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During this adventure, our intrepid heroes are put on the trail of a missing (and, alas, dead) friend and his daughter during the course of a Psychic seance in Chicago. As a result, they find themselves heading for South America where they will confront a mad cult of Incan priests intent on bringing their gods back to earth via the medium of human sacrifice. Unfortunately, the missing damsel in distress in the next one on the chopping block unless the players can prevent it, kill the evil high priest and possibly even find the lost treasure of the hidden city. All the while dastardly treachery lurks in the wings, ready to spring out at the moment of greatest danger!
Another very well written adventure. This one has all the classic makings of a standard pulp adventure and is well enough written to make it easy to run and modify as necessary to fit into the GM's on-going campaign. The biggest drawback is it requires the old "friend" ploy (which probably means the players have literally hundreds of previously unknown friends scattered around the globe by now), but that might still be workable if the campaign is fairly young, or if you are bringing a new player on board. Otherwise, I recommend the GM spend some time working up another way of getting the players motivated. The adventure is fairly linear, but generally that isn't a bad way to handle a pulp adventure, and there are enough potential plot hooks out there to make it possible to work other connections in the adventure. All in all, not a bad effort.
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This particular adventure sets the players up to investigate the mysterious death of an Archaeologist and the disappearance of the mummy he'd brought back to the museum in NYC. This is a pretty classic set-up and sounds less intriguing than it actually is. One of the nice features of this one is that its written so you can play it as a standard murder mystery (with the "Mummy's Curse" theme as a classic red herring to drag across the investigators' trail), or as a horror/Call of Chtulhu type adventure where things "man is not meant to know" get involved. The mystery itself (who killed the professor) is confusing enough and with enough potential suspects, all with valid motives that the biggest fan of Agatha will find themselves intrigued by the puzzle. If it turn out to be a supernatural explanation, why the mummy did it, but then the task becomes the even more daunting one of tracking down the creature and rendering it harmless. Throughout the adventure, both tracks are provided and there is a brief but well-written guide on how to run a classic mystery story at the beginning of the scenario. Overall, it's well plotted, loose enough to avoid "rail-roading" the adventurers, and complex enough to remain interesting right up to the bitter end. Among other advantages to this type of scenario, it might provide an excellent transition from the more standard mystery adventures to something with occult or supernatural tendencies. If you have run your players as, say, a firm of PIs investigating mob hits and "Maltese Falcons" and the like, this would be an superior adventure to let them glimpse things "beyond the veil." Just a thought....
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Another snappy little adventure from Adamant Entertainment. (Let's face it, the cover illustration alone is worth a buck!) The papers of a deceased professor eventually enable the players to learn that he had discovered a lost civilization buried in the jungles of central America. They also learn of the golden idol these tribesman worship, and the unscrupulous nephew of the dead professor who has rushed to steal the treasure. Our doughty heroes follow after to save the tribe from the dastardly nephew. Along the way, they are captured by the tribesmen (who have been seduced by the nephew and told they are evil men trying to kill him), and are brought before the Chief of the tribe. If our heroes can confuse the issue enough, they can prevent their own deaths and undergo a test of their honesty; however the nephew may manage to force them into the old temple to overcome the hidden boobytraps and recover the golden image of the god, with the intent of stealing it from the tribe and fleeing back to civilization. Can our heroes overcome the ancient defenses of the temple and triumph? Will they prevent the nephew from stealing the idol? Only the Players can tell for sure. This particular adventure could be of great use to the GM, setting up not only an Indiana Jones style of adventure, but also perhaps even creating a villain that can appear again somewhere along the way to confront the players. I liked this one a lot.
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This particular adventure lays out a situation that involves the adventurers in a journey to Darkest Africa following the clue provided by a recently discovered map to a long-lost city deep in the wilds of the Belgian Congo. Along the way, they are repeatedly attacked, have the opportunity to rescue a princess, and become involved in a political conspiracy against the throne of the lost kingdom itself! This adventure should be very easily plugged into most campaigns and could even be used as a one-shot designed to get the Players to Africa for some other adventure as well. Even the name of the missing map (the "Marsh" Map) would work well to tie the adventure into Call of Cthulhu and the inbred degenerates from Innsmouth. Overall, the adventure is well written in the classic pulp style with plenty of confrontations and desperate escapes to keep the players heavily involved all through the adventure. One of the things I like about adventures like this is that even the "librarian" types from games like Call of Cthulhu can get involved in the action, and despite all the action, some thought (and even, perish the thought, some research can easily be incorporated into them. This one combines some political intrigue as well, making it satisfying on many levels, and perhaps gaining some allies for the adventurers in the future as well!
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This supplement provides a number of useful documents for your early 20th Century RPG. Documents range from marriage certificates and baptismal certificates to notices of funerals and events. The only problem is that the way the docs were built renders about a third of them useful for only one scenario -- given that names are permanently in place. While it may be possible to work around that, it shouldn't be necessary for the purchaser to go to that much extra trouble for each time he wants to use the documents. Even the ones that you can "fill in" tend to be overly descriptive (listing, for example, the name of a specific cemetery that may or may not exist in your city (particularly true if you are working out of, say, Arkham, where the cemeteries are fairly well defined by HPL). All in all, while the concept was useful, the execution was flawed. given that it only costs $2 to purchase this aid, not perhaps that big a problem, but still....
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A typical Pulp-style adventure written in the cinematic style, the Valley of Mystery has plenty of excitement, travel, and opportunities to react with a variety of villains in order to survive the valley and escape with the knowledge of the past it promises. Along the way, you get to thwart the Nazi's, reveal a treacherous follower, and cavort with dinosaurs. What more could any red-blooded pulp hero ask? There are a couple of jarring elements in the scenario (depending on the kind of campaign you're running), but they are easy enough to weed out or change to something more suitable. Overall, its an excellent little adventure with several distinct ways to expand it and connect it to other events in your campaign. A good solid effort by Adamant Entertainment.
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Fabled Environments brings us yet another floor plan -- this one for a more or less modern, Victorian style mansion billed at being roughly 10,000 square feet. This particular floor plan would be useful for your modern campaign as a residence where a murder occurs, a Mafioso's mansion, a foreign embassy, a cult headquarters, or an abandoned "haunted house' with little in the way of re-working. One of the nice features is the various hidden rooms and passages which provide you with some opportunities to surprise and confuse your players. The graphics are basic but very clear and easy to use, with several different variations for each of the two floors. All in all, it's a good effort, and the price is excellent.
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This tile set by Empty Room Studios represents an Antique shop and a couple of houses, surrounded by streets and sidewalks. In addition, there is a complete basement complex that makes it look like some pretty nefarious things have been happening in the 'hood. The details are well done, with things like pillows, candy dishes, a rusted-out car, and the occasional statue of Cthulhu (at least from the look of it) scattered throughout the area. The setting is perfect for a gruesome murder (indeed, at least one has already apparently occurred), or a eldritch battle against things man was not meant to know. Empty Room uses the layering capability of Adobe to lay out the rooms and allow you to adjust or edit them as you like. Given all the extras thrown in at the end, you can easily redesign and "redecorate" the buildings as you like, ranging from the Beverly Hillbillies look all the way up to a fairly nice block of houses with an upscale shop. This one is a good one, with lots of flexibility.
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A great product from Empty Room Studios. Basically, this provides an entire area of docks for use with your modern era city campaign. Perfect for use with crime, pulp-era, Call of Cthulhu, horror and Supers games. As always with their materials, it includes plenty of extras and a few options that you can substitute for the features on the main tiles, and, Empty Room makes use of the "layering" function of Adobe to permit you to remove items from the areas you want to print. Thus, you can vary the warehouses from building to building, simply by carefully selecting which layers you want to print. I strongly recommend playing with this feature a bit before rushing into print, but the way -- it will give you some excellent ideas for further use of the buildings! There is guidance included on how to print, where to trim, and how to attach different sections together to complete the big picture. There are also areas where other Empty Room products (such as Dungeon Tiles or Cavern Tiles) can be attached -- perfect for those attempts to recreate the docks of haunted Innsmouth! A job well done by Empty room.
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A very nice apartment depiction -- allowing you to quickly integrate players into a common area for a modern setting adventure (say, Call of Cthulhu), where you might need to arrange for your players to meet quickly -- how better than an apartment building where Graduate Students at Miskatonic U can stay and get acquainted? The layouts are sensible, especially for the 1920's to early 1930's period and allow players to rapidly determine where they are, and to visualize how the action is going -- even to game it out with miniatures if you are so inclined. It also provides a likely setting for murder mystery or gumshoe style event to play out -- heck, even some of the classic "Maltese Falcon" was filmed in a simple apartment like these. All in all, a very nice addition for your modern city role-playing game. As usual the data comes in layers, so you could even have one or more of the rooms completely blank, and with the extra items provided in some of the other Empty Room City Tiles sets, you could even redecorate!
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Empty Room tries something very difficult here -- putting together a usable miniatures/Role Playing template for a modern steamer. There are a few glaring issues with the ship (which Empty Room admits right up front, but states were done in the interest of more playing surface) such as the lack of Smokestacks or funnels and scuppers and that sort of thing. But overall, they do succeed admirably. As usual, they've layered the data, and provided sufficient additional items that it ought to be possible to convert the Shearwater into a tramp steamer with a few accomodations cabins thrown in -- a la Indiana Jones. The ship would be very usable, especially for miniatures gun battles (anyone for the final confrontation scene from the novel, The Berkut? You could do it on this ship...). An excellent overall effort, all things considered, and one of the nicer touches is the "flip and fold" lifeboats and elevator -- which allow you to have some overturned lifeboats in the water if you are in the midst of ship-wrecking your adventurers, or to have someone gain access to the roof of the elevator if they need or want to. One minor quibble -- it's definitely NOT the HMS anything -- HMS was reserved for naval vessels in His Majesty's Service. Steamers of this sort were simply the "SS Whatever" (which is simply the abbreviation for "steam ship") and this product should probably be relabeled if Empty Room ever decides to re-issue it. I'd also suggest they consider adding in the smokestacks and funnels as at least optional items -- after all, how can Indiana Jones hide in one of the darn things if there AREN'T any?!?
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Another great item from Empty Room. These particular tiles will work wonderfully well to help lay out your city for any miniatures action you want. They even provide some vehicles (though admittedly they are only really useful for late 1920' to 1930's pulp action). The church is well configured for all sorts of adventuring (including the catacombs beneath the graveyard) and should work very will with your Horror or Crime or Call of Cthulhu type adventures. In addition, there are items you can use to replace the existing features within the church, or change the configuration by adding more doors and stained glass windows. There are event items which would even allow you to make it abandoned if you wanted. Plenty of "extras" are included too in the form of spare church features, sidewalk tiles, and various stretches of road and road intersections, complete with storm drains and manhole covers. All in all, this is an excellent piece of work with superior graphics which should be easily enough to reproduce. The diagrams also include trim lines so you can fit the church together on your tabletop. Overall, I have to rate this one a 5 for flexibility and all the extras! Good job, Empty Room.
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This is another one-shot scenario for Trail of Cthulhu. This one is not as restrictive (or as unrelentingly grim) as The Dying of St. Margaret was, and can be played effectively as both a pulp adventure and a "purist" adventure -- though most of the material is written from the purist perspective. This scenario is a killer and most of the investigators participating are quite likely to die in the process, however intriguingly, this one is set in the Kerguelen Islands (in the far south of the Indian Ocean) and for the source material on the Kerguelens alone it is well worth $5.00. The plot is suitably mysterious complete with a secret society, Nazis and French officials, and various red herrings to drag across the players' paths. The nemesis in the scenario is horrifying and very likely (in fact almost certainly) to kill the players' characters. There are several plot hooks that can be used to get to and from this adventure, along with some nice hints that could lead to other scenarios of your devising -- if anyone survives this one, that is. It's not really intended to fit into any on-going campaign, and given the unlikelihood of survival on the part of the investigators, that's not really surprising.
As usual, DriveThru's reproduction of the book is simply outstanding. I'm giving this one a "4" overall because despite the usefulness of the backstory, the adventure itself is more suited to a convention play than an on-going play group. Still, it's as well written as most of the Pelgrane Press efforts are, and shows a loving attention to detail. All in all, well done.
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This particular scenario is a very dark and disturbing one. As noted elsewhere, it is very much in the "purist" vein, though there is a brief section at the end that describes how to "pulp" it up and add more action in. Basically it is a one-night episode, not really suitable for staging as part of a campaign. It could, however, be used effectively as an interlude in an on-going campaign, though the players will need to work out their motivation for going to the Island.
The scenario is designed to invoke the slow build up of creepiness leading eventually to a classic Lovecraftian denoument wherein the investigators learn that even their best efforts may be useless in the face of the mythos. There is no combat in the scenario, so if your group enjoys fisticuffs and gunplay, they may be very disappointed by this particular adventure -- though maybe that would be a good thing for some groups. There are plenty of role-playing suggestions for the Keeper, which, in my opinion is a much underutilized device by most scenario authors. We could always use more suggestions on how to role-play the walk-ons and bit players.
As usual, DriveThru has done an exemplary job of reproducing the book. Overall, given that it's a bit grim, I rate it a solid "4."
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I actually started out prepared to dislike this one. However of all of the scenario packs I've read so far for Trail of Cthulhu, I actually found this one the most interesting to date. Megan Robertson, as usual, has done an excellent job of describing the contents, so consider everything she said about it as a given, and, as usual, I'll simply add a couple of observations.
The scenarios, as befitting the theme of the book, are very much in the cinematic theme, yet somehow it feels less forced in this volume than it does in several others. Perhaps because the scenarios are more in the pulpish tradition that tended to be somewhat prevalent in 1930's cinema. Backlot Gothic was both amusing and enlightening, and should provide the clever Keeper with many ideas and useful tidbits of information that can be easily transported into his own mysterious village. Admittedly, it would make more sense to use the material therein in an adventure set in the 1890's as opposed to the 1930's, but then, that isn't impossible to organize in Trail of Cthulhu either.
I enjoyed every single one of the adventures outlined in the book -- they all had elements that the older among us will remember from the Sunday afternoon movies that used to show when we were kids, and the younger among us, if they spend any time watching Turner Classic Movies, will have also run across many of them. The cinematic touches go a long way to creating the proper atmosphere and provide excellent "schooling" in a technique that most Keepers can profitably use in their normal scenarios. Frankly, whether any of these scenarios ever see the light of day in my campaign or not, there will be many little touches and tid-bits that will be used to help set the mood.
DriveThru, as usual, did an excellent job of reproducing the book, and everything was both legible and printable if needed. I think this one most assuredly earns a "5."
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