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Call of Cthulhu RPG
Pursuit to Kadath
This volume is designed specifically for use with Call of Cthulhu Chaosium, Inc.'s fantasy role playing game based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. It will allow the Keeper of Arcane Knowledge to stage vividly realized adventures for the Players. Illustrations, maps and photocopy ready props are provided to add flavor to the bizarre adventures that await in PURSUIT TO KADATH.
Also includes a special bonus scenario The All Seeing Eye of the Alskali.
Also includes a special bonus scenario The All Seeing Eye of the Alskali.
- GenresRole Playing Games
76 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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November 2, 2023How? Part of my Call of Cthulhu purchases.
What? Theatre of the Mind Enterprises wrote some early 3rd party adventures for Call of Cthulhu, including "Glozel Est Authentique!", which I disliked. This is from 1983 and has a big adventure and a small adventure that can be run (they say) as a bonus:
In "Pursuit to Kadath" -- well, if you know Lovecraft's dream country of Kadath, forget it. This is about how Yig created several monster-helpers, who got unleashed in a seance into the minds of a bunch of undergrads, including the PCs, who have all forgotten it. But one of the undergrads got totally taken over, is now doing sacrifices, and wants to travel to Turkey to enact a horrible ritual that will transform himself into a suitable host. Maybe something else bad will happen.
In the shorter "The All-Seeing Eye of the Alskali," the PCs are asked by Turkish officials to find a British archeologist, which leads them into some Russian conspiracies, and eventually to find some cyclops, complete with talented amateur illustration.
Yeah, so? Once I saw a talk by Franco Moretti where he talked about the invention of the "clue" in stories; and how in one early (19th century) detective story, the detective used a clue to figure out which cup had drugs in it, but then drank it anyway, as if -- Moretti argued -- the author hadn't quite figured out how their character should respond to a clue.
That seems to push the bounds of believability for me, but it's a useful reminder to think about how different things were in the past. Call of Cthulhu only came out in 1981 and was (mas o menos) the first horror RPG; so even given the background of Lovecraft's stories, who do you write a useful adventure?
Well, not exactly like this: the first half of "Kadath" is backstory that the PCs won't play through; then there's a chunk in the middle about creating a believable college undergrad (which is mostly, like, how many credit hours you need to graduate with what sort of major -- what?). Put succinctly: there's a lot here that's not playable, nor organized for easy play.
As for the story, well, let's put it this way: what could we steal for an adventure?
* First, there's something about the globe-trotting 1920s adventure with vampires that feels like it should be in the Cthulhu Pulp mode, so let's push it that way.
* There's very little in the way of hook here (just someone in your society has gone mad and no one else can see him in this incriminating photo, which is weird, but too weird to believe), so let's push the "blank spots in your memory" and have that as both a hook and a setpiece. As a hook: you don't remember where you were, and now someone has committed a crime -- was it you?
* And as a setpiece: maybe halfway through, have a bunch of the mundane lines of investigation drop out and point to hypnotism and a recovered memory. Then play the memory out, including the notion that the monsters may have invaded all your minds. (Maybe you've now gotten some new powers because of that. But what happens if you use them too much...)
* Then there's one part of this story that I would keep: when the monster traveled to Turkey, he turned a bunch of people into vampires, and now a few are tormenting a town. In the original adventure, the town is dead but for a holy Islamic monster hunter sent in to destroy the monsters. I might keep some of the town alive to make protecting them a goal for the PCs.
* I'm tempted to make the end game a threat to the world, but maybe we should go smaller -- give everyone of the PCs a reason to care about this kid taken over by a snake monster, rather than have him be just a fellow society member.
As for the cyclops story, I like the idea of getting involved with Russian exiles and the Civil War, but I cannot take cyclops seriously here. That illustration at the end isn't helping.
OK, onto the sell pile with you, book!
What? Theatre of the Mind Enterprises wrote some early 3rd party adventures for Call of Cthulhu, including "Glozel Est Authentique!", which I disliked. This is from 1983 and has a big adventure and a small adventure that can be run (they say) as a bonus:
In "Pursuit to Kadath" -- well, if you know Lovecraft's dream country of Kadath, forget it. This is about how Yig created several monster-helpers, who got unleashed in a seance into the minds of a bunch of undergrads, including the PCs, who have all forgotten it. But one of the undergrads got totally taken over, is now doing sacrifices, and wants to travel to Turkey to enact a horrible ritual that will transform himself into a suitable host. Maybe something else bad will happen.
In the shorter "The All-Seeing Eye of the Alskali," the PCs are asked by Turkish officials to find a British archeologist, which leads them into some Russian conspiracies, and eventually to find some cyclops, complete with talented amateur illustration.
Yeah, so? Once I saw a talk by Franco Moretti where he talked about the invention of the "clue" in stories; and how in one early (19th century) detective story, the detective used a clue to figure out which cup had drugs in it, but then drank it anyway, as if -- Moretti argued -- the author hadn't quite figured out how their character should respond to a clue.
That seems to push the bounds of believability for me, but it's a useful reminder to think about how different things were in the past. Call of Cthulhu only came out in 1981 and was (mas o menos) the first horror RPG; so even given the background of Lovecraft's stories, who do you write a useful adventure?
Well, not exactly like this: the first half of "Kadath" is backstory that the PCs won't play through; then there's a chunk in the middle about creating a believable college undergrad (which is mostly, like, how many credit hours you need to graduate with what sort of major -- what?). Put succinctly: there's a lot here that's not playable, nor organized for easy play.
As for the story, well, let's put it this way: what could we steal for an adventure?
* First, there's something about the globe-trotting 1920s adventure with vampires that feels like it should be in the Cthulhu Pulp mode, so let's push it that way.
* There's very little in the way of hook here (just someone in your society has gone mad and no one else can see him in this incriminating photo, which is weird, but too weird to believe), so let's push the "blank spots in your memory" and have that as both a hook and a setpiece. As a hook: you don't remember where you were, and now someone has committed a crime -- was it you?
* And as a setpiece: maybe halfway through, have a bunch of the mundane lines of investigation drop out and point to hypnotism and a recovered memory. Then play the memory out, including the notion that the monsters may have invaded all your minds. (Maybe you've now gotten some new powers because of that. But what happens if you use them too much...)
* Then there's one part of this story that I would keep: when the monster traveled to Turkey, he turned a bunch of people into vampires, and now a few are tormenting a town. In the original adventure, the town is dead but for a holy Islamic monster hunter sent in to destroy the monsters. I might keep some of the town alive to make protecting them a goal for the PCs.
* I'm tempted to make the end game a threat to the world, but maybe we should go smaller -- give everyone of the PCs a reason to care about this kid taken over by a snake monster, rather than have him be just a fellow society member.
As for the cyclops story, I like the idea of getting involved with Russian exiles and the Civil War, but I cannot take cyclops seriously here. That illustration at the end isn't helping.
OK, onto the sell pile with you, book!
Displaying 1 of 1 review