Pyramid Pick
No Man's Land
Published by Chaosium
Written by Sam Johnson
$14.95
OK, it's no secret I'm a big Call of Cthulhu fan. If you ever wanted to know why, you need go no further than No Man's Land, a new scenario that is a brilliant melding of Cthulhu Mythos horror with the more mundane, human-inflicted kind.The setting is northeastern France during World War I. Man's ability to invent new ways to kill his fellow man had greatly outstripped the available technology to repair the damage. In addition to machine guns, mortars and grenades, there was mustard, chlorine and phosgene gas. On top of that was horrible overcrowding, terrible sanitation, just about every disease you could think of, influenza epidemics, trench foot and cold, rainy, miserable weather. A perfect place for fans of death, depression and despair.
Which just happens to be the cup of tea of a certain nasty group of Cthulhoid beasties in the area. I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say that when their master plan is revealed, it makes the horrors of war seem like a day at the beach.
No Man's Land starts with the historical story of the "Lost Battalion," the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 308th Infantry of the U.S. Army, ordered to advance "at any cost" in early October of 1918, only to be cut off and surrounded by German troops and besieged for eight days. The player characters are part of a force sent to relieve the trapped soldiers, but dense fog, German trenches and other fortifications . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: November 27, 1998
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