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"Step one: work out what sort of campaign you want to run. Which parts of the Laundry stories most interest you? The horror? The geek jokes? The magic-meets-technothriller? The secret history of espionage?...You don’t have to give equal weight to all of these elements; you can run a whole campaign in the light-hearted vein of Pimf if you want or in the shadow of Armageddon like The Fuller Memorandum. Even the more comedic stories have a thread of darkness – Overtime takes place at a ghastly office Christmas party and involves photocopied insectoid buttocks and Father Christmas the Cthulhuoid Horror withering down the chimney but it also hints at impending doom for all mankind."
Shifting gears or constantly changing orientations between these very different genres is one of the drawbacks in the writing of this game. For a while, you think you dealing with Cosmic Horror then it shifts over to Comic Horror which even if you are familiar with Stross’ stories (of which one can say the average gamer is not) creates an unsettling effect for the reader and ultimately the gamer.
The Laundry uses a modification of the customary Call of Cthulhu (or CoC) rules to the BRP system (SAN rolls, percentile based skills, hit points, and all that jazz.), but explain it in a much more comprehensive way than what I have found from Chaosium or their competitors do. There are differences, namely, how magic works in The Laundry system – a point that has its merits and fits well with the milieu but I rather liked the original CoC magic system. The short and long bit is that the magic system is based upon mathematics which in some ways the original CoC is but there are fewer penalties for the casting of spells. The book is jammed filled with fluff that trace back to the Laundry novels and short stories. Sadly, there is no attempt to cross reference this with other sources either from the CoC cannon which would have been a nice nod or even other literary traditions. It does mention some of the things that one can read but that are not the same as writing about them from the perspective of a possible gamer. And, they would use CAPITAL LETTERs to highlight different parts of the book. At first this is rather helpful but I could see leading to spoilers if such a book would have been bought by a person who wanted to be a player. It does have a division between a Keeper section and a Player section but when the book eggs them on to the Referee section – why bother. A more comprehensive glossary at the front of the book would have solved that problem.
I also found what if I wanted to play other things than what was found in Stross’ novels. There is very little room for incorporation of TV Dramas such as, Torchwood or movies Day of the Triffids or even novels like those from Lumley. In fact, I found much of writing was very reminiscent of Necroscope RPG which is dated Cold War rubbish but as Girl with Dragon Tattoo proves – it can easily be recycled and given a horrific modern twist. Sadly, The Laundry does not do this.
The repetition of Lovecraftian adjectives gets a bit tiresome especially when they could have spiced it up with more spy terms, and not just those that appear in CAPITAL LETTERS, throughout the book but refer to real/literary spy references. I came to this expecting something akin the classic Avengers series updated to the modern age or at least build upon shows like Doomwatch, Quartermas and other classic British techno thrillers – sadly, I saw very little of that referenced here.
True, it is much better than Green and Pleasant Land and the Delta Green supplement Countdown – that deals with situations in the UK. However, I am finding the Cthulhu Britainnia line along with parts of Black Seal Magazine more satisfying. I thought the art was excellent, however, the art did not really relate to the text on the page. As I stated earlier, I found the writing for the mechanics to be solid and better than Chaosium or Pagan’s writing.
Where it did fall apart a bit was in the fluff. We were plunged into concepts like CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN without really understanding what they are. Furthermore, stating that the End Times will come around 2013 is not very good for someone who only bought the game in 2011 and will only probably get a campaign running 2012. The sense it is only go to hell in a hand basket in less than a year is not a motivation for players to save the world. Keeping the End Times indeterminate but point to the ever growing menaces might build better suspense and playability. While, I do think, this game is superior to Chaosium (Cthulhu Now in its many incarnations) & Pagan’s Delta Green it lacks the posh element. So I wait to see if future supplements can sway me. And, because I think they have it right with the Cthulhu Britainnia series – and a wealth of material that was produced by fandom – there is no reason why they should not be able to mine this rich material for lots of good ideas. Would I recommend this book to another CoC Keeper/player – it certainly gives lots of ideas to play around with but if your vein is purist or even if you play Delta Green, it is not directly compatible – it is a beast onto itself. If the book layout matters…it is a solid hardcover. The pages nicely open when placed flat. None of the pages were loose for it had good solid binding. Well worth the price tag that I paid on Amazon.ca of $32.00.
Therefore, on Style, it rates a solid 5. Substance: 3.5 It has a consistent feel true to the Stross’ novelettes and short stories but it does not go beyond them. Which one hand I realize they are limited by the author’s restrictions but rather wished they had.
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