Review of SS85 #2 - "Trier's Curse"

The Premise:
Trier's Curse is the second part of a series of scenarios for modern horror games set in 1985. Hence, the abreviation "SS85" for "Segovia's Series: 1985." These are scenarios so no game stats are provided and only key events and personalities are touched upon. Other events are left up to the imagination of the GM to flesh out. The main point behind these scenarios is to interject a bit of actual history with the supernatural.

What Ya Get:
Trier's Curse is a thirteen page Microsoft Word document. The included WordPad application with any Windows 9x/2000/Me/XP OS will open it just fine. Mac or Linux (Go Mandrake!) users will need a program capable of reading the DOC file type.

Cost:
Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Gratis. Free.

Appearance:
The appearance of the scenario is minimal. Text is single-column and typed at a very large (sixteen point) typesize. On one hand, its extremely easy to read. On the other hand, it eats up a lot of unnecessary paper. Also disconcerting is the amount of cut and pasting of text that is evident. The document is split into a GM and a player section and the duplication of information in only thirteen pages borders on the excessive. While it isn't as bad as in "Freeing Fatima", it is still very obvious.

The Game:
The premise behind Trier's Curse is that the player's ongoing beneficiary has asked the characters to travel into Germany to investigate the disappearance of several local politicians in the town of Trier. What is unknown, however, is that the town was cursed by Alexander the Great in that, if it ever fell from the control of the Roman Empire, the town and all its inhabitants would be cast into Hell. Conveniently enough, the town goes to Hell, literally and figuratively, at the stroke of midnight on the first night that the player's arrive there to investigate. The players must survive inside a demonically controlled town as well as figure out a way to break the curse and return to the real world.

The strengths of this scenario is the information given on the city itself. Key attractions are given a bit of detail as well as how they will appear once they are in Hell. Also interesting is an example of a single encounter with a dancing girl with a broken music box as well as the key clue contained on the face of the clocktower.

The weaknesses of the scenario are subtle but they do exist. The biggest problem is the seeming lack of citizens once the town drops into Hell. This is sort of explained as the players are in a tourist-frequented section of town but still doesn't explain why the other citizens who were mutated into demonic creatures aren't out stalking or wandering the town. Still, that is easily enough fixed by just having some wandering monsters to keep the player's on their toes and moving.

Another problem, in my opinion, is that the clue on the clocktower that might let them figure out what they need to be doing to return the town to normal is a pretty vague puzzle. In its defense, however, it is susposed to be vague. A GM might need to come up with some clever method to draw the character's attentions to the tower at various times during the game for them to have a chance of starting to figure it out. The solution to the problem, however, is necessary but the player's won't be hailed as heroes once they manage to return the town... they'd best be figuring out how to get out the country as quickly as they can. This can provide plenty of story-hooks for the GM to use later.

Overall Impression:
Trier's Curse is a good continuation to a series of scenarios. While the adventure itself is pretty straightforward, a clever GM can truly turn it into a nightmarish experience. It still has some lingering problems that were present in Freeing Fatima but you can already see that the author has recognized some of them and is taking steps to correct it as evidenced by the reduction of duplicate information and the cutting down of the size of the player's section. The text seems tighter but tends to become disjoined in spots but it isn't anything ruinous. Again, if you're looking for a quick idea for your next horror game or want to it a bit more surreal, Trier's Curse should be examined.

MetalMan signing off.