This is a short but well made scenario. Part of a series it assumes the characters to be vampires of some power: the assistants of, well: the Internal Police of one or other Vampire organisation. Which one does not matter since the players are not working at home. The scenario would work GREAT in my opinion as a one shot or a stopover for a campaign. But the Internal Oversight also works rather well with maybe a small change: get the characters into the Appalachian town for a meet or what not. Once everyone arrives at the small town motel the scenario becomes a great horror plot, turning the tables on the monsters that drink the blood of the sheep/humans. I have greatly enjoyed this. The price is great, even for all four scenarios / the complete mini campaign.

Diese Soloabenteuer ist die Essenz von DSA. Gut gemacht, gut geschrieben und schöne Ideen. Hin und wieder etwas manisch: man sollte alle Räume besuechen, alle Sammelstücke finden und alle Beschreibungen aufschreiben. Das zentrale Rätsel ist auf der Metaebene, nicht auf der Spielerebene: es geht darum, eine Abschnittsnummer zusammenzusetzen. "Garadan" ist eine überkomplexe Variante von Schach, die nie Spiel des Jahres wird. Weil niemand die Regeln kennt, außer den Schurken. Wie immer bei DSA haben die Schurken als Meisterpersonen Geheimwissen. Wenn man genug Hinweise hat, kann man das Schachrätsel lösen und -falls man einen unmöglichen Kampf übersteht- bei der Auflösung des Abenteuers zusehen. Der geheimnisvolle Fadenzieher erklärt aber im Abspann, was eigentlich passiert ist. DSA hatte mal den Slogen "Du bist der Held" auf Packunge. Das stimmt so nicht. Die Meisterfigur -der Lieblingscharackter des Autors oder der Autorin oder des Autowombats- ist die Heldenperson. Wenn man alles richtig macht, darf die geneigte Spielerin zusehen, was die wirklichen Handlungsträgerinnen tun. Das hat nichts mit Rollenspiel zu tun, und selbst bei Re-Enactment kann man Anführerinnen und Generälinnnen spielen. Bei DSA nicht. Deshalb ist auch völlig egal, was für einen Charakter man spielt. Das ganze ist aber liebevoll gemacht, an manchen Stellen fast gar nicht herablassend vom Autor und genau das, was DSA- Fans lieben. Darum vier Sterne: und das Titelbild ist schön. Die Witze über alte DSA Auflagen und deren Titelbilder sind zum Teil tatsächlich lustig. Das ist ein Bonus, denn es ist nicht üblich. Wer den Verleger über die erste Auflage hat reden hören, weiß was ich meine.

Sandy Peterson schreibt für Call of Cthulhu, seit es CoC gibt. Früher für Chaosium, zwischendurch anderes, jetzt (noch) im Eigenverlag. Aufgrund von Rechtsstreitigkeiten mit dem Partnerunternehmen sind zur Zeit nur die bereits lizensierten deutschen Übersetzungen erhältlich. Die Qualität der Übersetzung in dieser Campagne ist schmerzhaft. Z.B. sind "Commoners" keine "Gemeinen", sondern "Normale Leute".
Zur Kampagne selber: in einer isolierten Welt, in der keine untoten Ghoule, keine Fischmenschen und keine routinemässigen Teufel- und Dämonenbeschwörungen stattfinden, ist sie als Idee großartig. Wenn es all das aber gibt, drängt sich eine Frage auf, wann immer "Schrecken" beschrieben wird: JA, UND? Ein Haufen Nichtspielercharaktere wird wahnsinning, als sie Tiefe Wesen sehen. Die Bewohner von Sigil würden nicht einmal müde lächeln. Lovecraftian Horror lebt vom Brechen des eigenen Weltbildes: solange das eigene Weltbild die eigene Spezies etc für die einzige intelligente Spezies hält. Da kommt auch Lovecrafts Rassismusproblem her: oder eben auch sein völliges Fehlen an diesem Problem. Lovecraft zerbricht systematisch die u.a. rassistischen und sexistischen Omnipotenzträumen seiner Protagonisten. Tiefe Wesen übernehmen halt mal die Stadt, und die Erben stolzen WAS(P) Seekapitäne mit ihren stolzen -hohen, um Gretchen zu zitieren- Gestalten sind ...schlurfende, gebückte, froschäugige Monstrositäten. Weil Tiefe Wesen die Frauen übernehmen: ohne zu Fragen. Horror für das Patriarchat, den Feminismus und alle Anhängerpersonen von Individualität. Das ist aber der Witz: Lovecraft schreibt Horror, keine Idyllen. Unsere Charaktere beginnen auf einer Insel, in einem heruntergekommen Fischerdort. Genaue genommen beginnen sie bei der Abfahrt. Man kann alles nehmen, was sämtliche Regel hergeben, mit wenigen Ausnahmen. Das ist die erste verschenkte Chance und das erste Problem für das Setting. Die Charaktere arbeiten am Beginn des Abenteuers als Matrosen(personen). Sie dürfen Anteile am Schiff/der Fracht besitzen, wenn man die entsprechende Vorteile gewählt hat. Sie arbeiten trotzdem als Matrosinnen. Meine erste, grundsätzliche Änderung wäre: die Charaktere müssen plausibel aus einem heruntergekommenen Fischerdorf kommen können. Vorzugsweise Mensche -oder eine KLEINE Gruppe von landlebenden Species. Keine Tieflinge, die wissen um die Höllen und den Abgrund. Keine Drachengeborenen, deren Ur-Großeltern sich Duelle mit Großen Alten liefern können. Normale, schwache, sterbliche, arrogante Wesen. Menschen, Elfen, Zwerge, Hybride Tiefe Wesen (die das nicht wissen). Keine Halblinge. Halblings-Spielerinnen und -Spieler glauben ALLE, das sie vor nichts Angst haben müssen. Ich werde das Gegenteil behaupten, wenn jemand ein Beispiel für dafür kennt. Solche Figuren -und Schelme oä- sind das Ende jeder Horrorstimmung. Die Charaktere dürfen nichts vom D&D Multiversum wissen, und die Spielerinnen müssen dieses Wissen außen vor lassen. "Außerhalb der Welten mit Dämonen, Teufeln und Elementaren, Menschen und anderem Kanonenfutter, Göttern, Mächten und Dämonenfürsten gibt es noch etwas von AUSSEN, das fuchtbar ist und ANDERS." Cool. Wo doch der Incubus der sich als Liebhaber tarnt so völlig mundän und ok ist. Im Unterreich gibt es Drow, Bugbears, Gedankenfresser, ..... aber die Fischis unter dem Meer jagen mir Angst ein, weil ihr Gott pennt. Eher nein. Also darf es all das im Weltbild der Charaktere nicht geben. Es gibt Götter: Gat den Gott und Kazu die Göttin auf der Zielinsel. Vielleicht haben die beiden auch am Ausgangspunkt Tempel. Vielleicht hat die Heimatinsel ganz eigene Götter. Aber bitte keinen Kult des Mephistopheles, der einfach mächtiger, böser und gefährlicher ist als die Inselkulte hinter ihrer Fassade. Wenn man all das auf Null setzt, Wissen streicht, das nicht gilt, und einfache Charaktere baut ...dann kann die Kampagne funktioniern. Als Bausatz. Ergänze das Inselleben vor der Abfahrt. Mach die Charaktere entweder zu Matrosen oder gib ihnen einen Grund zu fliehen. Im Spiel. Gib ihnen einen Grund, zusammenzubleiben. Die Nichtspieler haben untereinander Loyalitäten. Das ist eine Sandy Peterson Kampagne, und viel daran ist genial. Lies vorher die Kurzgeschichten über Ghat... Dann kann man mit dieser Kampagne richtig viel Spass durch Horror haben. Aber nur mit viel Arbeit und einigem an Änderungen.

Very well made, good to use: all that one wants buying a scenario book.

This is a lovingly researched, well written scenario with sound historical facts -and reverences to historical crimes- that I have enjoyed very much. The story is creative, the new magical tome tasteful and the enemies credible.

I would consider adding additional spells -as used by the antagonist- to the tome, but that is not, strictly speaking, necessary for the story to work: the antagonist is, well: a learned gentleman.

As most of the times I am not entirely happy with the pregenerated characters. Their stats, mainly: one character has most required skills, but one is 55%, the others are lower. ALL characters have attributes that sum up to less than the 460 building points in the rules. I would suggest taking the pregens -with prejudice, at least one of them will get hanged when caught- and rebuild them with the quickstart rules if the full system is not available. If one needs to roll a Latin and 3 history rolls for the best outcome, I would want at least ONE character to have at least 60 in the relevant skills.

Other than that -and everyone who agrees can swiftly do the required work- this scenario is recommended. Very enjoyable!

The campaign is massive, involved and comes with enormous amounts of background information, handouts, pictures, biographies: all kind of material. That is also one of my problems with the new Chaosium style: the first scenario starts of page 35. A couple of paragraphs later we are back in background information etc. One page 38 you can enter the opening scene. This is the style of the campaign. Obviously done with massuve effort and the will to provide as many information as possible There also is a huge load of historical information, most or all of it correct and deifnetly all of it biaesd. Yes, colonialism is evil Also Chinese colonialism, by the way. Or Mongolian conqiests, Not really a focus of this work or any Chaosium work that Dr. Hardy is working on. History teaches me that every person can be seduced into abusing ohers. Conquering them, belittling and enslaving them. Murderuing them more often than not. I agree with what Dr. Hardy says about the history of Europeans in the world, especially the colonial times. I think these are human traits, not "white" traits. The theme is not entirely new in itself, but freshly combined with the Cthulhu mythos in a way that works for me in a pilp campaign. Playing this in a normal campaigm is not doable in my opinion. Pulp allows for the twist in the story, too. Pulp heroes DO jump before they look, and the advnture requires them to do that in a way that is utterly beyond railroading. Fince in a pilp setting, utterly abominable in any other setting. One does not do that to players. ...fi not playing pilp. The anemies are overwhelmingly powerful -and not mythos entities- and fall in the same slot. Fine with pulp. I recommend this for people that like to feel bad about European colonial hostiry (all Europeans should) and dn not mind anyone else's hiistory (everyone should, but not everyone does). If you want an abundance of information, this is for you. If you do not want to know whether one can drive by car from Shanghai to Peking (of ourse the names are discussed and declaed wrong, as they in fact are) then you may be overburdnened with ths. This is Chaosium 7e in pure form. If you like that you will love the campaign.

The is a great campaign book, lovingly researched and presented with great car ...and heavy bias. Sons of the Singularity are strongly anti-cplonial, and pro "people of colour" as a contrast to "white": If that meets ypur political estimeat, you will love their settings: I have read the Sasson files and this one. They do mention (once) that both sides of the conflict between the Magreb ethnicities and the colonial powers were fighting without care for human rights and dignity; but the remaining (several dozen) comments concentrate solely on the -very real and historically proven beyond doubt- atrocities of the Spanish and the French colonial forces. The German crimes of war -in this campaign- are present in the refugees, one mayor supporter of the party and the CoC shared idea of the "Ahnenerbe". Many groups in the campaign feel realistic and historically correct, among them the great support character, Ms. Benatar, Esq. The German "Ahnenerbe" is historical nonsense, but well fitting into a pulp horror scenario. Only the French Foreiign Legionaire is ...lacking. Good idea, nice scenes (some of them) but utterly unconvincing. You can do better then a 2ns lieutenant if you want to build an archenemy in the F Foreign Legion. The land is described lovingly and in good detail, the pictures are great and if nothing else one should buy this book as source material in my opinion. Like the Sasson Files: their rendition of Shanghai is GREAT as source material. The campaign itself is not done. They have great ideas and some gaping holes that a playthrough should have closed -the boss fight at the ned of the first scenario- and not one but two invincible enemies: that endboss and a fire djinn that the party meets long before they can do ANYthing against it. I do not use invincible enemies in pulp games. Hard, yes; invincible: hard No. There a hokes in the plot -that one can fill with the great material- and even one of the seven flowcharts lacks three of eight (?) steps. Nothing really bad, mind: this is great material, a nice plot idea and some great antagonists. What they need to do is edit this material . As material, this is five out of five stars: six out of five if you like their political bias (eveyone has a bias, mind: they are open about theirs). The campaign has great potential that is not realised yet. Therefore I strongley recommend this for people looking for material, sources and ideas. I do not recommend it for GMs that wnat to use the book as it is. Since people WILL comment about bias: in my opinion all people are equal and can be equally good or bad. Ethnicity is no moral indicator. "People of Colour" or neither better nor worse than "whtes". They have darker skin. That is all, and it means nothing.

Well written, informative and good to read, I can wholeheartedly recommend this. I like the setting and the Sasson Files open a playing field that could have gone in vastly different directions, back then... The campaign is tun, too.

The scenario is short, to the point and straightforward fun with a twist -for new characters, mostly- that makes sense within the Call of Cthulhu setting. The audio files are fun and well made in my opinion. There is a playthrough and a you-tube review available, and I agree that this is a great scenario for conventions or starting a campaign (if some characters manage to survive). Pregens and NPCs: the two pregens use the point-spread from the quickstart rules for their attributes, and two skills they need most. Bare bones, but sufficient in my take. One of the NPCs has a black and white dtawing, and his actions speak for him. Fleshing him out might add background, but any keeper should be able to do so. The pregens all have unisex names -a clever way to adapt them to the player's choices- and professional skills that should allow them to work in their chosen profession. Three are family, one is a work rival: sound and interesting connections. Their ethnic background is left open and should have little impact in a modern day scenario anyhow. They UTTERLY lack any combat capacity, but this is Call of Cthulhu. I really would like them to have as many attribute points as the NPCs. They do not, making them even weaker. I consider them well build but chanceless in a fight. Groups playing to win may consider bringing a private detective or -the horror- love affair from college with ROTC experience. Maybe even with weapons of any kind. Recommended.

This is a lovingly made scenario with an eye for detail, a big but detailed setting and -rare- a believable reason for the player characters to get involved. The details are charming, the pictures a a nice bonus. The pregenerated characters are historically plausible, mixed in sex/gender, background and social standing. Minor details keep this from perfect scores: the pregens have skills at the 10% level. Maybe realistic, but I do not usually roll under 10%, so I feel these points are, to some extend wasted. There is also the couple of waitresses that "drive to work". Good for them: cars were hideously expansive in that era, but maybe their uncle was a salesman and left them the car. These are minor details, irrelevant against the great work put in. SPOILER: What really breaks the scenario for me is the basic idea. If you do not mind N setting up a place for permanent sacrifices -and a point to recover from defeats- this may make sense. Not my idea of Outer Gods, though.

This is a very well made scenario, taking four pregenerated characters -balanced ones that make sense in the historical setting- into a lonely place with a classic monster facing a (ficitous) monstrous aspect of history. If one does not mind Nazi occultists this is a great tale to be told. The pregens are mixed in political believes and sex/gender. I do not expect all of them to make it out alive, to be honest: but this is Call of Cthulhu. BTW: burning down the house will NOT work in this case. Recommended.

This is an adventure set in France, 1918. It offers a fresh but plausible approach on Cthulhoid horror. Maybe a little more magic than everybody likes, but I like this approach. It goes very well with the Hidden Magic style of CoC. The writing is good, the idea splendid. Higly Recommended.

This is an adventure with a nostalgic touch for me: I got my a-levels in the 90s, and remember some of the topics touched in the game: the Apache Business Consortium (that built the Casino and really got the people some money) had not been founded, cell-phones where new and female action stars were rare. This is also a classic scenario in the sense that (one of) the antagonists is THE very most met antagonist in all Lovecraftian gaming ever. Mr. N. is not the main problem, though: he is a horror element that is both helpful and horrible. In my opinion the best way to use him. The real opponent is a terror in it's own rights -really NOT nice- but not invincible. The scenario is well made, some details are hints to fill with tv-show lore (this was the high time of FBI medial presence) and all in all I like this quite well. For anyone willing to play traditional horror -with a smart twist- in a "classic" setting: recommended.

This is a campaign. No, really: it is a campaign. You have to believe me: IT IS A CAMPAIGN!

That is the summary of the first dozen pages. On page 13 the author starts to explain that this is a COMPLEX campaign.

This is the worst published campaign that I have ever written. I am sure that the author is a splendid person and a great game master. But the writing is abyssmal. Please be warned.

As I have only read but not played the scenario with a group of gamers I cannot be sure how an actual play would run: but reading the scenario was entertaining and interesting. If the basic idea -having the players take different roles in flashbacks- works, this is a great scenario. I am afraid there may be problems, but I have not test run the scenario and therefore do not put that into my review.

The scenario is easy to use, well written without logical, lexic or other problems and -in my opinion- a good read. The statistics of the (N)PCs make sense, the background stories fit well with the setting (Delta Green), and in my take the characters are plausible in their advised action. I expect players to be able to play these roles with the provided material in a way that is entertaining and furthers the story.

After reading the scenario I want this to become a film: therefore I can only recommend it.