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Introduction

The green jewel they must possess is a 10 page PDF investigative horror adventure written as part of a Kickstarter adventure trilogy. It uses the system from the Outer Presence - you can find my review of that system here.

As with the outer presence, the review copy of this game was kindly given to me by Venger As'Nas Satanis, the game's author.

The adventure is set in the 70's in Chicago. The investigators are gathered by one of their friend to steal a strange jewel from a museum. The heist won't go as planned and the events will lead the investigators against secret societies bent on obtaining a powerful relic, the green jewel.

Visually, the book is nice to look at. While the cover cannot be used as a visual aid for the adventure's climax as opposed to the base game, it is still a great piece of art. The interior art follows the style of the base game with the book's background being a nice greenish corrupted and bloodied concrete. My main complaint with the interior art is in black and white and the background do not melt well with the book's background, which makes them look blocky and out of place.

The book is layout in a standard two column format, nothing unusual. I found the font hard to read on a computer screen, it is small and the lines are too thin to been seen correctly with the background's contrast. I generally read my PDF at 85% zoom, but I had to read this one at 120% zoom to see.

It goes without saying that this review will spoil the whole adventure, so GM supervision is recommended.

Overview

The adventure starts with the investigators rolling for their subplots. This small table allows the character to have a bit more depth and know what kind of trouble is brewing for them. They range from getting demoted by your girlfriend to having sold national secrets to the wrong people. Each character also gets a relationship with the quest giver, Erza Jackson.

Erza calls one of the investigators for a meeting. He explains that he plans to steal a jewel from a museum. The jewel apparently was an important relic from the Sumerians that possesses incredible power. The man clearly went crazy somewhere in his life, the characters can refuse his offer if they consider he is out of his mind.

The investigators are given time to investigate the whole situation and decide if they will help their friend or not. Whether the players decide to help Erza or not, the heist will happen, but they can delay it. In any case, a group of mercenaries will appear and try to steal the sphere. If the characters go for the early heist, a shootout will happen, otherwise, they steal the sphere. If they chose to not do the heist, Erza will be found dead the next morning with the sphere stolen.

After the heist, the player can start investigating the whole situation. During their investigation, they can find out that the sphere apparently kills pretty much everyone that comes into contact with it and that some conspiracy theorists are talking about a US secret society created to defend us against these kind of artefacts.

Clues can also be found at the museum the next morning. A book from an antique shop that is suspected to be the villain's hideout as well as matches from the next door can be found on the scene. The mercenary group was hired by a secret society called Theta Chartreuse which is tasked to defend the heart against outwardly threats. They apparently went bad when their leader, Von Zos, started communicating with an entity.

If the characters decided to leave Erza to his heist, he can also be found on the crime scene in the museum, having some much needed clues. The adventure also makes a point of giving details for all possibilities in the adventure, explaining how Theta Chartreuse intends to take back the book if the investigators win the heist.

After some looking around, the characters will eventually find lead to the occult shop and Theta Chartreuse hideout and confront their leader. After a small encounter with a bad guy and obtaining a magic sword, they face the vile Von Zos. He can only be harmed by the aforementioned sword or sorcery and will probably use sorcery to have his way and keep the sphere (Or steal it if he did not have it).

If the investigators claim and keep the sphere, they have won. The sphere is highly dangerous and must be hidden, as it cannot be destroyed. Its powers are impressive and the character may be tempted to keep it. The game is open ended, Von Zos can keep the sphere and the character will have a month to find a way to prevent the apocalypse or they can win and have another adventure trying to get rid of the thing.

Comments

The adventure main flaw is the fact that it has a lot of branching paths the investigator can try to follow. The book takes a lot of time to explain all the possibilities and clues that can be found if one thing happens over another. There seems to be dead ends or cheap attempts to steer the adventure back in place however and that damages the reading experience.

An experienced GM will easily use this framework and run with it, but trying to stick with the adventure will clearly shows that there is an optimal path to take. Doing to the early heist, allowing Erza to be killed or captured, not getting the sphere and investigating everything seems to me to be the best path. It will allow the investigator to have the least resistance, the best clues on the plot and the best chance overall.

Finally, some paths seem to be forgotten during the adventure. It is pretty much considered that Erza will get capture or killed, but what if he isn't? Similarly, the final confrontation is written to be triggered only if the characters steal the sphere during the heist. I may have understood thing wrong, but as written, Von Zos will encounter you, not the contrary.

On the opposite side, the openness of the adventures makes it very fun for the players. They feel they can make an impact on the story and that their choice won't always create the same end, the GM has to be prepared for unintended results however.

The adventure is also not prone to getting stuck. Many investigative horror hinge on this one clue you must get or understand to keep the players thinking. The green jewel on the other hand give you everything at the start, it is your choice how you follow it. The game could end pretty fast if the characters are smart enough.

My final complaint would be that many characters are introduced without getting any info on them. I noted two examples; the sorcerer who will try to steal the sphere after the heist and the mini-boos in the occult shop. Both are only given a name and are introduced like we should already know who they are. It made me look around the book to see if I missed something.

Conclusion

The Green jewel they must posses is a great adventure overall, but it has some flaws that requires its GM to be ready for anything and to be able to stray from the adventure path. It is also much more inline with the investigative horror tone. The character will have to search around and work their way toward victory, but also hold it long enough to find a way to dispatch the big villain.

I would not recommend this adventure to new groups looking for a starter adventure. But any experienced group who wants to start a campaign should look at it. Another small thing, it can very easily be used in any system, so if the Outer Presence is not to your taste, feel free to switch system.