There have been a lot of interesting new products and
successful Kickstarter campaigns for the huge field of Cthulhu boardgames and
RPGs lately, e.g. Cthulhu Wars by Sandy Peterson or the re-publishing of the
famous "Horror in the Orient Express" campaign by Chaosium.
One new series which definitely stands out is the great
Achtung! Cthulhu by Chris Birch (Modiphius). It is a huge and exciting World
War 2 setting, where heroic soldiers and agents (including partially real
heroic characters from the historic past) fight against the evil and madness of
the Nazi regime. All of this including of course occult happenings and supernatural
mythos forces from the Lovecraftian universe.
"Wartime Roleplaying....
with Tentacles!"
I'm pretty sure that Achtung! Cthulhu will be the next
big thing. The last Kickstarter project raised more than 170.000,- GBP (whereas
the initial goal has been 8.000,- GBP), and will bring us beside exciting
full-colored hardcover books and lots of additional PDF Guides, also amazing
miniatures and other fine stuff. I'm especially curious about the
Investigator's and Keeper's Guide, and even more about two fantastic campaigns
("Shadows over Atlantis" & "The Assault on the Mountains of
Madness") - I hope that I'll write about these great books here sometime
soon.
The content and production value of the following Cthulhu
adventures is outstanding. From the tight and exciting story itself, through
the stunning artwork (beautiful maps and handouts!!) to the detailed historic
research including pre-defined characters. I'm really impressed!! :-)
Campaign "Zero Point"
Part 1: Three Kings
In the first part of the "Zero Point" campaign
(which consists of five episodes), you start as investigators for the British Secret
Intelligence Service in the early years of the war. You are dropped over
Czechoslovakia and have to work together with the local resistance, to analyse
scary happenings around the strange Castle Karlstein. Lots of people are missed
and there are rumors about a mad doctor (Dr. Kammerstein) doing horrific
things. It's a fine and exciting adventure with quite a lot of action, and lots
of variants and possibilities for the keeper to lead through the story -
depending on the gaming group strengths and preferences. Great atmosphere, very
consistent setting and good twists at the end!
Part 2: Heroes of the Sea
In the second adventure of the campaign (also containing
five episodes) you follow-up as investigators for the British Secret Service.
This time you find yourself in Dunkirk, where 300.000 Allied soldiers are
closed in by the Germans and need to be evacuated urgently. Unfortunately
insane mythos creatures from the deep sea are making this unfeasible challenge
even more hopeless. This time the story is more frightening and more mythos
stuff is involved, also the preparation is even more perfect than "Three
Kings", which is hard to achieve. I liked this story very much!
Of course both adventures can be also played as
stand-alone session, depending on your plans and the availability of your
group.
Single Adventures
The Trellborg Monstrosities
This is the first "pure" stand-alone adventure
of Achtung! Cthulhu and plays in 1943 on the northern front of the war, in
Finland and Norway. Mad German occultists are searching for a horrible and
supernatural weapon out of the dark cold, whereas the question is, if the
Allies can prevent these horrros from Norse myth coming to life. Great artwork
(already the cover is awesome!) and very diversified dangers and challenges
have to be faced, when the players have to cross enemy lines and have to
interact with scary NPCs. The setting is again appealing and
haunting - and you'll have a great scary time giving your best to save the
world!
From the producer: Discover the secret history of World War Two - stories of the amazing
heroism which struggled to overthrow a nightmare alliance of science and
the occult, of frightening inhuman conspiracies from the depths of
time, and the unbelievable war machines which were the product of Nazi
scientific genius - and how close we all came to a slithering end!
Play
a huge range of classic wartime heroes such as Russian political
officers, German U-Boat commanders, British commandoes, RAF pilots, US
rangers, Washington investigators, London journalists, Hollywood
starlets, and resistance fighters from all across Europe, who must all
unite in the battle against the darker side of World War Two. Play a
full campaign leading from the opening shots of the War in 1939, through
intrigue and adventure in Occupied Europe, the siege of Berlin in 1945,
and finally the cold wastes of Antarctica in 1946!
FOUR ROLEPLAYING SYSTEMS
The world of Achtung! Cthulhu is a huge and terrifying World War 2 setting for four
popular roleplaying game systems: Call of Cthulhu, Savage Worlds
(Realms of Cthulhu), Trail of Cthulhu & The PDQ System (the Trail of
Cthulhu & PDQ Conversions are currently in layout for Three
Kings).
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