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Trail of Cthulhu: The Dance in the Blood

The Dance in the Blood

More terror stalks Britian in what is the author's third purist adventure. The introduction soon explains the dreadful truth that underlies the plot, one that involves the Investigators personally. Neatly, it doesn't matter if you are using the pre-generated characters provided or your players produce their own - the way it is set up enables you to accommodate either option. If players actually like their own characters, though, it is probably best to run this as a one-off. If they want to take the third path and create their own charaters specifically for this adventure, a few requirements are laid out. Indeed, Investigators who don't meet those requirements probably won't work very well in this adventure.

There's a neat twist to the Stability rules for Investigators going insane, that turns matters over to the players and makes it almost pleasurable to go round the bend. This will work best for those players who enjoy role-playing mental issues making it almost a competition to see who goes mad first, but other groups may find that they prefer the traditional approach of attempting to cling on to their sanity while the Keeper tries to chip it away (even if they do enjoy role-playing the almost inevitable madness). Take a look and choose what will work best for your game.

The main NPCs are listed, with brief notes and advice on role-playing them (particularly useful if you like to act out a bit - voices, gestures and the like - when speaking as that character). Then the adventure itself starts with the Investigators gathering in an hotel in the Lake District, not knowing each other and mostly a bit baffled about why they have even come there... then they see the photograph. That alone should rock them back on their heels, but it is only the beginning. Strange dreams, events, encounters... and no matter what their Stability score says, they will probably feel that they are going mad.

There are a few handouts - notes to be found and a crude sketchmap of the area - but that's about it. Note that with the pre-generated characters, you'll have to transfer them to a character sheet, they are presented in a narrative style which would make it fairly difficult to cut them out and distribute them amongst the players.

This is possibly the most purist adventure I have read. It ends with the Investigators facing a stark choice and an inevitable doom. It won't suit some folks, but if you are ready to embrace some mind-numbing horror that fair sends shivers up your spine... try this one cold, dark night.

Return to The Dance in the Blood page.

Reviewed: 31 January 2017