If World War 2 proved a great opportunity for Mythos forces to get on with their own deviltry amongst the chaos, just imagine what they could do with the ongoing hostilities, tensions and confusion of the Cold War? Imagine no longer, here's a resource to enable you to bring the Cold War into your game.

Part 1: Introduction sets the scene. It revisits the ideas expressed in World War Cthulhu: The Darkest Hour, that while the Mythos isn't interested in taking sides in human conflict, it will take advantage of the chaos, fear and suffering that arises from it. If nothing else, the activities of Mythos powers and their minions can always be passed off as having been 'enemy action' rather than exposed for what they really are - a threat to all humanity whichever side they are on. There's a brief but cogent history of the Cold War, loads of detail about the intelligence scene around the worlds, and information about Section 46 which grew out of the Network N of wartime days. The predominent mood is paranoia, it's a time filled with proxy conflicts where it's more important to know not who is fighting but who is backing each side. And the nuclear threat looms over everything and everyone. There's a reminder that this work deals with recent events, some of your group may have lived through them (as I have) or had their lives affected by them, so care must be taken in choosing the themes you want to explore - the example given is the rise of terrorism from the 1970s onwards. Make sure your group is comfortable with what you want to do in your game.

Next, Part 2: Investigator's Resources is mostly concerned with character generation. The core intention is that characters are somewhere within the intelligence scene even before getting involved with Section 46. Some will have done other jobs before being recruited as a spy, others are picked up as potential candidates while still at university. Once recruited, they receive specialist training, and there are a variety of career paths open to them in the intelligence world... and there's always the possibility of a 'double-recruitment' if the other side tries to get them to become a double agent. You also need to decide how the character first became aware of the Mythos, and how Section 46 became aware of him. The assumption is that the character is British, although there is some wiggle-room if you want to have a different background. There are also notes on converting regular Call of Cthulh and World War Cthulhu: The Darkest Hour characters if you have an existing character you'd like to play.

Then the extensive Part 3: Keeper's Handbook covers notes on mission design, reams of material about what is going on around the world intelligence-wise (accompanied by loads of ideas for missions in each area discussed), and a section on likely Mythos threats and how to incorporate them into your game. There are some NPCs... but high-level ones, the party will have heard of them but may well never meet them. There are also notes on cover identities and weapons (but these matters are covered more extensively in the Section 46 Operations Manual). Possibly the most interesting piece of advice is that you should keep the party feeling paranoid - they should never know just who they can trust. You also should create a heady mix of 'Cold War' espionage activities and Mythos machinations, ideally the party will spend a lot of time wondering which is which! If you either lived through the Cold War or are well up on its history it's great to mix in real-world events that your players might have heard about. There's also a section on typical covert activities and how to run them in your game, and an armoury-full of weapons and other handy equipment you may (or may not) wish to issue.

Finally Part 4: Intersections is a full-blown scenario to get your Cold War campaign off to a flying start. It's more of a mini-campaign, if you use everything that's here, though. There's a whole web of intersecting plots going on in Istanbul, but it all begins when the party is sent there to meet a KGB agent who claims he wants to defect. There's a host of NPCs - British, American, Turkish, Russian - not to mention cultists galore, a bunch of spells and many exotic locations to explore, littered with encounters and opportunities for investigation. The structure allows for considerable player freedom, whatever they decide to do, you will have resources to deal with it... and it ends with suggestions for further adventures as well as the likely consequences for this one.

If you fancy exploring the latter part of the 20th century with a Mythos twist, this is the sourcebook for you. The dizzying amount of information will take a while to digest, but once you have you will be in a position to run some exciting, challenging and scary adventures.

Return to Cold War page.

Reviewed: 18 December 2017