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I approached this product with some trepidation, as I must admit that I did not fully comprehend Dead White World, as it seemed what would be the point of adventuring in such a world. Especially as I am not being a fan of zombies and other popular culture tropes/memes that seem to have lost their referent of being scathing critiques of the present rather than gore fests and detested Deadlands for that reason. However, I must say this supplement changed my opinion for the better of post apocalyptic horror.
And, despite my aversion to bringing the End Times into being, as with most Keepers who prefer to have Investigators keep the world safe even at their own peril. And, thus lies my reluctance to enter into this horrific domain (of zombies, mysterious pandemics and aliens and other things of the Neverwhen – otherwise harbingers of the modern apocalypse) mixed in traditional causes of the end of the world (plague, war, pestilence and poverty) – but it must be said this supplement mixes things up and does it very well. The default backdrop of the supplement is the 1930s or a warped 1930s works quite agreeably in creating a believable apocalypse atmosphere. For here the Keeper can draw upon contemporary American horror writings in which the thin veneer of civilization has been brushed aside and only a bleak landscape of hardened individuals eek out their existence or draw upon the British tradition of cosy catastrophe (where civilization is systematically sweep aside by some superior force). Accordingly, we see in this supplement that Triffids and Wells’ Martians or Wyndham’s Children can make an appearance, in addition to traditional Lovecraftian Mythos. However, what this supplement does very well is give the Keeper control of how to bring in the Mythos (or as the author likes to say “the Monsters” giving a very nuWho feel to the terrors that now have appeared the Earth), it could be a done in the Pulpish fashion of a Monster-a-Week type of game or it could be something more sinister in which the presence of the Mythos is felt but their hand (or tentacle) is not revealed in the course of play.
The sourcebook takes the skeleton provided by Trail of Cthulhu’s Gumshoe rules and warps it to meet the needs of the post apocalyptic world by the addition of a very simple heuristic or tool for creating the end of the world – The Apocalypse Machine. It uses the analogy of dials on some sort of diabolic machine that allows the Keeper to set the magnitude and scale of the apocalypse, as well as controls for the time frame. Allowing the Keeper to create their own specific dead world, it could be bleak like in Comac McCathy’s The Road or still cling onto some vestiges of civilization á la Mad Max. I think it is this degree of control that makes this supplement so unique and what appeals to me – that the apocalypse might be slow and insidious or has already occurred or happened in the distant past. The notion day of reckoning could have already happened and exists as a forgotten memory or it could be something that people are now facing armed only with the knowledge of the 1930s gives the whole milieu a very late Steampunk or early Dieselpunk vibe/experience. And, it is this subtleness and warping of the familiar and cosy into calamity that brings out the true horror of the Age. Thus, I could find echoes of Capek or Camus – that of existential horror and dread, as opposed to the splatterpunk of what passes for much of horror today.
After describing the heuristic, the Apocalypse Machine contains two different modes of play, Aftershock and Wasteland.
Aftershock – This approach places the investigators right in the thick of it, seconds following the earthquake has toppled buildings, or mere subsequent after the Mi-Go swarms are spotted in the skies. You have to find a safe place, food, water, and just try to escape the Mythos hordes.
Wasteland – The apocalypse was years ago, barely talked about anymore, the old civilization has gone, replaced with a rougher existence. Frontier towns, destroyed buildings, poisoned farmland, you can’t escape the effects, and you just have to learn to survive in the new world.
This parallels the Pulp/Purist dichotomy found in standard Trail of Cthulhu games, as a mode of play, naturally the Keeper is encouraged to do what (s)he feels comfortable with along with the expectations of the his/her group. Once the dials of the machine are set…then it moves to causation Humans, Mythos or Nature – naturally these are to be viewed as concentric circles as each will impact upon the other as the catastrophe unfolds. What follows is a discussion of what to expect from each change in the environment resulting from monsters walking the Earth to great variance in temperature (return of the Ice Age) or Meteors or something as fundamental as technology (including the greatest of the destructive technology – the premature development of the Atomic Bomb, shadowing Wells’ prediction of such a weapon – although, its effects are described in pulpish fashion). This is naturally followed upon very nice discussion of what are the causalities of the disaster which include the effects upon: reality (a very nice touch), biology, water, food and soil. For this gives real meat to what many post apocalyptic games neglect by solely focusing upon the bizarre allowing the players to get more depth to the disaster.
Then the supplement takes and builds upon the skeleton of Trail of Cthulhu by introducing new careers or revises existing careers in light of the cataclysm along with a revision of new Drives (essentially the motivation for characters) along with the sources of sanity and stability in a mad, mad world. These rules are solid and fit well with the milieu that has been described. Equipment and rules for a failure in salvaging equipment are next up. A quirk of editing puts the salvaging rules earlier (logical in terms of paralleling the Trail rulebook, but placement would have been here – nitpicking, I know, I do it sometimes). Next up comes the inevitable discussion of mutations or afflictions (as the supplement likes to call them) – normally, I do not like the addition of mutations as it seems so Gamma World (a game that I found childish) but here it is done in an intelligent and rational manner that I think that I might adopt it for other games.
And, it would not be Cthulhu without mention of the Monsters and in the typical Trail of Cthulhu fashion, it is their effects and affects that is described, not their game statistics given for the Mythos are not to be viewed as traditional monsters but truly horrendous horrors that stalk the shattered world.
Then follows a section of generalized advice for players and Keepers which I found to be the weakest section of the supplement, as this does not really fit in with what was being conveyed in the rest of the supplement and would need a rewrite to make much more clear and concise. Again, it ought to be placed earlier (especially, the advice for players). Similarly, the section for Building the Sense of Mystery (essentially, a Keeper “How To…” should be placed with the stuff for Keepers). Thus, when and if this does go dead tree, there ought to be clear delineation between a player’s section and Keeper’s section. And, when I finished the section entitled “The Decaying Earth” (the final section sans an equipment list), I found that, I wanted more – Please, Simon, Sir, Can I have some more (doing my best Oliver impression). Whether, it is because, the whole supplement is extremely well written or if it is indeed only part of a larger whole campaign world and will be expanded upon or just that it leaves you hanging like any good mystery. I don’t know.
The art is the usual high standard that Pelgrane Press delivers with each product, maybe there is a tad too many Martian war machines wreaking havoc but it certainly does give the impression of doom and battered landscape. Similarly, landscapes buried under snow and ice gives a chill (literally and metaphorically) to a blackened and blackened landscape. Hope to see more art when this does go dead tree.
What are the drawbacks of this product? For those expecting an adventure, as I was, it has to be made clear that this is a alternate campaign to the standard Trail of Cthulhu line in the form of post apocalyptic horror. By releasing Dead White World first, Pelgrane Press put the cart in front of the horse but that will be rectified with this review and/or Dead tree.
Also, it also gives the impression that there are more rules to be added on. Not too sure, which additional rules are needed, maybe more ideas about the rise of strongmen (proto-fascist or downright fascist leaders who emerge in times of great upheavals) which would provide the perfect guise for cultists or perhaps notions of a utopian refuge that upon closer examination would be very much a dystopia. Also, Britain and the United States get the greatest treatments (not surprising as the highest concentration of buyers are located in these two countries) but one of the rules of the apocalypse genre is that it is global in scale and I get no sense of this in the product. What would happen to Argentina, when the Elder Things rise up and march across the frozen wastes to Tierra del Fuego or would Russia retreat behind the Green Wall (Zamyatin’s We). Not that I really want silly things as postulated in SJG’s Cthulhupunk but nods to apocalyptic and dystopia fiction from other countries would make a welcome addition to this product – this could even be done in art to convey the global magnitude of the day of reckoning. There are notions of how to employ disaster but does not draw upon any of the fiction of these countries to make it broader culturally. Some Lovecraftian purists might object to the honorary additions (triffids, Martians, Children, etc.) to the Mythos but they always have a place in my canon of horrors.
So, the World Ends in either a Bang or Whimper, the Monsters are Real…this Trail of Cthulhu gives a really strange twist upon standard Trail of Cthulhu campaign. So, if you adventures like a trip into the weird or the unusual – you ought to buy this. If you want to run a late Steampunk or early dieselpunk game albeit with noir trimmings – you should buy this one. If you want, a post apocalyptic 1930s Cthulhu milieu – buy this one. In short, this product comes highly recommended. It will need some work in terms of editing and placement of information and additions before it is ready for dead tree but as an introduction to world of the Cthulhu Apocalypse – this is an excellent supplement to Trail of Cthulhu makes you want more. However, if you think, that Cthulhu and Apocalypse should not mix – you should buy this product to change your thinking, as I did.
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