Damnation View

Damnation View is the first story book for the metaplot of Cthulhutech specifically the year 2086.  It provides several different plots covering the different styles of gameplay that Cthulhutech supports.

The book first part of the book gives an overview of the year 2086 including what is trendy in popular culture, what's going on in tech research, and a timeline which incorporates the adventures covered later in the book.  From there on out it's 4 major plot arcs.

The first covers the situation in Asia, specifically China although what goes on there will have ramifications for the entire continent.  This scenario is aimed towards mecha/Engel pilots on the main front as events get a bit exciting.  Readers will notice very quickly that the scenario is such that while players can participate they can't really change the outcome of the scenario.  On this I am torn.  On the one hand the players are just a handful of people in a very large and complex situation so their involvement can be fairly explained as, at best, only be able to slightly affect the war especially since this is early in the metaplot.  Also, being that this is metaplot it has to have a forced outcome or else future metaplot won't make sense.  Still the way it's presented makes it feel more forced then it probably could have been.

The second scenario is aimed towards NEG agents/police investigator types although it has a few areas that would allow a mecha pilot to have a little fun as well.  It follows the machinations of Esoteric Order of Dagon as they attempt to locate their sleeping leader, Cthulhu.  The premise is pretty cool and can allow for  some great investigations by the players and it certainly leads on a wild ride.  The ending felt unsatisfactory to me.  While several of the scenarios end with nominal losses for humanity this one felt especially unfair as it's noted if the players seem to be getting an upper hand to dump in reinforcements.  Oh, and if they somehow get through those it doesn't really matter because the EOD will succeed somewhere else anyways.  Again while understanding the needs of the metaplot my thoughts would lean to designing a scenario where the outcome does not have to be pre-ordained in such a way where the GM is basically declaring player defeat regardless of what they do.  It feels quite disempowering to know the result would be the same if the characters had just decided to go to the bar and drink the night away!

The third scenario deals with a cult dedicated to Shub-Niggurath and the efforts of the Eldritch Society to thwart it.  I thought this scenario was interesting in that it laid out an enemy for the tagers other then just straight up waves of Dhohanoids and their mortal lackeys.  If there is one really, really controversial section of this book it comes up here as the creatures the characters will face have a save or become a sex slave power.  It's fair to say that due to this the players and GM should probably discuss what they are comfortable with before delving into the scenario although with a game where sanity and the horrors of war and the universe are big themes this should probably be done regardless.  Beyond that wrinkle the scenario this one feels less heavy handed then the previous although the solution is rather set in stone.  The upside is that the expected outcome is actually good for the players if they survive.

The final scenario is another one for mecha/Engel pilots.  This time they're taking on the Migou and going back to Alaska with some additional twists thrown in.  Again the results are pre-ordained but this one, like the first scenario, didn't feel quite as heavy handed.  It's possible that due to nature of military scale operations that having a scenario where the characters are just participants is more believable and it's easier to accept that they can't single-handedly change the outcome of the war.  On smaller scale it feels like possible victories are being snatched away.

Overall this feels like a 6 out of 10.  Production values are fantastic as usual.  The art is great, the fiction is entertaining.  As mentioned many times above the big drawback is that all the scenarios are entirely railroaded.  Better options might have been to give scenarios where each scenario could have multiple outcomes that could affect later scenarios by increasing/decreasing opposition forces, adding or removing allies or equipment, etc rather then completely forcing one result with no room for variation.  With gamers variation has to be expected and players can generally sense a railroad.  This will cause the GM extra work to smooth out these issues.  The book does provide some non-scenario material in updated EOD mecha and new player options for occupation and the scenarios are a pure gold for a GM who likes taking ideas and crafting their own tale anyways.

Available in: Physical* and PDF

Links: Amazon, Noble Knight, DriveThrupRPG

Next Up: Masks of Nyarlathotep (Call of Cthulhu)