Well, I thought it might be warmer by the time April came along but that wasn’t meant to be but we do have extra daylight to enjoy as countries time travel to make the most of the local fusion reactor’s emissions as we orbit it in the cold void of space.
The Catcott Collection – 7th Edition Cthulhu, 1920s
Just one adventure played this month other than the Masks campaign so a shorter blog than normal! I can’t say this adventure would have been my first choice to play as it didn’t seem the kind of investigation that appeals to me but it’s a one-on-one adventure, a style that I’d never played before so why not! I do like to play in small groups as you get more time to play the game and the team effort means you each bring something to the adventure. The pressure is on though when it’s just you as you have 100% of the time to make bad dice rolls, the wrong decision or just generally screw up!
The set-up for the game is you are a single student conducting some research into the Catcott Collection at the Bristol Museum in the 1920s and something happens. The majority of the adventure is in your hotel room and the puzzles, more than mysteries, test you and your character’s skills and abilities.
Speaking of the character, the Pre-generated character “Riley” is not much of an investigator type, the most remarkable thing about this one was that they had 10 luck. The statistics and skills are able enough to get you through the adventure but I would have wanted a full blown professor to be confident in the game.
So what was the game like? It was fun to play that’s for sure and settings, description and game play were okay. Being a bit negative, I’m not sure I ‘got’ the game / fully understood everything in the game which is an RPG escape room combined with some symbolism which seemed to be straight from a comparative religion exercise book. That might be exactly what others like and just what the titular Catcott Collection is all about. I wouldn’t know, I’m not that well-read! How did I do? Well I kinda got Riley killed and I didn’t! No spoilers here so you’ll have to play the game to find out what that means! What did I enjoy the most? The thought experiment type situations that come up to challenge your character, Riley. What would I have wanted more of in the adventure? I think I missed the deeper connection to the Catcott Collection in the game. If you know their work this could be an amazing game to play but myself, I had to google who they even were! Glad I played the game though and for the right Keeper and Player this will be a great one shot to play! Catcott Collection (Affiliate Link)
So how is Masks ….?
Uhhh, when you have been playing the Masks of Nyarlathotep Pulp Campaign for a year, you know when you have had a good session and one that just went wrong from the start! I got the wrong end of the stick and was about to poison a village of allies thinking they were about to kill us!! Then I made the wrong spell choice as the majority of the action took place over the three rounds I was casting the spell! And it turns out we’re supposed to be inside rather than outside when the evil monster appeared. I was never so glad to be already insane when we gazed upon the horror!! And to top it all off, when I did get to shoot something (my character is somewhat of a 1920s Lara Croft) I remembered too late that my goal of the adventure was not to shoot it. This was the kinda session you wake up the next day still feeling shell shocked thinking about how it could have gone so badly.
That’s it for this blog entry, all being well next month there will be tales of Delta Green!