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Paradise Lost is a companion book to the core book, expanding on information given there, adding some new characters and locations, but without adding any new mechanics whatsoever. This is not one of those supplements that is required to play the game that some companies put out; there are no earth-shattering secrets in this book that were left out of the core book, for example, but certain parts of the history of Potter's Lake and the people who live there are given an extended examination. It consists of nine chapters, two appendices, and a character sheet that appears to be a duplicate to the one provided in the core book.
Chapter one is a one-page introduction to the book, following the format of the core book. There's a synopsis of the supplement, a note advising which chapters can be read by players (chapters one to six) and which shouldn't (the rest), and the same caveat from the core book, along with a grey sidebar that discusses the location of Potter's Lake and the ease of relocation if the GM wishes to do so.
Chapter two is a five-page look at the history of Potter's Lake, from the exploration of the area by fur traders and Jesuits, to the earliest days of the settlement under the leadership of Jacob Potter, the foundation of St Anselm's college, Tryst's gunpoint charter, the events of the American Civil War on Potter's Lake, industrialisation, the depression, Polio epidemic, the foundation of the Air Force base, tornado strikes, Cain murders and the previous mayor. As with the similar chapter in the core book, each section gives the GM several tantalising ideas to use in his or her campaigns without giving the game away to any players reading this section.
Chapter three is thirteen pages of new people to use in Potter's Lake, comprising twenty 'new' characters in all. I say 'new' because several names are immediately familiar to those who have read the core book, including Deke Richardson (Of Deke's Bar and Grill fame). Others are familiar to those who have read or played through the "Waiting Room" scenario in the core book, such as Randy Bridegroom (a name, it should be noted, not a descriptor), and Reginald Grey. Again, readers of the core book will immediately recognise the format and style of these characters' descriptions. There are no mechanics given here, just a paragraph or five of detail. All of them have the quirks and eccentricities that the reader should be familiar with from the core book, and most have some sort of connection with existing Potter's Lake inhabitants or places. All are accompanied by sketches of the character.
Chapter four details 10 new places to visit in the town, spread over seven pages. Again, some will be familiar to readers of he core book, and include such places as the Frog Pond and New City Hall, while others are new, such as the AIC Plant and Nicholson's Bookstore. As with the chapter on people, each of these give the GM plenty of ideas to use in his or her game, and each place has some form of weirdness associated with it. Those places already known to readers of the core book receive expanded information that helps fill out the place without repeating what came before.
Chapter five gives three pages of rumours circulating around the town; the veracity of each rumour is entirely up to the GM. Some give tantalising clues to what's going on, some are red herrings, and all can lead to player investigation. There are fourteen rumours in total, each receiving a lengthy paragraph, and cover such topics as the accidents at the lake, Ezekiel Cage, and supposed Black Masses at the Monolith.
Chapter six is very similar to the previous chapter, concentrating on folk tales over five pages, covering nine legends of the area, including the disappearing Mulberry Street, Pumpkin Pete, and Room 616. Again, each gets several paragraphs and give a multitude of information for GMs and players on which to inspire investigations.
Chapter seven is the first of two scenarios in the book, Heart of Darkness. It consists of fifteen pages, giving a great deal of background information concerning Room 616, and should not be read by players, for the obvious reasons. Although the introduction suggests that this can be used as a first scenario, as it brings together the PCs from their disparate origins, the theme of the scenario is one of the major secrets behind H&E, and I would only use this quite a way down the road.
Chapter eight is the second scenario, Swindon's Labyrinth, a much shorter scenario intended for a single night's gaming, clocking in at three pages. As the name suggests, the adventure takes place inside New City Hall, as the PCs attempt to find their way out of the building, meeting several of the town's inhabitants as they do, and providing several threads that can then be further followed. Of the two scenarios, this one is based on interaction a lot more than the other, with very little for the PCs to do but chat to those they meet as they wander around.
Chapter nine is the untold history of Potter's Lake, spread over seven pages. This section is my favourite of the book; it gives information to the GM about the major themes of the game, gives a lot of the very, very early history of the area (GMs should know what I mean there), and provides GM-only information about several of the places and peoples mentioned in this and the core book. This section is invaluable to the GM, because of the extra information it gives about particular motives that some people and groups have, but it doesn't introduce anything that completely changes the game - for example, Meltdown and Jacob Potter receive a deeper and closer examination, but there's no huge secret revealed that isn't in the core book (ie, Jacob Potter doesn't suddenly get described as being Cthulhu in disguise or anything).
The first appendix is a three-page description of St Anselm's college, which expands upon the information given in the core book, containing more on the history of the institution, notes on the campus, and some detail about the administration of the college. The second appendix is a three-page description of the event that lies at the heart of the weirdness at Potter's Lake, both in the very, very distant past and the immediate future.
Style: (4). The book is well-laid out in the same format as the core book, with similar cover art (It depicts the same stained glass windows, with the monolith taking the place of the guy with the apple). The internal art is also of the same sort as the core book, and give very good depictions of the people and places (and events) of the town. All the internal art relates to the thing being discussed in the text, eg a sketch of the Bel-Loc Diner, Samuel Irving, a Black Mass at the Monolith. Each chapter starts with a full-page piece that readers of the core book will recognise as similar to the medieval-ish woodcut illustrations, though these aren't as readily identified with particular people or places. For example, the one opening the chapter on places shows a medieval-ish town scene, with several people working, a castle in the background, angels watching over the people and God looking down from the clouds above; the connection with Potter's Lake is much more tenuous. These introductory pieces are in grey-scale, and it's sometimes hard to pick out particular elements of the work because of this. The editing of the book has been done well, with a couple of typos here and there ('locals' for 'locales' in a couple of places), but is certainly nowhere near as egregious as in some other books.
Substance: (5). While it's easy to run H&E without this supplement, since nothing here is a sudden jolt or comes entirely out of the blue, I can't imagine not using the information within this book to run a campaign. Extra places and people provide more information for the GM to make Potter's Lake come alive, and for players to investigate. The expanded history is teeming with scenario ideas and the rumours and folk tales give much more colour to the town. The two scenarios fulfill their role nicely; I'd run the second one early on to give an idea of the surrealism of the setting, and the first later on to give hints of the secrets behind Potter's Lake and to develop the campaign more. The expanded description of St Anselm's is one that I'd like to see for more places in Potter's Lake in future supplements, and the untold history chapter is worth the price of admission alone for the feel it creates, the plot points it suggests, and the expanded information it relates.
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