Kapcon 30

This weekend I attended Kapcon 30, an annual, local, roleplaying convention (currently New Zealand does not have any restrictions on mass-gathering events). I've written about previous Kapcon thoughts and reflections here. For this 'con I offered to facilitate 3 sessions of Soaring Lions, my new professional wrestling game.

Promotional posters were tastefully exhibited

I think professional wrestling games work well in a one-shot 'con setting, as they encourage players to really unleash their creativity in a medium known for larger-than-life drama where no wrestler's concept is too wild or strange.  The format of a wrestling show provides a natural canvas for characters to ally, betray, smack-talk and throw-down with one another.

In the past I've run games like this using Joe J Prince's Piledrivers and Powerbombs, chokeslam of darkness edition which is an excellent game. For my own wrestling adventure I wanted to make the simplest possible system that would allow the players to focus on trying to compete both inside and outside the ring (if you're interested, I expand more about my design intent on the excellent Diceratalks podcast).   

Setup included a special ring-table for matches

For Kapcon 30 I offered space for up to 8 players per session and I wasn't disappointed by the response.  I had a great time, and I also was able to make a few minor refinements to the game document, to reflect some of the questions and comments made around the table (if you've already purchased Soaring Lions, a new version has automatically been added to your library).

Some of my highlights from the day included:

• The Soaring Leviathan and the (Bald) Eagle squaring off in a match while a player waves a sign reading "I'm here for the air show"
• Creepy jester Punchinelly faces off with soft-hearted brawler Polar Bear on a floating ice floe, surrounded by a ring of fire. 
• The Velvet Volcano, a character usually full of rage discovers scientology and patiently explains it to a bewildered audience.
• Powerball, a wrestler sent from the future to save the present is immortalised with a Powerball Memorial Title. Additional titles are added as the show proceeds including the Mega-Powerball Title and Ultra-Powerball Title.
• Code 14, a child abandoned at a wrestling match and raised by the performers struggles to learn whether the villainous Professional is his real father (the paternity test results are suspended above the ring as part of a ladder match).
• Crowd favourite Tractor Trent blows the production budget on a ring entrance that involves corn-stalks exploding into popcorn and a children's choir.
• The hapless Hurricane fails to win a single glory point, despite a range of inventive uses of static electricity in ring entrances and a match at a mountain-top weather station.
• The Opulent Boomer manages to convince his previous arch-nemesis the Invercargill Hipster that while he may have already ruined his future, there's still much he can teach.
• Unrelated to Soaring Lions: being asked by a new player whether I've tried Wicked Lies & Alibis before?

Where legends were made...

The only downsides to the day were that I was completely exhausted afterwards, and i didn't really get much of a chance to catch up with old friends.  Perhaps I can do better next time...  roll on Kapcon 31!

A Small But Vicious Dog

Over the last few months we've been exploring the world of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (3rd edition) from Fantasy Flight Games.  Described by the publisher as: "an new, exciting way to experience the popular Warhammer Fantasy setting... a grim world, constantly at war", I think WFRP 3e is an important game, albeit an imperfect one.  The following text contains my reflections of the game thus far.

Why WFRP?
There are many, many fantasy games on the market, so why does Warhammer have enduring appeal?  For me the answer is in several parts.  One part is nostalgia. For anyone who played the Warhammer Fantasy Battle, or earlier editions of the roleplaying game, WFRP is a familiar, well resolved, interesting fantasy setting, that contains most typical fantasy tropes alongside some tongue-in-cheek humour.

The second major appeal of the game has always been the idea that instead of playing a fledgling hero, you play a character just trying to get by.  Careers like Rat Catcher or Servant are the norm, and darkness is everywhere.  Perhaps the characters will survive the adventure and prosper, but they may simply end up mutilated, mentally scarred or diseased, trying desperately to get into a more respectable career.  If you favour a dark fantasy game, WFRP has always been a good choice.

Finally the game has always been well supported with a large range of sourcebooks and scenarios.  Some classic campaigns, like The Enemy Within are considered classics and extremely innovative for their time.

Pick a card, any card
The most striking difference between the 3rd edition of WFRP and it's predecessors, is the use of cards.  The bespoke card decks are used for the entirety of the options available to players during combat, reflecting wounds, insanities, diseases, madness, mutation, monsters and even in-game locations.

The cards are neat.  They take a lot of the load from the GM to manage the rules for the players, and make clear the potential outcomes for most results.  On the down side, the cards take up a lot of space during the game, and require careful management between sessions to prevent hours of searching later, and make second hand versions of the game a touch-and-go option.

It should be noted that, toward the end of the license, Fantasy Flight published a series of books which enable the game to be played without many of the cards previously required, and allowed players to plan career development at a glance (rather than scouring endless card decks).  The utility of these books make them an important addition to the smooth operation of the game.

Other innovations
There are several other neat elements of WFRP 3e.  The game is practically bursting with little innovations, such as the stance tracker, which tracks whether a character is more conservative or aggressive and allows you to swap dice in your pool accordingly, social combat rules, a descriptive range tracker, and overall party tension measure.  And of course, the special dice which so polarised gamers when the game was released.

Although many of these elements are not smoothly integrated, they are extremely innovative for a traditional system with such a long history.  For these reasons I think the game is important in the history of roleplaying game design, and many have been influential on subsequent designs.

Quirks and peculiarities
WFRP 3e is not without some eyebrow raising limitations.  For example, High Elves are included as a core character race, but widely marginalised in the settings for most of the scenarios written for the game.  In addition, no elf expansion was ever made limiting elf-specific career options.

The game was originally designed for just 4 players with card options to match.  These days this problem is easily resolved by finding the basic card summary online and printing one for each player.

While the materials included in the scenario and expansion boxes are beautiful, there's a criminal shortage of usable maps and the organisation of the scenario books is not always ideal.  Should the card decks become separated from the scenario books they are almost unplayable in some cases.

The party tension meter is a really nice idea, but unless your players are rigorous in staying in character, most bickering around a game table happens 'out-of-character' and punishing players for bickering in character actually works against a richer, more fully realised, game.

The bespoke dice mechanic is a nice way of randomising several possible outcomes in a single throw, but dice outcome cancelling each other out, means bigger pools (as the character advance their careers) complicate the resolution of this mechanic without any additional benefit.

Freeing careers from a tree-progression system and allowing an almost unlimited ability to pick up new cards means that players have a lot more options in terms of character development, but this also means players face a bewildering array of choices, especially when they start playing the game.

In summary
WFRP 3e is an eccentric game.  It is bursting full of ideas and neat tricks, but much of the way these work together at the table feels unfinished, and doesn't live up to their full potential.  Indeed, you might say that Fantasy Flight refined the system when it made Star Wars: Edge of the Empire and again for Genesys.

If you like the setting, and can get past the challenges inherent in the game collateral (bespoke dice and large numbers of cards) you'll find a surprising accessible system, that delivers a solid gaming experience, particularly for early-career characters.

Reports from the Orient Express - Trieste

This is a review of the Trieste chapter of the revised Call of Cthulhu campaign Horror on the Orient Express (Chaosium: 2014) based on actual play.  I intend to review each chapter of this venerable campaign as we play through it, highlighting what I see as strengths and weaknesses, and providing some suggestions along the way for what I’d do differently if running it again.  Spoilers follow, so don’t read on if you ever plan to play in this classic Call of Cthulhu campaign.

Cold Wind Blowing

The next stop on the Orient Express is Trieste where the search for the simulacrum leads the investigators a magical medallion, competition between rival cults and a restless spirit.  The scenario outlines each of these actors and their likely actions against a rough timeline, which supports a more freeform and player-driven style game, but also requires the Keeper to ensure they have prepared thoroughly prior to each session.

The Bora is a non-player character in this scenario, a relentless wind that howls through Trieste and threatens to blow their investigators off their feet.  The Bora is also linked to the local cult and the beings they worship, providing a neat way to highlight this influence from the moment the investigators disembark from the train (albeit without the characters realising it initially).  While this has the potential to be very atmospheric it does place a burden on the Keeper to continually find ways to make this meaningful and interesting for the players.

One suggestion is to use a soundtrack, a short clip of a howling wind, looped and played at the table as background noise; this had my players hunching against an imaginary freezing wind.  Turn up the volume when the investigators are outside.  Another suggestion is for the Keeper to make a list of events to intersperse when the investigators venture out, for example:

• Two elderly nuns are crossing the road, when the wind knocks one to the ground.  A trolley car bears down on the pair, and it’s not clear if it can brake in time.  Will an investigator risk serious injury to save a stranger?
• The wind rips apart large sign depicting a man enjoying a glass of wine. Fragments of the sign containing the decapitated head hurtle toward the investigators.
• A hat, scarf and coat swirl in a wind eddy nearby, giving the impression that someone recently shed a disguise.
• Warm rain spatters an investigator, the wind driving it into their moth or eyes, but when they get inside they find they are covered in blood.  Perhaps Fenalik is hunting nearby, or perhaps a butcher lost control of a bucket of offal?

Perhaps the most memorable encounters of the scenario is with the ghost of Johann Winckelmann, whose possessions the investigators must trace.  Although the sequence of events necessary to initiate the haunting is slightly tenuous (investigation at the museum, a meeting with a private collector, then hours spent deciphering a dairy in classical Greek) the subsequent haunting is extremely atmospheric, presenting a range of suggestions to unnerve the investigators in escalating levels of severity.  Unfortunately the climax of this encounter (the image of Bacchus) is a clue more likely to confuse or frustrate the players than drive the story onward.

Aside from the possibility of the investigators conducting a séance there seems to be little purpose to this additional obfuscation.  The scenario does provide several ways to steer the investigators to the ultimate aim of this section, the recovery of the amulet, but it seems to me that the story of Winckelmann’s murder, conveyed either through a vision or dream (ideally where the investigators can have some level of interaction) would, in my opinion, provide the investigators with a much clearer idea of what they are looking for (an old inn built over ancient ruins) than the scripted path, and also allow their historical or library use skills to come to the fore while scanning old town plans or historic records.

Antonio Termona and the lloigor cult are the other major consideration for this scenario.  On one hand it is refreshing to introduce a new cult and their supernatural masters who care nothing for the simulacrum.  On the other hand is seems a little derivative to again have the characters recover a powerful artefact that is sought by a dangerous cult.  Ultimately my players found the incidental link between cults and artefacts to be somewhat confusing.  The key clues which shed light on this probable link are held by the Brothers of the Skin, who the investigators are unlikely to confront unless they are particularly aggressive, and by Helmut the mutilated former investigator, who the characters are unlikely to engage with unless they feel particularly sympathetic or trusting.

I suggest that should the investigators need a further push to investigate Helmut, they might happen across a newspaper article that describes Helmut as having located ancient treasure horde in an unnamed cave complex.  The following day the cult acts, Helmut is mutilated and the paper publishes a story clarifying that their earlier report was in error.

The scenario proposes that the investigators are under surveillance by both cults from a fairly early stage, but there are few details to support the Keeper to describe these watchers beyond the first and most awkward.  I suggest there is an opportunity here to play on the investigators paranoia and highlight the insidious nature of both cults; the lloigor cult are locals and virtually anyone could be a member, while the Brother of the Skin might have taken the appearance of any NPC the investigators have previously encountered. 

A prepared keeper might create some details for NPCs the characters are likely to encounter (hotel concierge, waiter, trolley car or taxi driver, newspaper seller etc.) and then arrange for subsequent encounters to seem increasingly suspicious as the NPC has different mannerisms, seems to use a different dominant hand, or be engaged in furtive conversation with other passers-by when the investigators approach.

The final act of this scenario occurs when the investigators venture into the caverns at Postumia.  At this point they almost certainly know they are venturing into the lion’s den and this may be problematic, given they have no direct knowledge that the simulacrum is located there.  The investigators may wish to enter by stealth, some may wish to be heavily armed and some may feel the risk is simply too great to make the trip at all.  One suggestion, if there is some wavering on the part of the investigators, is for Helmut to remember having seen a part of the simulacrum in the caverns.

There is little detail about the nearby town and countryside, and the influence of the cult in these environs, which was problematic as my group decided to investigate these in some detail before committing to enter the caverns.   

The scripted setup is neat and atmospheric as the friendly ‘guide’ takes them deeper beneath the earth where a chaotic confrontation occurs.  Despite the seemingly huge odds, as scripted the investigators are more spectators than protagonists as rival cultists battle.  To give the players greater agency I suggest that, assuming the investigators came ready for action, they should have the opportunity to defeat Antonio Termona and Marco in a running battle prior to their encounter with the lloigor and perhaps Carlo and one of the Brothers of the Skin as they make their escape with the leg.

Running this final scene can be a significant challenge for the Keeper if they are to convey tension, pace and danger while also allowing the investigators to interact with the scripted story elements and not feel like they are merely spectators and not in any real physical jeopardy.  However if you can pull this off, and the players are willing to meet you half-way, there is the makings of a thrilling and memorable climax, which is likely to be a highlight of the campaign.

In summary:

PROS

• Trieste and the Bora provide a unique and highly atmospheric backdrop for the scenario.
• The haunting scene is very evocative and likely to create a very memorable experience your players.
• The plot involving rival cults and an unrelated Mythos artefact is refreshing and allows the Keeper some flexibility, and the investigators some agency, in how events resolve .
• The climax provides a further epic and highly atmospheric encounter, with relatively minimal risk to the Investigators.

CONS

• The plot for the scenario seems unnecessarily complex in places and is a little derivative of the overall campaign plot.
• While the factions and key protagonists are described, allowing for some contingency for investigator action, the Keeper will likely need to invent additional details to keep this convincing if the scenario runs for multiple sessions.
• The investigators may not have sufficient information or motivation to risk the dangers of venturing into the caverns at Postumia.
• The investigators are spectators for much of the final confrontation in the caverns and their meeting with the lloigor, as scripted, may seem a little contrived.

In summary the Trieste chapter of the campaign pulls together a range of very evocative scenes and set-pieces, and allows a reasonable degree of flexibility in how the bulk of the scenario plays out.  However, some parts of the plot are not well linked, and the Keeper may need to improvise and invent additional detail in order to keep the investigators on track for the epic final climax.  

Other parts of this review:
The Blood Red Fez
Overview & London
Paris
Lausanne
Milan
Venice
Constantinople (1204)

Trieste
Dream Zagreb
Constantinople (330)
Vinkovci
Belgrade
Sofia
Constantinople (1923)
Across Europe
London Again & The Dreamlands Express
Istanbul (2013)
The Final Analysis

Reports from the Orient Express - Constantinople 1204

This is a review of the Constantinople (1204) chapter of the revised Call of Cthulhu campaign Horror on the Orient Express (Chaosium: 2014) based on actual play.  I intend to review each chapter of this venerable campaign as we play through it, highlighting what I see as strengths and weaknesses, and providing some suggestions along the way for what I’d do differently if running it again.  Spoilers follow, so don’t read on if you ever plan to play in this classic Call of Cthulhu campaign.

The Dark Crusader

The Dark Ages flashback scenario provides the players an opportunity to experience a completely different change of pace.  This scenario presents a series of combat-based encounters, each of which the characters must overcome to in order to reach their final, fateful, meeting with Sedefkar himself.

The scenario provides six pre-generated characters, which should make it easy for the players to get right into the action.  Unfortunately these characters are only presented in the traditional format, with background text and summarised statistics in the usual double column format used for NPCS, running over several pages.  This means you can’t easily print and cut them out, as the information for one character runs over several pages and contains some details the players may not want to share immediately.  More importantly, under 7^th Edition the players need to have a breakdown of their Hard and Extreme success chance for every skill, and this format does not allow for this in any but the combat skills. 

The GM is left with the option of a messy print and cut, leaving players to make on-the-fly calculations at the table, preparing in advance by transcribing the characters onto proper character sheets by hand, or using the electronic Dark Ages character sheet found in the ‘Through the Ages’ publication with does these calculations automatically (I strongly recommend the latter to save time and as you can also copy and paste some of the key character information and inventory into the second page, and enter the relevant weapon damage and luck scores, making it easy for the players to get started).

While this arrangement for pre-generated characters is not uncommon in Chaosium published Call of Cthulhu publications, it does seem an unusual oversight in a product like Horror on the Orient Express which is packed with so many handouts, and which boasts an entire book of ready-to-play pre-generated characters.

The backdrop of the scenario is both extremely evocative and unique.  The year is 1204 and Constantinople has been attacked by the army of the fourth crusade and is in the throes of pillage by Frankish and Venetian forces.  The characters take the roles of  knights or other members of the Crusader army  tasked with searching the city for unholy artefacts they suspect are having a baleful influence. 

After some high-level opening scenes which allow the players as initial chance to describe their investigator and briefly interact with the famous siege, the scenario slowly introduces the investigators to the city, beginning with a briefing from their patron and  a series of vignettes to illustrate the plight of its inhabitants.  There is a minor ambush with the remnants of the defending forces to get the players some combat experience and a memorable and disturbing interview with a priest who has critical information.

From this point on the scenario consists primarily of a series of brutal combat encounters, as the investigators fight their way to a final confrontation with Sedefkar.  Whether or not your group will enjoy this  depends a great deal on your players and their preferred style of play.

On one hand, the fast-paced brutality of these encounters provides a marked change of pace from the main campaign thus far, and as the players have new, temporary, investigators they can lay waste to their foes with little concern of consequence.  Players who enjoy such action will likely have a grand time.

On the other hand, if your players enjoy the art of investigation, and prefer to find non-violent methods of resolving challenges, then they may not enjoy this scenario as much and you may need to be prepared to improvise options for the investigators to trick, intimidate or avoid their foes, and potentially modify the pre-generated characters to ensure their skills support this approach.

The most unusual encounter in the scenario involves the investigators venturing into an underground cistern where they are confronted by an angry Anatolian Dragon.  This fearsome beast is foreshadowed several times, but has no actual relevance to the core plot of the scenario, aside from providing proof of supernatural forces and the desperation of the cities inhabitants (who summoned it).

The dragon is a tough combat encounter for the characters, and while a full group of investigators are likely to prevail over it if they attack collectively, it is likely that several of their number will be slain, or significantly injured (under 7^th Edition the Dragon is making a number of attacks equal to the investigators fighting it +2 per round, so despite a relatively low chance to hit of 30%, if the Keeper does get a higher level of success than the players the Investigators are likely to suffer significant damage.  If the Keeper scores an extreme success an investigator will be killed.

To prevail, the investigators must gamble they can kill the dragon (and spot its weakness) before the dragon has opportunity to kill or incapacitate too many of their number.  Should the investigators encounter the dragon piecemeal, or prolong the fight, the outcome could be much more deadly.

The encounter with the Dragon, therefore, has the potential to be tense, and cool (after all how many Cthulhu investigators can boast they have killed a dragon?).  However, it also has the potential to kill or significantly weaken the investigators, and while this would be a reasonable outcome the climax of the scenario, this is just a side encounter with no direct connection to the plot.  Accordingly, if you plan to run this encounter I suggest either giving the characters one mark of destiny at the beginning of the scenario (allowing them to survive one otherwise fatal injury) or to allow the investigators a chance to sneak up (and potentially past) the dragon as it feeds on its previous victims.

The final encounter with the skin demons and the Red Tower is a truly loathsome affair and has the potential to be both extremely memorable for the series of grisly scenes, and solidify the evil of the Simulacrum in the minds of the players.  There are certainly echoes of the authors previous work on Masks of Nyarlathotep here.

The six levels of tower the investigators must traverse to confront Sedefkar, while evocative, present little opportunity for interaction for the players.  Keepers might like to create details of some of Sedefkar’s victims (locals, venetians or fellow Franks) and allow the investigators an opportunity to swear vengeance on their behalf, or free those who are not fatally wounded to keep things interesting.

The final encounter with Sedefkar is similar in stakes to the Dragon fight earlier.  If the characters attack together, spy the weakness in the Simulacrum, and seek to overwhelm their foe, they are likely to prevail before he completes the ritual.

If they attack piecemeal or in an uncoordinated way, or fail to deduce the joins in the Simulacrum they are likely to die rapidly.  In my game the investigators swiftly worked out that they could use a fighting manoeuvre to disarm Sedekfar without much effort, knock off one piece of armour and strike him down with relative ease (as the bonus die for outnumbering offset the penalty dice or increased level of difficulty for targeting a specific location).  However, none of the characters were uninjured, and several had only a single hit point, so it could easily have worked out differently.

In summary:

PROS

• There are pre-generated investigators each with their own backstory.
• The setting and plot are very atmospheric and interesting and there is good foreshadowing of major campaign elements, and elements within the scenario.
• The players may enjoy the change of pace by playing violent and disposable pre-generated investigators in a series of bloody battles.
• The investigators battle, and have a chance to defeat, many memorable foes including a Dragon and Sedefkar himself.

CONS

• The pre-generated character sheets are not well set out for actual use.
• The plot is relatively linear and there are few scripted opportunities to investigate or resolve encounters through non-violent means.
• If run as written, the plot has the potential to be extremely deadly, and the investigators are likely to be defeated unless the work together and look for weaknesses in their foes.

In summary the Dark Ages chapter of the campaign has the potential to provide a great change of pace, with some truly horrific scenes and memorable battles.  However, without some modification there is a risk that the linear nature of the plot and high stakes of several combat encounters could result in the death of some or all of the investigators before they reach the climax and leave a bad taste in the mouths of some players.


Other parts of this review:

The Blood Red Fez
Overview & London
Paris
Lausanne
Milan
Venice

Constantinople (1204)
Trieste
Dream Zagreb
Constantinople (330)
Vinkovci
Belgrade
Sofia
Constantinople (1923)
Across Europe
London Again & The Dreamlands Express
Istanbul (2013)
The Final Analysis

Reports from the Orient Express - Venice

This is a review of the Venice chapter of the revised Call of Cthulhu campaign Horror on the Orient Express (Chaosium: 2014) based on actual play.  I intend to review each chapter of this venerable campaign as we play through it, highlighting what I see as strengths and weaknesses, and providing some suggestions along the way for what I’d do differently if running it again.  Spoilers follow, so don’t read on if you ever plan to play in this classic Call of Cthulhu campaign.

Death (and Love) in a Gondola

Venice is the second chapter of the campaign set in fascist Italy.  This chapter weaves together two separate plots; ‘Love in Venice’ a love story involving a recently bereaved woman, a young communist and a cruel blackshirt leader, and ‘Death in Venice’ the search for a piece of the simulacrum and a key text.  Both plots are set against the atmospheric backdrop of Venice and a mood of increasing fear within the city, as the canal waters slowly turn black and a murderer stalks the city by night.

This chapter has the potential to paint an extremely evocative picture, weaving the simultaneous threads of the treasure hunt and romantic drama together into a series of memorable scenes.  There are a lot of good suggestions to bring this material to life and my group ranked this as one of their favourite chapters thus far, due to the mix of evocative locations, high tension and simmering threat.

Love in Venice

The 'Love in Venice' plot provides the Keeper with antagonists in the form of Alberto Rossini and his Blackshirts thugs who can intimidate and inject some action for the investigators, keeping them on their toes as they progress though the 'Death in Venice' investigation. 

Some aspects of this plot are well detailed – Maria’s residence, the core cast and the actions of the Blackshirts each day, although notably absent are details about the friends of the Stagliani family and how they respond to events, and a good description of the cemetery island of San Michelle.  The Keeper must do some research in advance if they plan to bring such a memorable location to life for the players.

This plot is largely detached from the investigative aspect of the scenario, meaning that if the characters do not chose to intervene in the drama, there is little likelihood they will have contact with the Blackshirts unless they openly mark themselves as foreigners in later days as the city is gripped by fear.  Accordingly, I suggest that Keepers who wish to keep the tension high, ensure the investigators become a focus of Blackshirt attention even if they fail to help Maria and Georgio.

It seems plausible that the investigators might be linked to the murders – there are few actual details about these crimes in the text, and the subsequent taint of the canals to support the Keeper should the investigators decide to spend time and effort looking into it (where does Fenalik reside during the day? what is the source of the contagion of the canals? what can be deduced from a chemical analysis etc.) 

One suggestion is that the Investigators (particularly those suffering from the baleful influence of the Simulacrum who may seem unhealthy and possibly even infectious) become prime suspects.  The Blackshirts likely require little in terms of proof beyond the arrival of the investigators in Venice coinciding with the first murder and beginning of the canal taint, and the fact that the first murder occurred near their hotel.  As a result they might harass and accuse the investigators, claiming they are troublemakers or foreign agents intent on sabotage. 

This keeps the pressure on the investigators while they search for the simulacrum piece, and provides a challenge the investigators might resolve any number of ways, from establishing their bona fides and appealing for official help (Credit Rating and Persuade) to evasion and subterfuge  (Stealth and Disguise) to outright conflict (Intimidate and Fighting).

Death in Venice

The second plot leads the investigators through iconic Venice locations on a hunt for two items, the first a text known as The Devil’s Simulare can eventually be tracked to the Biblioteca Marciana, where diligent researchers find it amidst a relocated collection.

Regrettably the only suggestion presented is for the Investigators to try and steal the book using Sleight of Hand.  My group considered a wide range of options from bribery to cat-burglary to recover the text, and the scenario text provided little support for the Keeper in furnishing such details.  A wise keeper might look online for some details of the Biblioteca Marciana to be prepared for such contingencies.

The quest for the simulacrum leg leads the investigators through another burglary, to a dilapidated doll factory and on to a tense encounter in a city bell tower.  These are all great scenes; my only real suggestion is that the dolls in the Gremanci factory have the potential to really keep the suspense high.  So rather than a tedious bookkeeping search, the characters feel themselves being watched by the china-blue eyes of the dolls.  When they look up from the records, they are sure one of the dolls has moved, and now sits closer than before.

Perhaps Fenalik in his mist form is playing with them, pushing them to find the next piece, or perhaps the investigators are simply tired and their minds are playing tricks.  Either way it should make the scene even more memorable for the players, as their investigators close in on the final lead.

The final scene in the clock tower is terrific, with the investigators braving larger than life automata as they search for the leg, and catching a glimpse of their nemesis.  There is a neat level of physical and mental threat at the pivotal moment, my only suggestion here is that investigators who chose not to brave the inner workings of the clock, but lurk nearby while their comrades do this dangerous work, might also be struck by flying cogs or springs if they fail a luck check, as the clock breaks down.

In summary:

PROS

• There are several simultaneous plots which allow the Keeper to weave several stories together and allow the investigators some choice about how they will proceed.
• The mix of a human drama, alongside the supernatural quest, provides a good opportunity for the characters to face mundane foes and help some ordinary people in need.
• The backdrop of Venice increasingly gripped by fear, is excellent and extremely atmospheric, ratcheting up the pressure and tension.
• There are several memorable scenes, and the final conclusion of this chapter with the automata in the clock tower should be a real campaign highlight.

CONS

• There are some parts of each plot which are not well developed, leaving the Keeper to fill in the details if the investigators deviate from the anticipated path.
• As scripted it is possible that the characters will not participate in the ‘Love in Venice’ plot which potentially removes the Keeper’s option to the Blackshirts as antagonists to heighten the tension.
• Much like Paris, the search for the simulacrum piece is relatively linear, based in research, and there are few scripted opportunities for the Keeper to make things interesting for more action focused characters until the final scene.

In summary the Venice chapter has a great mix of tension and drama, mixing both mundane and supernatural elements into a potentially very memorable experience for the players.  There are some places where a Keeper might need to think fast, improvise, or have prepared in advance to smooth out rougher edges.  There is also potential for the Keeper to tweak the existing plot to create even more mundane and supernatural tension if they so desire.  A well-crafted chapter oozing detail, Venice is a real highlight of the campaign to this point.

Other parts of this review:
The Blood Red Fez
Overview & London
Paris
Lausanne
Milan
Venice

Constantinople (1204)
Trieste
Dream Zagreb
Constantinople (330)
Vinkovci
Belgrade
Sofia
Constantinople (1923)
Across Europe
London Again & The Dreamlands Express
Istanbul (2013)
The Final Analysis