As we speak we’re going to take a look at a situation the place the participant characters are working for a authorities company investigating clandestine Cthulhu Mythos exercise. The situation isn’t set throughout the trendy period, giving a glimpse into the world in a unique period. Wait, no, come again, I didn’t by chance put up the identical evaluate two days in a row. It simply occurred to complete up two adventures which have comparable themes.
As we speak’s evaluate is for Brinkmanship, a situation for Inexperienced Ronin’s AGE system RPG Cthulhu Awakens. This can be a situation set in 1963, in that magical time period when the CIA and the KGB had been attempting to 1 up one another attempting to determine if they may management folks’s minds or arrange a program of psychics to present them benefit within the Chilly Struggle.
Disclaimer
Whereas I’ve acquired evaluate copies from Inexperienced Ronin up to now, I’m not working from a evaluate copy. I used to be a crowdfunding backer for Cthulhu Awakens, and this journey is without doubt one of the objectives. I’ve not had the chance to run or play this journey. I don’t have a whole lot of AGE system expertise as a GM, however I’ve been a participant earlier than.
Cthulhu Awakens: Brinkmanship
Design: Alexander Thomas with Malcolm Sheppard
Improvement: Malcolm Sheppard
Modifying: Michael Matheson
Graphic Design: Hal Mangold & Kara Hamilton
Artwork Path: Hal Mangold
Inside Artwork: Danil Luzon
Cartography: Zach Moeller
Writer: Chris Pramas
Workforce Ronin: Kara Hamilton, Troy Hewitt, Steven Jones, Steve Kenson, Ian Lemke, Nicole Lindroos, Hal Mangold, Chris Pramas, Evan Sass, Malcolm Sheppard, Dylan Templar, and Alexander Thomas
Digital Doom
This evaluate relies on the PDF of the journey. The PDF is 26 pages lengthy. The PDF is in two-column format and follows the commerce gown for the Cthulhu Awakens line, with a parchment like web page background, inexperienced headers and part dividers, and black “slate” sidebars. Along with paintings that serves as a snapshot of what’s going on within the journey, there are portraits of the entire principal NPCs. There are additionally a number of maps of the journey location.
The pages are damaged out as follows:
- Entrance Cowl, Again Cowl, and Credit: 3 pages
- Entities and People: 5 pages
- Foremost Journey Textual content: 18 pages
The Period
As talked about above, this journey is about in 1963. The dabbling with psychic phenomenon that was a part of real-world historical past, within the Bizarre Century setting of Cthulhu Awakens, reaches into the powers of the mythos.
The organizations at play on this journey are the CIA, which you might have heard of, and the ICG, the Implicit Cartography Group. The Soviet group at play is the GRU, though they aren’t fairly the villain of the piece, however they do contribute to what formed one of many antagonists.
The journey mentions the problems surrounding the marginalization of individuals concerning gender, sexual orientation, and race. There may be the usual (and good) disclaimer that you just don’t wish to embody content material that makes your desk uncomfortable. Due to the distant location the place nearly all of this journey takes place, the first prejudice that the PCs will encounter is the systemic sexism surrounding the CIA, primarily concerning the diploma to which the journey location shouldn’t be set as much as make feminine brokers snug in an effort to allow them to know that they don’t belong within the area.
Outpost 323 is situated in Northern Türkiye, a location secured by the CIA with their assist of far-right paramilitaries and funding counter-insurgency teams. This outpost is close to the USSR and is conducting some analysis on high of housing members of the ICG, which incorporates people concerned in distant seeing (clairvoyant) actions.
Visiting the 60s
The opening of the journey contains ideas for the way the journey can be utilized, past a one shot in a 60s period marketing campaign. These embody the next ideas:
- The occasions of the journey set up information which might be revisited within the trendy portion of the marketing campaign
- The PCs could also be displaced in time by interacting with current supernatural results
- The fashionable PCs could also be older, and taking part in themselves as younger brokers of their 20s and 30s, and flashing again to an earlier mission
- Characters within the trendy period begin studying information that they’ve discovered, and so they play by way of this journey to see what’s detailed within the logs
What’s Occurring Right here
In case you is perhaps a participant on this journey, or if you wish to be stunned whereas studying the journey for your self, it is best to most likely carry out a ritual that removes you from the present fragment of actuality
The PCs will probably be contacted by the CIA, despatched to Outpost 323 in northern Türkiye, to research unusual occasions surrounding the outpost. Why the PCs? As a result of one of many members of the ICG left directions to recruit them, as a result of that agent has been on some thoughts and time interval swapping adventures because of the Yithians he’s been in touch with, and he is aware of the PCs are vital to resolve the state of affairs, however not why.
The CIA contact recruiting them trusts the ICG agent that left the directions, so she desires to observe by way of. She will’t ask him any additional questions, as a result of he’s disappeared. As written, most of the authorities brokers that take care of unusual matters like distant viewing could perceive there are some inexplicable psychic issues that occur however aren’t clued into the a lot wider actuality of the cosmic horrors that may threaten the planet. However she understands that every one of that is possible associated to some sort of psychic phenomenon.
As a result of they might be coping with double brokers, the PCs are going to be arrange with false clearances to indicate why they’re being assigned to the outpost. The default ID units up the PCs as airplane mechanics, and so they’ll be given a fast coaching session to allow them to bluff their method by way of any questions on their jobs, which is represented as a short lived bonus on checks associated to airplane upkeep. If the PCs have another specialty that may qualify them for a unique safety clearance, they’ll ask about it, however the level is to not stand out.
The PCs will probably be given inoculations, which they’re instructed are associated to the placement to which they’re touring. The reality is, one of many inoculations they obtain is an experimental compound that blocks telepathic intrusion.
Investigating the Web site
A lot of the majority of the journey is in regards to the PCs exploring the outpost, justifying why they might be within the part of the outpost that they’re presently investigating, and being scrutinized by Betty Fuller, a radio engineer on the website who has been assigned the job of coordinator for the ICG initiatives on base.
One fascinating ingredient of this situation is that relying on who finds out that the PCs are right here underneath cowl identities, it is a CIA operation, and a number of layers of subterfuge are virtually anticipated. That mentioned, having their cowl blown goes to attract eyes on them and make investigation a lot more durable.
There’s a unusual, ongoing impact the place an space close to the bottom is continually raining ash, and that ash burns by way of the fabric it settles on. Neither Fuller, nor the PCs, have clearance to enter the particular hanger that’s a part of the P-VERTICAL venture.
There are a selection of secrets and techniques the PCs can uncover by way of investigation. In the event that they observe Fuller, they discover out that the pilot that flew them into the Outpost doesn’t belief her, and so they discover out that she’s suspicious of the PCs. The PCs could discover out the P-VERTICAL hanger incorporates an experimental plane.
Ultimately, the PCs could discover a group of brokers who know one thing is mistaken with Fuller and have been sequestering themselves till they’ll safe extra of the psionic inoculation that the PCs got earlier than they had been despatched right here.
What’s REALLY Occurring Right here
The experimental plane has been utilizing know-how that touches on actuality warping powers. In creating the facility supply for the plane, the engineers successfully started an Eldritch Working that was by no means accomplished. This damages the jail of an entity that has been trapped beneath the positioning’s location since pre-historic instances. The burning ash that retains falling is a aspect impact of the place the aircraft’s know-how broken actuality.
Melvin Chook, the agent that despatched the cryptic advice to recruit the PCs, has swapped minds with a Yithian, extremely previous aliens that discover different instances by inhabiting the our bodies of others. The Yithians imprisoned the skotomorphs in historical instances, generally in vaults, and others sealed away in underground cities. Melvin is aware of a few of what’s going on, and that the Yithians are afraid that the Skotomorphs will escape their jail.
Betty Fuller is definitely a Russian double agent, who was additionally recruited resulting from her psychic skills. The skotomorph whose jail was broken has satisfied her that she must free it. Fuller, who has skilled to make use of a number of cowl identities, is now satisfied that she is a double agent, however for who, and why modifications in her thoughts continually. She simply is aware of she must free the skotomorph. She’s additionally acquired management of most of the personnel, since none of them knew to make use of the inoculation to guard towards psychological intrusion. Fuller is planning on finishing the destruction of the skotomorph’s jail.
Due to the outpost’s distant location, as soon as the whole lot involves a head, the PCs might want to decide how they will get again to inhabited settlements. They’ll journey by way of the wilderness, which is able to take some time, in addition to requiring meals and water. They’ll try to repair the experimental airplane, which may be doubtlessly harmful, since they should full the ritual used to energy the plane with the intention to use it. Or, in my favourite little bit of irony on this situation, they’ll restore the Cessna that’s used to fly personnel into and out of the ability.
Endings
The skotomorph escaping its jail is unhealthy, nevertheless it’s not “the world is ending instantly” unhealthy. It might nonetheless get there, as a result of the skotomorph will probably be working to interrupt down the boundaries to the entire different prisons across the Earth, after which safe management of the planet.
Betty Fuller is a wildcard. Relying on how the PCs strategy their closing confrontation, she could escape and get picked up by her Russian handlers, or she could give up and anticipate time to aim an escape or discover a strategy to wheedle into somebody’s belief.
Defusing the State of affairs
I’ve mentioned this earlier than, however I like investigative adventures that give the gamers broad latitude to research what they need, how they need. I like how the bottom is laid out for investigation, and the way the totally different NPCs that the PCs can discover or work together with would possibly recontextualize the whole lot they assume they know, with out invalidating that data that they’ve gathered. I’m going contact on this beneath, however once I was considering of what sort of popular culture “vibes” I get from this journey, this virtually looks like an X-Recordsdata or Fringe type situation. I discussed it above, however I really like the irony of needing to repair a aircraft after displaying up with false credentials as airplane mechanics.
Unintentional Dimensional Membrane Injury
I discussed this above, and it’s probably not a detrimental, however if you’re coming right into a Cthulhu Awakens situation anticipating a extra horror-oriented vibe, this one leans extra “bizarre” science in execution. There’s a recurring line used within the journey about how the PCs can solely trick the guards as a result of their minds are clouded, and so they might by no means use foolish tips such as you see in motion films on them in any other case. We’re taking part in an RPG. A few of us don’t wish to take into consideration what tactical coaching would or wouldn’t make guards more likely to be on guard about. That’s why you set an issue and let cube roll. There may be a whole lot of backstory on this journey. A lot of it could not even be revealed to the PCs, even when they handle to cease Fuller’s plans.
Talking of issues that the gamers aren’t more likely to know within the journey backstory, there is a component of Fuller’s story that I feel is unintentionally sounding a mistaken be aware. At most, the PCs will most likely be taught that Fuller is a deep cowl agent with a number of identities. Nonetheless, her historical past contains her hiding her Jewish heritage resulting from Russian antisemitism. That’s a compelling backstory for this period. However then the character that hid their Jewish id finally ends up being a part of a possible conspiracy free former rulers of the planet, and he or she’s utilizing her skills to secretly management virtually everybody on the bottom. It’s not intentional. It’s not a crucial plot. It’s simply a kind of issues which may be interpreted in an unfavorable mild.
Certified Suggestion–A product with a number of constructive facets, however patrons could wish to perceive the context of the product and what it incorporates earlier than shifting it forward of different purchases.
This can be a stable investigative journey, and it performs nicely with the extra structured Mythos historical past established within the Cthulhu Awakens core rulebook. It establishes that the sport is about utilizing the Mythos as a narrative ingredient, and never simply retreading conventional Cthulhu Mythos tropes. That mentioned, I do know there will probably be some those who anticipate this to be a bit extra horror heavy.
There may be additionally only a lot happening within the backstory, and if I had been operating this, I must sit all the way down to map locations the place the backstory might bleed by way of, if I needed to make it extra significant. In some locations, there are areas the place it may be naturally communicated, however these areas of the journey aren’t clearly referred to as out or highlighted, making these superb factors a bit trickier to recollect.
