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Needless to say, when I read and the back to the book that a book of Folklore was up-in-coming, I promptly ordered it from Amazon.ca and also found out that an Avalon sourcebook was in the offing, I ordered it as well. Sadly, Amazon does not seem to carry any more of Cubicle 7’s games (as nothing appears past September 2010). True, Cubicle 7 has their distribution problems, as I would have liked to continue buying more their Cthulhu Britannia and The Laundry RPG lines through Amazon – as my FGLS is more than 4500km away. Anyway enough grouchiness about Amazon and back to the review…
Cthulhu Britannica: Avalon the Somerset Sourcebook is defaulted to set in the Classic Cthulhu era of the 1920s both in terms of the adventures at the back of the book and also the narrative that runs throughout. Although, a creative Keeper may indeed find many elements to be timeless and brought forward to the Modern or Future – this represents a serious drawback upon the book. For I found that I could easily take the segments from the Neolithic, Antiquity, Dark Ages, Gaslight eras to construct adventures but things sort of tapered off as we to even the 1920s let alone the Modern. Therefore, what made initial offering was the Cthulhu Britannia exciting was not repeated was a major disappointment and did not kindle up the same fond memories of those helicon White Dwarf days.
Notwithstanding, the writing however is crisp and evokes a strong sense of place. A theme that runs throughout is the presence and intervention of the Deep Ones which became tiresome after awhile especially their connection to the British aristocracy throughout the ages. More monsters that utilized the rich folklore that other chapters provided would have been more welcome than simply recycling the Deep Ones as a sort of stand-in Villain.
For Lovecraft’s monsters are neither monsters in the AD&D sense nor Antagonists like in World of Darkness – they are more accurately Monsters of the Id. We do have in form of parallel manuscript – the ramblings of a Professor Noah Ainsey-Chant, spoilers that translate some of traditional folklore and places into more Mythos-y ideas/concepts. Some of these translations are brilliant, some are forced and some are just daft.
Also, given that this sourcebook addresses the area that King Arthur supposedly lived, it ignores the rich corpus of material that exists in the Pendragon RPG (a one time Chaosium product) and Pagan Publishing’s Golden Dawn sourcebook provides. I realize they could not directly appropriate material from either property but either nods in direction or just silence – allowing those materials to speak in their own voice would have been appreciated. For both Pendragon and Pagan offer much richer atmospheric moods than what was on offer here for Arthur. The result is akin to drinking a flat fizzy drink. It may be tasty but lacks a certain zing. But, in the interests of keeping the peace, perhaps the intention of the editors of the Cthulhu Britannia line not to tread in the same footsteps of others but to establish its own voice. And, given the written is so good, I might be tempted to switch my loyalties over to this line over than what has existed in the past.
So, other than local folklore and history – there is a few locales highlighted that give the feel for Somerset. Very little is provided in what makes Somerset an interesting location. Rather one is treated to an amusement park feel – each of these are attractions are bright and make sounds that bring you in but does not linger for very long. Furthermore, these locales do not unify and connect back to the previously written text which is also the essential problem with the adventures. They appear to be written independently of sourcebook content. Local characters and places could have appeared anywhere in the United Kingdom – why the characters travel to Somerset but there is no feeling of Somerset, as conveyed through the sourcebook. They merely become dots on the map. Or in another instance, NPCs speak in standard BBC English rather than with the suggestions of the Somerset dialect. Which leads to another problem this sourcebook may be ideal for someone who lives/knows the British Isles very well but more maps for those like me who are not intimately familiar with the UK would not go amiss.
Furthermore, the essence of Cthulhu well done is in the creation of mood of dark and forbidden places whether these would be the barrows of long dead Celtic sorcerers or places the tunnels under Bath – this ambience is created by not giving all the secrets but just enough to keep players further on edge. This sourcebook does do this in many parts of the text but all too cheats by often resorting to spoilers rather than having a horrific thought just linger and tingle in the back of one’s head.
The artwork in book is phenomenal. Initially, I had my reservations but it blends seamlessly into and with the text. I love the use of pencil and shadings to convey abandoned Celtic circles on the blighted landscapes or the hauntingly emotive Alfred’s Tower. Although, the one problem is that I remain uncertain is that how they look now (or circa 1920s) or during their antebellum. The same cannot be said about the Appendixes which seem to contain virtually no useful information that could not have been added to the original text. They seem to be just things left over. Sloppy editing by having these as throw-ins in what was otherwise a very well written manuscript seems odd. For instance, who needs to know proper pronunciation of cider and its affects as an appendix or similarly magical tomes could have been inserted as part of the locales and NPCs with the adventures with the hooks given further adventure suggestions.
I eagerly look forward to Cthulhu Britannica: Shadows Over Scotland (if I can manage to get a hold of a copy – for sure as hell, Amazon is useless) as a welcome addition to building up the dark and mysterious tales that lie beneath the Green and Pleasant Land. And, I can only hope that Cubicle 7 will continue to support this license by offering more potentially murky and sinister places albeit taking the above criticism seriously. What’s more, I would love if they could expand the license to become Cthulhu Europa to get some of that excellent German and French stuff to an English speaking audience.
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