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12 to Midnight, Inc.
Bloodlines is a horror adventure from 12 to Midnight, Inc. for four 5th-level characters. Presented in a comfortable style, it offers a reasonably flexible adventure while keeping the story interesting and intact. Written for d20 Modern, the adventure includes the "Lost Soul" template for creating the restless dead and an abbreviated version of the magic system from Mongoose Publishing's OGL Horror, not to mention the engaging adventure. Bloodlines is separated into four sections, beginning with GM Preparation.
Getting Ready for Horror
The prep period begins with an introduction by the author that describes the adventure's "formative years." It started out as a heavily-planned Call of Cthulhu game he ran for his friends and turned into Bloodlines. He highlights some of the aids included in order to make running the game, complex plot and all, easier on the GM. The first is a full summary of the adventure which, complex as it is, serves as a very useful aid in remembering what is, has, or will be going on without resorting to reading the full text. Second, each subsection that the players will experience ends with a checklist. The GM can use this to ensure that she doesn't forget any important clues or plot points. Finally, it recommends that the boxed texts be read as naturally as possible - a problem the author seems to have encountered - in order to preserve the players' unbroken attention.
The prep chapter soon delves into the background of the tale, then offers a full synopsis of the game's plot. The short version is this:
(Spoiler Alert)
In the late 1800s, a rancher by the name of John Blackwell led a posse to recover a kidnapped child and discovered a dangerous cult. Stopping the ritual, Blackwell recovered their dark artifacts and hid them, leaving them safe from everyone but his descendants. The cult struck at Blackwell's son after the rancher's death, enchanting him to search for the artifacts, a book of magic and a mysterious red lens, against his will. After years of failure, the cults arranges for him to have a child who might be more useful - instead, the younger Blackwell sabotages their efforts shortly after his son is born. In the confusion, a well-meaning neighbor takes the child and raises it as his own. The bloodline is further obfuscated when the child takes up arms in the Second World War and deserts for love, returning under another name. After another generation or two, this is where the players come in.
One of the characters is, unaware, the last remaining descendant of John Blackwell. The cult has found him, and they are baiting any hooks they can to lure him back to the scene of the century-old crime. The setup takes the form of a geocaching event - a treasure hunt where people use GPS to locate hidden items. Members of the cult infiltrated the small Texas town long ago, and they lead the characters toward the hidden artifacts. Once they find the artifacts, things get complicated. The characters are accused of murder and kidnapping and thrown into jail, where they first learn of the conspiracy. If all goes well, they manage to stop a ritual that would have let a horror from another plane into the world and, later, stop the vengeful ghost of a long-dead cultist from escaping with the artifacts again. The heroes are left with the mysterious artifacts and a potential springboard into further adventures centered around more missing pieces of the artifacts.
Of course, it's a good deal more complex and interesting than that.
(End Spoiler Alert)
The GM Preparation chapter ends with a couple notes on mood, the official adventure hook (complete with a little bit of "read this" text and an end-of-section checklist), and two alternate hooks.
Interlude One: Table of Contents
This is a short interlude. The table of contents doesn't look like anything special, but it is. It is thorough, indicating the location of every section and subsection of the adventure. The icing on the cake is this: The table of contents is hotlinked, making access to any specific section brilliantly easy. The only way it could have been improved is with some quick return to the table of contents, but one can't have everything. Good show.
The Adventure Proper
There isn't a lot to say about this section, which comprises the majority of the product, without simply discussing the adventure's storyline. It can be said that it is expertly laid-out and organized. Each major section is labeled clearly - 1.1 for the first section of the first act and 3.12 for the last section of the last act. Subsections or potential variations brought on by players' actions are labeled with 2.2a or b, and the end-of-section checklists are wonderfully helpful. "Read this aloud" text is clearly-marked with italics and the text is positively shot through with useful advice from the author, briefing readers on relevant real-life information and often providing suggestions of where to look for other sources.
Interlude Two: Art
The art fits the piece. It is of good quality, and it has its own personality. It's not cartoonish, but it isn't quite real. It isn't gory or freakish, but it definitely has a creepy feel. At times, the art has an aged feel, like it was drawn by an artist in the 1920s, or by Edward Gorey. In short, the company got the right artists for both the cover and the interior work.
Appendices
Again, the author is thorough. Bloodlines includes six appendices. The first details the people important to the story, living, dead, and undead. Those that may be encountered come with statistics and quotes, and many have pictures. The second appendix details supernatural creatures, including different classes of ghosts, and the cult that features in the adventure. Appendix Three discusses spellcasting and spells. For the horror genre, the author chose to adopt a system that promoted magic as inducing madness and decay - something generally detrimental to the spellcaster. Bloodlines uses the magic system from Mongoose Publishing's OGL Horror. It includes three spellcasting feats, 13 spells, and 3 rituals.
The next three appendices are more mundane. Appendix Four divulges how much experience should be gained for character groups of levels 5-7 and includes brief charts pertaining to picking locks and breaking and entering. Appendix Five contains the rules for vehicles, vehicle movement, and collision as an easy reference, to help keep the game moving. The last appendix is 26 pages of printable handouts and maps for the GM to give the players and use. The handouts, from newspaper clippings to hiking maps, all look excellent.
Summary
The Good: All in all, an excellent adventure. Quality art, excellent layout, and good pacing.
The Bad and Ugly: There were one or two moments while reading the adventure that it felt like a sufficiently wayward group could derail the adventure completely. This is, of course, true of any scripted adventure. Those moments simply felt weaker than the rest of the adventure - which is to say, quite good.
