Big Easy Fears

Tales of the Crescent City: Adventures in Jazz Era New Orleans is the second offering from Golden Goblin Press for Call of Cthulhu, following on from Island of Ignorance – The Third Cthulhu Companion. Again funded via Kickstarter, Tales of the Crescent City is a companion volume to Chasoium, Inc.’s Secrets of New Orleans: A 1920s Sourcebook to the Crescent City and a sequel of sorts to Miskatonic River Press’ anthology of scenarios set in New York, Tales of the Sleepless City. It presents an introduction to, and an overview of, the city of New Orleans; an examination of both a major figure in the Mythos and a major Mythos influence upon the city; and a septet of scenarios, including a revised reprint of a classic adventure. The latter, like the rest of the scenarios in the collection are written for use with Call of Cthulhu, Sixth Edition, though as with all Call of Cthulhu scenarios, they are compatible with the forthcoming Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition.

The first good news about Tales of the Crescent City is that it is a better book than Island of Ignorance. It is physically neater and better designed, the editing is clean and tidy, and of course, the subject matter and setting give the anthology focus. It feels closely modelled upon the aforementioned Tales of the Sleepless City and as a result, is an assured product that bodes well for future releases from Golden Goblin Press.

Although the Keeper and his players will get the most out of Tales of the Crescent City if they have access to copy of Chaosium’s Secrets of New Orleans—previously printed as The New Orleans Guidebook, it is not absolutely necessary for either to own a copy of that supplement. Included in this new anthology is an introduction to the Big Easy, one that nicely sums up the key points that everyone needs to know—the matter of race and colour, the rampant corruption, the endemic presence of crime and gangsters, the importance of civility and thus the Credit Rating skill, and the fact that the city is below sea level. This is accompanied by a thorough overview of the city’s various neighbourhoods and parishes, including floor plans for its typical dwellings. Illustrated throughout with period photographs, there is enough information here that a Keeper need not refer to Secrets of New Orleans when running Tales of the Crescent City.

Readers familiar with H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction will know that New Orleans is home to Étienne-Laurent de Marigny, America’s most knowledgeable mystic, mathematician, and orientalist. It is fitting that he is accorded a lengthy article all to himself, providing an autobiography of the man as well as hinting at what he knows about the Mythos—which is actually quite a lot given that he is not actually insane. There is the danger in having a figure such as de Marigny present in a campaign—and that is what Tales of the Crescent City is really intended to be part of—in that he becomes a crutch the players and their investigators come to rely upon when their investigations fail. Offsetting that possibility is one of the key points raised earlier in the book, that of the need for civility and thus the Credit Rating skill in their dealings with de Marigny. As fascinated as he is with the outré and the occult, he has no desire to be involved in scandal or criminal activities, both of which the investigators are likely to find themselves involved in. Rounding out this short series of articles are some notes on the Yellow Sign and The King in Yellow, yet more support for the scenarios that follow in Tales of the Crescent City. 

The support is certainly required in the case of said notes on the Yellow Sign, since the septet of scenarios is bookended by appearances of the Yellow Sign and The King in Yellow. The first of these is a reprint and update of Kevin Ross’ classic ‘Tell me, have You Seen the Yellow Sign?’ originally published in Chaosium’s long out of print The Great Old Ones. Like many scenarios that deal with the Yellow Sign and The King in Yellow, at the heart of ‘Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?’ is an attempt to bring to Earth both Hastur and the city of Carcosa; thus it feels like a cliché. Yet that is unfair, as arguably, ‘Tell me, have You Seen the Yellow Sign?’ set the pattern for such scenarios to come and what matters is the story built around the cultists’ plans to bring Hastur to Earth. In this case, ‘Tell me, have You Seen the Yellow Sign?’ draws the investigators into a richly portrayal of New Orleans life and culture, in particular, that of Mardi Gras. This is carnival season, a big celebration, in which it is socially acceptable to join ‘Krewes’ and participate in big masked parades.

The investigators find themselves asked by Étienne-Laurent de Marigny to investigate an occult symbol found clutched in the hand of a recently deceased reporter. The police think it was suicide, but his editor thinks otherwise, especially after the reporter told him that he believed that one of the krewes he was writing about was involved in the occult. De Marigny does not have the time to investigate, which is where the player characters come in. Experienced Call of Cthulhu players will recognise the symbol, but they will enjoy both the investigation into the reporter’s death and into identifying the symbol. Both will take the investigators to the heights of the city’s high society and deep into the sodden wilderness. As the investigators draw ever closer to identifying the symbol, the symbol seems to draw closer to them and the city… This is a richly detailed scenario, with lots of investigation and atmosphere with a pleasingly personal element to the story.

As the title of C. Michael Hurst’s ‘Bloodlines’ suggests, this is a scenario about questionable parentage and the degeneration of the species, classic Lovecratian themes both. The investigators are hired by a researcher to confirm the lineage and wealth of his employer’s fiancée—what the researcher has learned threatens what is his only source of income. By the time they go to meet him, the researcher is dead and his mother begs them to continue the task lest she be made destitute. How did the researcher come to die and did it have anything to do with the family history of Cora DeCroix? Once again, this takes the investigators from the heights of society to swamps beyond the city, though the society is somewhat dissolute… In comparison with the previous scenario, ‘Bloodlines’ is a more restrained affair, the Mythos not as intentionally malign in nature, and morally, more grey than black and white. Indeed, distinguishing the villains of the piece may leave the investigators with a dilemma on their hands. That said, the Egyptian-themed Great Old One feels a little out of place in the city and almost incidental to the plot, although its use explains the supposed ‘monsters’ of the piece, plus of course, it has been used in other scenarios.

By coincidence, the third scenario, ‘Needles’, also has an Egyptian theme. By Daniel Harms, it also begins with the investigators coming to the aid of someone else, though not at his request. Instead, they respond to a scream in the night to discover a local doctor in deadly peril from a trio of dark, surgically masked men. Coming to his aid, they will soon learn that the doctor is a wanted man, but by whom lies at the heart of the scenario. This is not a scenario for anyone suffering from Trypophobia, and makes an interesting use of Glaaki, even though that Great Old One does not make an appearance. The scenario very much has a pulp sensibility, which makes it quite a lot of fun especially in its ‘house of horrors’ denouement, but this also means that some of the cult’s motivation is underwritten rather than being fully developed as it should be. At its heart though is the Mythos fuelled interpretation of the ‘Night Doctors’ of both African American and New Orleans folklore, an aspect that may not necessarily come to the fore as much as it should—unless the investigators have contacts with the Black community of the Crescent City or one of their number is Black.

Almost as if one theme is being carried over from one scenario to the next, there is a medical aspect to Stuart Boon’s ‘The Quickening Spiral’ in which the investigators must race against the clock to prevent a deadly contagion known as Red River Fever from overwhelming first New Orleans, then Louisiana, and beyond! The investigators are asked to look into the possibility that it might have been caused by something unnatural—could it be the result of a Voodoo curse? What is curious about this scenario is that its human plot—a heady mix of small ‘conspiracies’, Voodoo, and revenge—is very much more pulpy than the almost incidental Mythos plot. Nevertheless, this is a pacier affair the presents a potential threat to the world on a relatively small scale.

Oscar Rios’ own contribution to Tales of the Crescent City is ‘Song and Dance’ and concerns the effect of the subversion and its effect by one god of another. The first is the Great Old One is Y’Golonac, who subverts not other figures of the Mythos, but figures from a real world mythology. This is a big audacious piece, assured in its aims, but one that might be seen to veer away from the Mythos in its use of real world mythology figures and perhaps in its tone as the ending feels more like that of a James Bond movie as the investigators have to stage a rescue from the villain of the piece’s lair. Set in 1925, it opens with a wave of depression that sweeps the world, driving artists and performers into depression and then suicide, but then the reverse happens—mania!  This manifests at yet another of New Orleans’ great celebrations, at which the investigators are present, but it works all the better if they become more intimately involved and one of their number be an affected artist. The downside to the mania is not just debilitating, but drives its sufferers to the grave giving the scenario a desperate deadline. To be fair, there is relatively little plot to ‘Song and Dance’, but it oozes atmosphere and at times menace. 

The penultimate adventure in Tales of the Crescent City is Jeff Moeller’s ‘Five Lights at the Crossroads’, which is a much slighter affair then the other six in the anthology. It begins with the investigators’ discovery of the body of a well-dressed black man, seemingly crushed where he lies. If the investigators do the decent thing and go and tell his employer about his death, he is nowhere to be found and his other servants are oddly evasive. Where is he and how did his servant come to die under such odd circumstances? Unfortunately, whilst the scenario does involve a decent amount of investigative legwork to get to its climatic confrontation, at its heart it does something that may frustrate the players—keep them from their quarry until it is all but too late. Given the grave, not to say, deadly consequences of their failure, their efforts may seem out of all proportion to said consequences… Nevertheless, the scenario can be said to be about gathering the clues and information enough to get to its confrontation. It is disappointing though, and the least interesting scenario in the anthology especially given that the author has written better scenarios. 

Rounding out the scenarios is the other bookend to ‘Tell me, have you seen the Yellow Sign?’. Again written by Kevin Ross, ‘Asylum: The Return of the Yellow Sign’ is a sequel of sorts that takes place two years after ‘Have you seen the Yellow Sign?’ and notes are included to that end. Much like in the previous ‘The Light at the Crossroads’, the investigators will find themselves chasing after someone, in this case the strangely pallid figure who gate-crashed the high class soiree, the Disabled Veterans Benefit Ball and confronted swell about town, Alan Leroy. What did the stranger want with the charismatic young man who fled in the turbulent aftermath of the confrontation? As the investigators look for clues, they will also find themselves on Leroy’s trail and as their efforts progress, not only will the stranger come to them, but New Orleans begins to fall—perhaps once again?—under a curious madness…

This is a less heavily plotted affair than the earlier ‘Tell me, have you seen the Yellow Sign?’. It is potentially no less atmospheric, for it is expected that the Keeper build much of the minor, though no less weird or creepy, details around the investigators’ efforts. At its heart the investigators are caught up in the effort by the infamous play, The King in Yellow, to reassert its inevitability. Of course, the outcome of ‘Asylum: The Return of the Yellow Sign’ is not necessarily inevitable, but attempting to achieve any other outcome presents a difficult challenge. Overall, despite it needing careful handling upon the part of the Keeper, ‘Asylum: The Return of the Yellow Sign’ is an excellent scenario that brings Tales of the Crescent City to mature and malign climax.

Physically, Tales of the Crescent City is well presented. The layout is clean and very readable, whilst the book is solidly edited. If there is a downside to the book’s look, it is that the art is perhaps a little too cartoon-like in places. Elsewhere the art is well done, as is the cartography.

Undoubtedly, the material supporting the septet of scenarios in Tales of the Crescent City is excellent given the relatively few pages devoted to the setting. Unfortunately, as a whole, the scenarios are not excellent, being uneven in tone and plot, perhaps even flat in feel in the one case. The septet does have a pulp feel, especially the middle scenarios—and they also have another weakness. As much as the scenarios in Tales from the Crescent City present a broad swathe of challenges and foes to contend with and investigate, what it does not do is present much in the way of depth. It dwells too much upon high society and its mores as well as Voodoo and Mardi Gras, and so never gives the investigators the opportunity to explore a fleshed out view of the city. Nevertheless, the addition of notes in each of the scenarios to help turn the seven into a loose campaign set within the Big Easy are a very welcome addition.

Uneven in places, Tales of the Crescent City does a fine job of presenting the public face of New Orleans and the insidious influences that lurk behind the joyously bravura façade. It brings back a classic scenario and gives it a much deserved sequel—could there be a sequel to make ‘Tell me, have you seen the Yellow Sign?’ and ‘Asylum: The Return of the Yellow Sign’ part of a trilogy? Perhaps in a second volume of scenarios set in New Orleans, one that delves deeper into its secrets and themes…? Tales of the Crescent City: Adventures in Jazz Era New Orleans is a solid anthology that shows Golden Goblin Press' books are getting better and better.

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Ignorance Imparted

Traditionally, the first supplement published for a role playing game is a ‘companion’. It collects many, if not all, of the content that was written for, but not included in the core Rulebook. Extra background material, advice, scenarios, and more were the typical content of the RPG Companion. Such supplements are rare these days, for where a Companion will address a number of diverse topics, the modern supplement typically focuses upon particular aspects of an RPG's setting or rules. Call of Cthulhu has received two such ‘companions’. The first, the Cthulhu Companion: Ghastly Adventures & Erudite Lore from 1983 is best remembered for its decent scenarios, its Mythos parody of Chattanooga Choo-Choo, and its list of Mythos adverbs and descriptors. The second, Fragments of Fear: The Second Cthulhu Companion from 1985, is best known for its foldout size comparison of various Mythos gods and entities. Of the two, the Cthulhu Companion is the better regarded and the more useful, but now both supplements stand to be compared by a third supplement of a very similar nature. 

Island of Ignorance – The Third Cthulhu Companion is the first release from new publisher, Golden Goblin Press, the newest Chaosium licensee. At its head is perhaps one of the most prolific of Call of Cthulhu authors – Oscar Rios, best known for The Legacy of Arrius Lurco, the campaign for use with Chaosium, Inc.’s Cthulhu Invictus. The company takes its name from the fictitious company in the Robert E. Howard stories ‘The Black Stone’ and ‘The Thing on the Roof’, and it this name that provides the title for the first of the octet of articles in Island of Ignorance. Geoff Gillan’s ‘The Golden Goblin’ examines the significance and history of the Native American figurine that inspired the founder of Golden Goblin Press in Howard’s stories. As eponymously fitting as this article is in the supplement, it does feel slightly trite, almost as if the publisher had to get the joke out of the way.

Daniel Harms offers the reader ‘The Walshes: A Cthulhu Cult’, a description of what happens when certain New England rumrunners come to worship a certain drowned god and use their gained knowledge to run the dangerous waters along the New England coast. The result is a heavily armed gang with a fast boat and a secret hideout that is feared by rival gangs and the Coast Guard alike – not to say factions native to dread Innsmouth! Now that takes some doing – all summed up in this nicely done write-up. This is followed by ‘Massa di Requiem per Shuggay: A History of the Devil’s Opera’, penned by the creator of the Massa di Requiem per Shuggay, Scott David Aniolowski. Intimately tied up with the history of the Shan, the Insects from Shaggai, the complete history of this three act opera is given here for the first time. Most notably includes the most recent appearance of this banned opera in the pages of Call of Cthulhu, in Mikael Hedberg’s scenario ‘A Night at the Opera’, from Miskatonic River Press’ New York set anthology, Tales of from Sleepless City.

‘When Johnny Came Marching Home’ is the first of two articles in Island of Ignorance by its publisher, Oscar Rios. With it he offers the means to create investigators who served in the Great War. Although the rules cover the military training, the combat experiences, and their possible after effects, and the economic hardships that a veteran might all experience, they are not comprehensive. Primarily because its focus is on the American investigator and again on the American investigator who fought on the front lines, rather than served in a support capacity. Nevertheless, this is a quick and dirty method and handles something not covered in Call of Cthulhu itself. Next, in ‘Dweller in Darkness’, Tyler Hudak brings to light the Great Old One known as Bugg-Shash, expanding up the nature of this entity and its rare cultists to provide enough information for the Keeper to use them in his own campaign.

As described by Eckhard Huelshoff, the ‘The Knjiga Mrtva (or Book of the Dead)’ is collection of Serbian observations and writings that initially focuses on the undead and then later on certain creatures of the Mythos. It feels a little scrappy around the edges, but that comes from its varied content more than the writing. This is a useful addition that opens up the possibility of exploring the Mythos in Eastern Europe. This is followed by Tom Lynch’s description of one the secrets of the infamous Abdul Alhazred, ‘The Silks of Irem’. Not unsurprisingly, these are as potentially deadly as they are useful and they would make for a different MacGuffin. Rounding out the articles section of the Island of Ignorance is Oscar Rios’ second article, ‘Raggedy Clothes and Worn Out Shoes: A Look at the American Hobo’. This examines the place of the hobo and his life and how he can be played as a Mythos investigator, covering not only the hobo, but also the tramp and the bum. It is a thoroughly engaging piece that provides enough detail to support the background of any hobo should the reader want to play one of these characters and bring them to life in his next Call of Cthulhu game – and after reading this article, he should. (Although the rules are incompatible, Trail of Cthulhu Keepers and players will find this article of use as the hobo is a given character type in that game, and the background is certainly not incompatible). This is arguably, the highlight of the octet of articles in Island of Ignorance.

Opening up the quintet of scenarios in Island of Ignorance is Brian M. Sammons’ ‘Consumption’, a gruesome sequel to H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Picture in the House’. A grizzly encounter on the road between Arkham and Dunwich puts the investigators in the sights of a set of horribly human monsters with a necrophagous predilection. This set will go to almost any lengths to protect their inhuman habits and this is after having firmly made itself part of local society, making the act of investigating the activities of its members more than a little challenging. Despite there being very little Mythos involvement in ‘Consumption’ this scenario does not feel out of place in this supplement with a strong investigative aspect and suitably nasty secrets to reveal.

The second scenario is also set in Lovecraft Country, but in little visited Aylesbury rather than in Arkham, where several the town’s children, all of them poor workers at a local textile mill, have vanished under mysterious circumstances – only to appear a few days later seemingly unperturbed. ‘Let the Children Come to Me’ by Mark Shireman forces the investigators to make a ghastly comparison. Which is worse – the evils perpetrated by mankind on its own kin or the uncaring entities that would take advantage of such crimes? Again, the perpetrators hide behind a façade of respectability, making getting to the truth another challenge. The scenario’s denouement feels a little complex and needs careful handling upon the part of the Keeper as there are several possible outcomes. Equally, in coming to the climax of this scenario, the investigators will find themselves facing a moral dilemma in trying to determine the right outcome for this scenario.

Oscar Rios’ own contribution to the scenarios in Island of Ignorance is ‘The Lonely Point Lighthouse’, which will again present a moral dilemma to the investigators come its climax. They are hired by the city council of the port of New London, Connecticut to determine if the Lonely Point Lighthouse, located some three miles offshore, is haunted. After all, the last two keepers quit after supposedly hearing moans, tapping, and scratching sounds inside the lighthouse, plus when the investigators start asking around town, there are rumours about a sea monster haunting the waters around the lighthouse. Is there really a monster or is this an attempt to drum up the tourist trade? Of course, the investigators have to visit the lighthouse, so the time they have to unearth more facts in town is short. The investigative process adheres to the author’s trademark penchant for legwork rather than poring over books and nicely sets everything up for the isolated investigation at the lighthouse and another good dilemma for the investigators to solve.

The investigators find themselves solving another haunting in ‘With Blue Uncertain Stumbling’ by Jeffrey Moeller, and again, it takes place offshore. Not at a lighthouse, but on the island of Key West in Florida where the ghost of a woman has been seen in the mirrors of a hotel. This is not an easy investigation to get into and once a few facts are known, finding a solution to the mystery is not easy either. It makes much of the folklore of the island to present a twist upon the ‘returned from the grave’ story, but one that is pleasingly original and creepy. 

The last scenario in Island of Ignorance is Jon Hook’s ‘Darkness Illuminated’. Returning the quintet to Arkham, this is the most Pulp of the scenarios in the supplement, combining as it does John Wyndham’s The Midwich Cuckoos with the Mythos. The investigators are hired by the parents of a student at a local school for the blind to find out why their son has become withdrawn and distant from them and if it could be as the result of a new drug administered by Doctor James Herrington. Equally, the school for the blind does not want to talk about its students or indeed its doctor… Despite its pulp leanings, ‘Darkness Illuminated’ is a surprisingly sophisticated affair, but in places it feels rushed and very much in need of another edit. Again, it establishes a satisfying moral dilemma at the end and this more than makes up for the sometimes eyebrow raising Pulp elements.

Rounding out Island of Ignorance is ‘Heroes and Heroines of the Lovecraft Country’, a collection of eighteen pre-generated investigators already to play or drop into a scenario. The collection is decent enough, and despite having been thoroughly playtested at innumerable conventions, they amount to just the numbers. It is a pity that none of them comes with their own background to help ease their use in play or help spark a player’s imagination. Only one investigator comes with any background and that is Walt ‘Mashed Potatoes’ Johnson, a Hobo who is discussed in the earlier ‘Raggedy Clothes and Worn Out Shoes: A Look at the American Hobo’. In some ways, the accompanying checklist of typical investigator equipment is of more use. It rules are simple – an investigator just uses his Credit Rating score as points to spend on the listed equipment, so if he wants camera and film it will cost him four points, whereas a bottle of fine wine or brandy will cost five points. It is a pity that this sheet has been specifically designed for use with the eighteen listed pre-generated investigators as it would work well in general for any game set during the Roaring Twenties or the Desperate Decade of the 1930s.

Physically, Island of Ignorance – The Third Cthulhu Companion is neatly and cleanly presented in a style that feels reminiscent of the original Cthulhu Companion as well as the books published by the late Miskatonic River Press. This is no surprise since Oscar Rios was heavily involved with Miskatonic River Press. The supplement’s illustrations by Reuben Dodd are well done and nicely capture the action within the scenarios and whilst Alyssa Faden’s exterior cartography is excellent, her interior cartography is pedestrian at best. Where Island of Ignorance suffers is in its editing, which feels rushed in places and could have been done one more time.

So the question is, how does Island of Ignorance – The Third Cthulhu Companion compare with the earlier Cthulhu Companion: Ghastly Adventures & Erudite Lore and Fragments of Fear: The Second Cthulhu Companion? It is far superior in every way to Fragments of Fear: The Second Cthulhu Companion, so that is not a fair comparison. A fair comparison would be with the Cthulhu Companion: Ghastly Adventures & Erudite Lore and in doing so, the articles are broadly superior – though some of the content has since been superseded – to those in Island of Ignorance, but the scenarios are better in Island of Ignorance. Indeed, all five scenarios are mature and sophisticated affairs that handle their often adult themes in a suitably restrained fashion. The best of them challenge not only the investigators’ ability to withstand creeps, shocks, and scares, but difficult choices too. Island of Ignorance – The Third Cthulhu Companion is a good first book from a new publisher. All that publisher needs to do with its next books is maintain the quality of the material and match it by giving them the editorial polish that they need and they will be very good books indeed.

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A Norse Trilogy

Since 2003, the Miskatonic University Library Association series of monographs has been Chaosium, Inc.’s way of making other works available to players of both Call of Cthulhu and Basic RolePlay. Bar the printing, each monograph’s author is responsible for the writing, the editing, and the layout, so far the quality of entries in the series have varied widely and has led to some dreadful releases. Fortunately, The Ravenar Sagas: Three Viking Adventures for Cthulhu Dark Ages is far from dreadful in terms of both editing and layout, and far from dreadful in terms of storytelling and writing.

The Ravenar Sagas is the second campaign from Oscar Rios, a Call of Cthulhu author best known for The Legacy of Arrius Lurco, the Cthulhu Invictus campaign published by the late lamented Miskatonic River Press. His previous campaign, also a Monograph, was Ripples from Carcosa, a trilogy of connected scenarios set in the periods of Cthulhu Invictus, Cthulhu Dark Ages, and the near future of the End Times, but separated by millennia. The Ravenar Sagas marks his second return to the period of Cthulhu Dark Ages, the setting when the dread Necronomicon was freely distributed and the forces of the Mythos all but ran wild… Where Cthulhu Dark Ages focused primarily on mainland Europe as a setting, The Ravenar Sagas takes its adventurers to the edge of Europe and beyond…

Although the subtitle of the campaign suggests that The Ravenar Sagas consists of “Three Viking Adventures”, the Monograph actually contains three adventures for six Northmen who as friends crew the newly built small knorr, the Ravenar. Together, the six are men of action, well-armed, fearless, and eager to carve out legends for themselves, and over the course of three adventures and thirteen years, their heroic deeds will lend themselves to a great saga, one of love, betrayal, and horrors from beyond. In the course of the adventure the characters will age thirteen years, so versions are provided for each of the three scenarios that in turn will take the investigators to and from Norway to Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland.

The saga begins in 989 AD with ‘The Unsung Saga’, an action orientated scenario originally used as a demonstration adventure for Cthulhu Dark Ages. The six adventurers are tasked by their chieftain to go in search of his son, Svengar who has not returned from a hunting expedition to the Faeroes Islands. What the adventurers learn is that Svengar had other things on his mind than hunting and if they are to mount a rescue, they must strike a curious bargain and venture into the lair of some wholly wild creatures.

If ‘The Unsung Saga’ was a fairly straight forward affair, ‘The Second Saga’ is more complex and detailed, and thus a more interesting scenario. It is set three years later and Svengar has prospered, turning the failing settlement of Neskasyla into a welcoming and friendly place that looks to succeed for years to come. In the process, Svengar has made himself a popular leader as well as a growing family. Invited to spend Yuletide with Svengar and his wife in Neskasyla, the adventurers find themselves, along with the inhabitants of the settlement, besieged by the unnatural, both in terms of the weather and things that no man should have dealings with. 

The adventurers will have much more to do in ‘The Second Saga’. There is work to be done in Neskasyla as well as play, fellow visitors to rescue, and an enveloping storm to pierce if the adventurers are to thwart the ‘real’ danger to the settlement. Long-time devotees of Call of Cthulhu will recognise the entities used in this scenario, but they are appropriately used and challenging foes given the setting and what the player characters must face them with. Overall, this is an engaging and enjoyable affair with much for the player characters to do.

The trilogy comes to a close with ‘The Vinland Saga’, which takes place a decade after those of ‘The Second Saga’ in 1002 AD. The adventurers are ten years older and experienced ship captains who are called to war following the news that Svengar is dead! He had gone to the aid of his steward, Ozgar, who had established a colony of his own in Vinland that was attacked by an alliance of dark native tribes and rival Northmen. In their defence of the colony Svengar was struck down and killed and now his wife wants revenge!

Whilst ‘The Vinland Saga’ brings The Ravenar Sagas to a rousing climax, it suffers from being too combat-orientated. It consists of one combat encounter after another and the problem is that Call of Cthulhu is not very forgiving when it comes to combat. Nevertheless, some of them are nicely staged and are unlike any the players will encounter in a normal game of Call of Cthulhu.

The Ravenar Sagas is rounded out with the ‘actual’ history of the Sagas and how they came to be uncovered from a burial mound in Iceland in 1884. Here they are also presented as a Mythos Tome so that a group of investigators could read them in the Gaslight, Jazz, or Modern Age and actually learn from them by playing out the events they are said to portray…

Physically, The Ravenar Sagas is decently presented for a Monograph. It needs another edit, but the layout is light enough to counter the lack of illustrations. If there is an issue with the book it is that the maps are indistinct. In hindsight, it probably would have been better had they been done by hand.

As a trilogy, The Ravenar Sagas does a good job of presenting a ‘Viking’ Saga. As a set of scenarios, it is an uneven affair in terms of investigation over combat, and of the three, the middle one, ‘The Second Saga’ is the most balanced and the best written. In fact, it would actually make a reasonable addition to any collection. It consisting of three scenarios, each several years apart, means that a Keeper could easily slot other scenarios in between the three included here. The Ravenar Sagas continues Oscar Rios’ penchant for untraditional Call of Cthulhu scenarios in terms of the investigative process and the action.

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