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We start with Bad Company, a sordid tale set in Victorian London. The characters are members of upper class society, requested by an upstanding (and very influential) gentleman to investigate the disappearance of his son, but they must do discreetly as the social backlash could be damaging to all involved.
This is certainly one of the high points of the book, capturing not only a strong Lovecraftian vibe, but also feeling firmly grounded in the quintessentially British setting of Victorian London. There are a couple of decent villainous NPCs suitable for recurring use, some good atmospheric details, and an interesting new trinket or two suitable for other Cthulhu scenarios. The adventure isn’t very linear, and the author adds some possible red herrings which help to make it feel a bit more open. The writing is good, and the art is good (and gruesome!). I don’t have any issue with the adventure, but I think part of the reason it stands out so much is because it has close to twice as many pages as any of the other adventures in this book. This many pages allows it a great deal more depth and development than some of the others get. Style: solid 4. Substance: high 4.
Darkness, Descending is an adventure set in the 1930’s, revolving around an archaeological dig in rural England, ancient relics, a mysterious woodsmen, and a history of strange goings on.
I didn’t care for this one too much. It feels fairly British I guess, but could be tweaked with a little to work in other countries (changing the origins of the Roman relics to reflect local history being the hardest part really). I think my problem with the adventure is that it’s essentially a matter of “bad things are happening, but everybody stays around because they’re PCs and if they don’t stay then there’s no adventure”. It’s not bad, but it feels a bit like an early and straightforward Call of Cthulhu adventure I think. A bit of a railroad adventure I suppose, but it should play out over a session or two. Style: solid to high 3. Substance: high 2 to low 3.
In Wrong Turn a modern-day television production crew explores a long abandoned radio telescope facility to see if it would make a good site for filming a show. As night falls, they discover the horrible reason why the site was abandoned in the first place.
This is probably my favorite scenario in quite a long time for any game; it’s also the absolute worst scenario of the lot by the standards of some. Unlike the previous scenario, there are some valid reasons for the players being unable to escape as the horror mounts. And there are some brilliant twists that sadistic GMs will love, but many players will end up hating. Not all players of course, but more than enough I imagine. Hopefully the use of “disposable” pre-generated PCs will help players not get too upset when they face the exceptional challenges. Despite being set in Britain, it’s pretty easy to reset the adventure in any part of the world that has abandoned astronomy buildings; the downside of globalization I guess. Honestly, I think this is a brilliant horror story and would make for an excellent movie. Unfortunately, as a gaming scenario it’s too easy for players to feel completely depowered and helpless. Style: solid to high 3. Substance: anywhere from 1 to 5 depending on the group.
King is about a group of people who wake up in a hospital after surgery. Surgery they didn’t ask for or want.
This was possibly the worst adventure of the lot, but I think that’s because it lacked space to give itself a proper beginning and end. As is, it feels like the author tried to transplant a late adventure from their ongoing campaign. All the elements of a classic Call of Cthulhu, like investigating weirdness and a growing sense of dread, are absent and replaced with an instant fear from being kidnapped and strapped helplessly in a hospital. After the PCs escape, the players find themselves in a dungeon crawl of sorts. I say sorts, because the dungeon consists of basically two fairly limited areas. Based on what’s presented the adventure lacks enough build-up to be good as part of an ongoing campaign, and too little of an ending to be pleasing for pick up groups at a convention. I think if it had 40 pages like the first scenario did, it might have turned out better. There are some good ideas, and the terror of being kidnapped and surgically messed with is very strong, but I’d say this scenario is more of a “scene” rather than a full story. Also, I'm not sure what makes this adventure English in the least, but it does have a strong Mythos vibe throughout. Style: high 3 to a low 4 (it feels good and scary!). Substance: solid to high 2.
My Little Sister Will Make You Suffer has a group of amnesiacs waking up from suspended animation in an advanced facility. How did they get here, and why is there a tentacled monsterous humanoid corpse in the room with them? And in the distance, are those screams?
This was a strong ending to the book. A Call of Cthulhu scenario that owes a bit to classic sci-fi horror films like Alien (or should that be Aliens?), where the PCs try to explore an advanced facility in hopes of discovering who they are and why they’re here as their memories slowly return to them. It’s a sadistic GM’s delight, but I suspect players will appreciate the twists and turns of the adventure as well. And there’s even a clever little British twist thrown in at the end, although not all American audiences will get it. Style: solid 4. Substance: solid 4.
Okay, so that’s the five scenarios of CB. Billed as playable within ongoing campaigns, I really think these adventures work better as stand-alone episodes. It would be really hard to work My Little Sister Will Make You Suffer as part of a Victorian (or Roman!) Call of Cthulhu game. And I pity the players whose GM sets them out on Wrong Turn with their regular characters. Fortunately, the adventures each come with pre-generated characters that are relevant and useful for the settings involved. As a collection of generic horror adventures, CB works really well, and has something to offer everyone. Even the stuff I didn’t care for was at least worthy of idea mining, and there was a lot of stuff I thought was really good. It’s not a sourcebook on playing in Great Britain, but it is a pretty spiffy adventure collection!
Style: Overall, I’ll give the book a solid 4 for style. The art ranges from adequate to evocative, the layout is crisp and clean, editing was good, and the writing was consistently good. Many of the adventures also included little section notes to help GMs quickly recall what’s important from section to section. All in all, a good job done.
Substance: Given that the quality of the adventures vary greatly, and that there’s bound to be adventures I hated that others will like (and vice-versa), I still feel confident giving this book a high 4 for substance. When it’s bad it’s still salvageable, and when it’s good it’s really really good. Pre-generated PCs, player hand-outs, and maps round out the classic standbys of a Call of Cthulhu adventure supplement. The only thing really holding it back is that I felt that some of the scenarios were underdeveloped, while others were likely to result in player (not PC, but player) disappointment. Still, I think this book is at the very least an excellent idea mine for anyone who wants some inspirational material for a horror scenario. And not just for Call of Cthulhu games either.
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