Cthulhu Britannica: Shadows Over Scotland

Call of Cthulhu RPG

by Stuart Boon

Mysterious, wild and beautiful, Scotland in the 1920s is home to horrors modern and ancient, man-made and star-born. From the rolling pastoral Lowlands to the snow-capped peaks of the Highlands and the seaweed-choked Western Isles, creatures and cultures have taken root in Scotland whose maddening, corrupting influence can be felt far and wide. Fiendish things haunt the hive-like alleys and wynds of old Edinburgh, while Glasgow's streets whisper with rumours of dark terrors in the shipyard shadows on the snaking, poisonous Clyde. And in the isles, murmurs on fishing boats and ferries speak of far older things, of sites of power and standing stones, awakenings and stirrings in forgotten places. Something terrifying lurks in the night, casting dark shadows over Scotland.

Shadows over Scotland is a massive new hardback sourcebook for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game covering Scotland in the 1920s. It

Genres: Role Playing Games, Horror, Fiction

287 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2011

About the author

Stuart Boon (1970- ) was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and grew up in nearby Spruce Grove, Alberta. He emigrated to the United Kingdom in 2002, finally settling in Glasgow, Scotland in 2005, where he currently resides with his wife and lectures at the University of Strathclyde.

Stuart is best known for "Cthulhu Britannica: Shadows Over Scotland" (2011), which won a number of prestigious gaming awards including Best Roleplaying Supplement or Adventure at the 38th Annual Origins Awards (2012), 'Gold' Best Setting at the ENnie Awards (2012), and Best Adventure Collection at the Diehard GameFAN 2011 Tabletop Gaming Awards.

Today, Stuart writes for Chaosium, Golden Goblin Press, Stygian Fox, and others. His latest publication is "The Nineteenth Hole" in Chaosium's Mansions of Madness: Vol 1 - Behind Closed Doors.

Reviews

[Jean-Francois Boivin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great sourcebook, covering all of Scotland's history and its state of affairs in the 1920's. It includes an impressive amount of research done, very well organised (chapters cover the Lowlands, the Highlands, and the Islands), great descriptions of locations, very interesting NPC's for each. This is what a Cthulhu sourcebook should be.

And then, the second half of the book has 6 adventures. I was surprised that they are all good! "Death and Horror Incorporated" has the players deal with a large ghoul colony living in the catacombs under Glasgow and its ancient Necropolis; "The Hand of Abyzou" deals with a fanatical cult who are unknowingly used by their leader whose goal is to awaken the ancient Serpent People elders; "Uisge Beatha (The Water of life)" involves the players with a large Deep One community living around the area of St. Combs and their plan to infect the populace with the "taint" through a locally-brewed whisky (this one has a very innovative "anger tracker" in which the players' interactions with the populace are rated in points, and what response the St. Combs people effect as certain amounts of points are reached"; "Heed the Kraken's Call" takes place in and around the infamous Loch Ness, where the players find out there is something even more sinister living there than the monster of legend, and end up involved in a massive epic clan battle amidst old ruins that border the loch; "The Forbidden Isle" is an old school mystery scenario where players are invited to the Isle of Rum to investigate disappearances that have been going on for decades; and "Star Seed" has the players try to prevent the coming of Colours Out of Space after the discovery of one of their black shards inside the ruins of Skara Brae.

The writing is very literate, sometimes reading like Mythos stories. NPC descriptions are very detailed and diverse (more than I've ever seen in past CoC supplements). Scenarios are broken down into "The Story So Far", then how the players get involved, then descriptions of each locations. The fact that locations are in alphabetical order rather than in the order the players would logically go there is a bit annoying to read, but each scenario has a "plot map" at the end which encapsulates all the locations, which NPC's are there and their motivations, and what clues can be found.

Overall, this is a great amazing book and I can see why it has won an Origins Award!

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good but a missed opportunity in some ways. Why there is not some guidelines to build a Scottish Character is beyond me... And a list with "costs, equipment and services" would be nice to have...