Showing posts with label game: the laundry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label game: the laundry. Show all posts

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Cubicle 7 and Call of Cthulhu part ways (Old News)




They say any news you haven't heard is new news. However, since the announcement came out in December of last year, and it's already March 2018, it still feels a bit old. But no less shocking.

Three Call of Cthulhu-powered settings from Cubicle 7 have lost the license to the system, and must now retool their material for a new (unnamed system). That's The Laundry (which I collected), World War Cthulhu, and Cthulhu Britannica. Official statement from the Forums of Cubicle 7:

Cubicle 7’s Call of Cthulhu license expires at the end of the year and by mutual agreement with Chaosium it is not going to be renewed. There are no hard feelings on either side, and we are still on great terms - these things happen. Call of Cthulhu is Chaosium’s baby and we wish them all the best. 
We’ve enjoyed working with Call of Cthulhu and Chaosium, but we’re also looking forward to the challenge of designing our own game systems for Cthulhu Britannica, World War Cthulhu and The Laundry. Putting together games that really showcase the themes of their setting is what we do best, after all! Keep an eye on the newsletter for more information in due course.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Armchair Reviews: The Mythos Dossiers (for The Laundry RPG)

I've done reviews for the other two books for The Laundry RPG here:

The Laundry RPG
Laundry Files: Agent's Handbook

And now I'm reviewing their latest book: The Mythos Dossiers.

Interesting and detailed depiction of a very familiar desk in the novels of The Laundry series. I shan't spoil anything.

The Mythos Dossiers is an interesting supplement / sourcebook. The presentation and content of the sourcebook to emulate actual files that would be found in the intelligence dossiers. Like the novel, these files are codenamed rather interestingly: BLUE HADES, ANNING BLACK, EQUUS STELLAR, PLUTO KOBOLD, etc. and are more or less consistently used throughout the sourcebook across all 'files', reinforcing the feel of working for a bureaucratic agency dealing with the supernatural.

The formats of the files found in the dossiers are many and varied: there are letters, handwritten and typewritten; there are transcripts of recorded interviews; there are photos that are vague yet suggestive; there are diagrams; there are situation reports and assessments; and so on.

Some of them are quite humorous, such as the BLUE HADES interview; others are terrifying in their implications. Even better, the more files that you read in each dossier, the more you learn about each topic -- players and GMs may end up drawing connections between things that they wouldn't have seen taking each file individually.

GMs can use this sourcebook as inspiration for scenarios and campaigns. They can also hand out entire dossiers grouped by codename to get PCs ready for a scenario tackling that dossier. They can also hand out files piecemeal, allowing the PCs to learn more and more as an adventure or scenario progresses.

I love this sourcebook -- it feels true to both inspirations: the classic Call of Cthulhu handouts and The Laundry novels.
I neglected to mention that there are game mechanics and stats for certain things not covered already in the main RPG book.

I have to say that this source really seals the deal for me -- I must run The Laundry despite my utter ignorance of the U.K. intelligence community. The ASTERION SNARL material alone give me enough for a non-mythos centered campaign that would be fantastic lead-in to the bigger menaces in the world of The Laundry.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Setting Expeditions: Code Black -- Part IIIb

So to wrap up Code: Black, the setting can easily incorporate source material from a variety of horror RPGs.

Fabulous Monster Hunters

For your standard monster hunting thrills, you can use the source material already in the book and add in things from Supernatural by Margaret Weis Productions or the Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel RPGs by Eden Studios. Look no further than White Wolf's World of Darkness and New World of Darkness for different spins on classic monsters.

Keep in mind, however, that the primary approach toward monsters in Code: Black is that -- at their core -- all these monsters are also former inmates on Prison: Earth. They're evil, and because they're not human, they tend to be more touch by Evil than humans. Of course, some humans could probably give them a run for their money; and maybe one or two are 'redeemable' by human standards. But those are few and far between. Most monsters are for killing, pure and simple. It's just that there are enough numbers of them that all out war between the monsters and humans would make things very messy, especially for those born without The Sight -- the ability to truly see things for what they are. So there's an uneasy truce, and killings are only countenanced in set rules of engagement.

Stalking the Mythos

For modern Cthulhu-inspired horrors, look to the newish The Laundry RPG, the semi-newish Trail of Cthulhu, and the older Delta Green for different takes on organizations taking on the mythos in modern society.

The Laundry contributes an interesting take on the nature of the Deep Ones and the greater powers of a mythos-choked Earth, and the tenuous detente with the various occult organizations of the world. It also posits a math-based basis for magic and summoning of creatures that was explained more fully in the novels of Charles Stross. Furthermore, it gives source material on the possible structure of anti-mythos government agencies not only in the U.K., but also around the world.

Trail of Cthulhu has a plethora of adventures set in modern times that will challenge the agents of Code: Black's Brotherhood of Gilgamesh; Delta Green will give an example of a cell-structure based conspiracy of mythos-fighters in the American idiom that can be easily tweaked to avoid contradictions with the material from The Laundry.

Exploring True Reality

For strange invaders from alternate dimensions that may or may not be heaven or hell, try to find a copy of Kult and pick up JAGS Wonderland and JAGS Book of Knots. Esoterrorists is another must-read for this type of horror exploration.

Kult's main proposition -- that the true reality is the city known as Metropolis, and our reality is a prison meant to keep humanity from awakening to their true nature -- is very in sync with the cosmology of Code: Black. Furthermore, the creatures and monstrosities that fill the RPG are more inspired by the Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm Street movies and books -- and perhaps the Silent Hill series of games, which can make for a different change of pace adventure as well.

JAGS Wonderland & Book of Knots are very similar, though realized through a wonderfully dark and consistent use of the Alice novels as both inspiration and metaphor for humans dealing with the dangers of different levels of reality.

Esoterrorists tackles agents struggling to stop the breakdown of our reality, and covering up the attempts of Esoterrorists to release imprisoned intellects and entities and extradimensional realities into our own.


All in all, Code: Black is a lovely kitchen sink setting that allows GMs and players to make use of almost any horror RPG material.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

My Fiction Online: Triskaidekaturions

I guess that running a modern horror game, but with a slightly more light-hearted touch, has been with me for a while.

My prior posts on The Laundry RPG reminded me about a short story I'd written a while back and was published just last September 2011: Triskaidekaturions.

I used the (slightly misspelled) name I'd come up with for an even older post on Campaign Premises.


Monday, February 13, 2012

Armchair Reviews: The Laundry RPG


The Laundry RPG is based on the series of novels, novellas, and short stories by Charles Stross that detail the adventures of "Bob Howard" in a setting that mixes espionage, office bureaucracy, math, computer theory, geek culture, and unspeakable gods.

Now, since I like the series, it stands to reason that I'd be predisposed to an RPG set in its milieu.

However, I have to say that I also like the RPG on its own merits. Here are the reasons why.

Layout

The book / PDF document has a great feel to it, as the layout has the look of a dossier of material. While most of the fonts are the same, there are 'paper-clipped' photos and annotations in different paper types and fonts to reinforce that feeling.

Writing

The style of writing is clear and clean, with a mixture of exposition and explanation and just enough of the humor and informality to be The Laundry. It doesn't dip into Stross's tendency to throw sink-or-swim bits of espionage telling detail or mathematical esoterica that work so well in the fiction, but would leave gamers screaming bloody murder.

Updated Character Creation

It looks similar to the fast character creation rules in Call of Cthulhu, and it should -- The Laundry RPG uses the same Basic Role-Playing system. However, there are some modifications and additions to that process.

Characteristic Rolls -- back in the day, there were only Knowledge Rolls, Idea Rolls, and Luck rolls that were all percentile chances based on a STATx5 formula. Now there are Effort Rolls, Endurance Rolls, Agility Rolls and Influence Rolls, also based on the same formula. I like it, because it makes attributes faster than the old method of referring to the Resistance Table (which still exists, but only for instances with opposing difficulties).

Personality Types and Assignment & Training -- in COC, your Profession determined your primary skill set. Now you have Personality Types and Assignment & Training which do the same thing, but with different rationale. This fits in with the Laundry getting people from all walks of life and backgrounds, and then shoehorning them into the org because they know too damn much about the wrong things.

Possessions -- you get some default equipment based on your work in the Laundry and your various skillsets.

Great Setting Resources

Chapters Nine, Twelve, and Thirteen give great starting background material for folks unfamiliar with U.K. government intelligence institutions and their international counterparts, and the Laundry itself, of course.

Chapters Nineteen and Twenty-One define some pretty important code words in the Laundry setting: BLUE HADES, DEEP SEVEN, GORGONS, and of course, CODE NIGHTMARE GREEN.

Chapters Ten, Eleven, and Fifteen share some of the gear and flavor of working in an occult espionage agency plagued by modern views of bureaucratic best practice.

Chapter Fourteen is a welcome chapter, as it deals with magic. Devotees of the series know that magic isn't as per traditional Cthulhu spellcrafting goes -- there's a layer of mind-straining electromagnetic and mathematical theory on it. Here's where we get to differentiate between mathematical sorcery, traditional sorcery, and the enigmatically named true sorcery. Also, some spells that are mentioned in the books make an appearance here.

Chapter Eighteen has the statted-out characters that appear in the series, as is tradition for many IP-related sourcebooks. What is great is the inclusion of stats for generic support personnel (Plumbers, Cleaners, Baggers, and Toshers) -- unlike the more maverick and isolated cell-structures of the American-based Delta Green RPG / sourcebook, the Laundry is an organization that supports its personnel as much as it tortures them.

Overall, a great book! I just wish that the PDF had a better set of bookmarks.