Pyramid Review
Stunning Eldritch Tales (for Trail of Cthulhu)
Published by Pelgrane Press
Written by Robin D. Laws
Cover and Illustrations by Jérôme Huguenin
82-Page Perfect Bound Book; $17.95
First, Pelgrane Press got the most appropriate author and one of the industry's best in the form of Ken Hite to write the best game of Lovecraftian horror since 1981. Now, it has achieved a double in getting another fantastic author to pen that game's first scenario anthology. That author is Robin D. Laws, the game is Trail of Cthulhu, and the anthology is Stunning Eldritch Tales.
This is a set of four scenarios written for Trail of Cthulhu's Pulp mode, so the play style is slightly more action and adventure orientated. Further, they are inspired by various particular subgenres found in the pulps, including man versus nature, masked adventurers, and international intrigue. In keeping with Trail of Cthulhu, this quartet is set during the desperate decade of the 1930s. However, with varying degrees of difficulty, they could be set in other eras, enabling a Keeper to run them in the 1890s of Cthulhu by Gaslight, Call of Cthulhu's classic 1920s, or even the contemporary time of Cthulhu Now. Moreover, the simplicity of Pelgrane Press' Gumshoe System -- used in the publisher's The Esoterroists, Fear Itself, and its forthcoming Mutant City Blues RPGs -- means that a Keeper could adapt these four to run with the rules system of his choice, including Call of Cthulhu, Cthulhu d20, GURPS Cthulhupunk, or the . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: July 18, 2008
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