Witteveen.
Pagan Publishing 1001, 52 pages, 1993, $7.95

1-2-3-4-5-6-7 all good children go to heaven.

The Devil's Children was one of the first Cthulhu scenarios published by Pagan Publishing. It was first run at ConQuest in 1992 and is a product of the vibrant Cthulhu scene in Australia at that time. It is a game for four players.

I own the original print version of this game so I'm going to review that instead of the PDF (available here ). I'll mention any differences later.

The first thing that strikes me about this scenario is the great art design. John Tynes was responsible so I would have been disappointed had it been mundane.

The cover is filled with an Anson Maddocks' picture of a disturbed looking crow crashing through a window, shards of glass spiralling out. Straight away you feel the menace.

Inside, you get to see one of the best ever laid out game books. The main text font is well spaced and easy to read, the titles suitably menacing in a thin, slightly olde worlde type. There are six full page illustrations from Jesper Myfors that show key scenes from the scenario and reinforce the writers' ideas. Denis Detwiller character vignettes convey much of each PC and the handouts are well done and add genuine interest to the game.

My only minor quibble is that in comparison to the excellence of the rest of the design, the maps look slightly amateurish. All done, this book should be held up as an exemplary model of game book design, easy to read and reinforcing the tone of the game. A triumph.

As to the scenario, this is an example of what I would call a 'tightly plotted' design. Some people might call that linear or even railroading but I don't think that would be giving this game due credit.

Let me explain.

This is a convention game written to give four players the experience of all the thrills, spills and terror of Call of Cthulhu in four hours. Whilst that can be achieved by giving the players free reign over the direction they take, it is also part of the scenario writer's skill to create a plot in such a way that the characters are drawn inexorably to their doom (or in extremis release if you, the GM, wimp out). Is that not the very nature of the horror story? You know this is all going to end very, very badly, and yet you are carried along from shock to shock as the terror unfolds around you.

If your players are willing to go along with this, and play their parts to the full, the interest for them comes in struggling against the inevitable, whilst clinging to some small shred of hope.

There is plenty of support for the GM to help them build the menace.

The writers have an innovative development for Call of Cthulhu in that the insanities that characters might develop are plotted out and dealt with by handing out symptoms cards to the players. This avoids two pitfalls. You don't have to scrabble around in the book to find the relevant pages, roll dice and hold up the action. You also don't get stuck with some randomly useless phobia that adds nothing to the story or tension.

The characters are interesting with good backgrounds but some of the skill values are incongruous. It would be difficult to adapt this game to a home campaign but it could be used as a one-off aside to introduce a new menace to your own game, and indeed that is pretty much its relationship to the second scenario in this series.

I give this game 5 for Style and 3 for Substance. The lower substance mark is because I prefer slightly looser plotting myself and you really need the right kind of players to enjoy this game. The game is also less useful if you are not interested in one-offs. As a convention game I would give it 4 for Substance.

The free PDF version of the game has new art, is not quite as well presented but has better characters, and updated handouts with more information for keeper on background. It also has notes on how to integrate this scenario into a Delta Green campaign.

I give this version of the game 3 for Style and 3 for Substance.

On to the second part.

A Handful of Dust - The Witch Cycle part II

by David Conyers, 1994.

Burn Baby Burn, when you gonna learn, how to put out the fire?

This scenario is available here in PDF format from Yog-Sothoth.com. It is another convention game from 1994 which has been updated to include Delta Green references. It has pretty much the same standards of art and presentation as the previous PDF.

This scenario is only very loosely, even tangentially, related to Part I so it can be run as a stand alone game. It is also easy to integrate this into your own Delta Green campaign.

This scenario is less tightly plotted than the previous game and as such offers more scope for action to the PCs. As in keeping with much of Delta Green, the plot is desperate and deadly. I would not be surprised if a second set of investigators are dispatched to discover the whereabouts of the first team.

The background material for the GM is well written and is supported by some great handouts that add much to the atmosphere. Being aimed at the Delta Green market, the notes cover many of the kind of question that a DG agent might ask, there are autopsy reports, personal file details and the like. There is perhaps one glaring omission, but any competent Keeper should be able to deal with that.

Another plus point is that the NPCs are not just wallflowers. They have real personality and are challenging in different ways allowing the players much opportunity for good roleplaying.

I think that this is an excellent and challenging scenario for any Delta Green cell, and it's free! Go get a copy now from Yog-Sothoth.com.

I give this scenario 3 for Style and 5 for Substance.

Overall the Witch Cycle is well worth getting for any Call of Cthulhu Keeper, the scenarios are well written and can provide several sessions of high tensions entertainment. Even if you don't run them, these are good examples of the scenario writers art and will give you many pointers for writing your own games. And every game layout designer should get Devil's Children, it's the bees' knees!

Overall I give them 4 for Style and 4 for Substance.