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Call of Cthulhu: Covert Actions

Covert Actions

Opening with the statement 'There is no such thing as a standard mission' this book contains six complete scenarios for you to play through. Each one combines a regular espionage mission appropriate to British or allied secret agents with a lurking undertow of Mythos mischief that turns ordinary missions (filled with people ready to arrest, torture or kill agents at the drop of a hat) into something far more dangerous and horrific. All take place in the 1970s and take the party around the globe from the Arctic to Australia, with Moscow and Cyprus included in the itinerary. Real world events and Mythos horror meld to provide adventures to challenge and terrify the best and bravest that the spy world can offer.

First up, Puddles Become Lakes is set in the United Kingdom in 1970, where a chase to find a leak to the Soviets takes the party from the squalor of the East End of London to the high-living of a golf tournament in St Andrews - the 1970 Open no less. The initial task is to contain a journalist who seems to know too much, and find out where the information's coming from. Section 46 chips in with orders to investigate dreams with the concern that the Mythos may be attempting to pervert the regular give and take of espionage to its own ends. Oh, and the rot extends to the House of Lords... but were they passing information to the Soviets or to someone else? Compressed into five days, the party needs to move fast to deal with it all, visiting the House of Lords, a London pub, a stately home and other locations in their quest with a climaz at the Open golf championship pavillion.

Next, the Forcing Move takes the action to Iceland and another sporting event, the World Chess Championship of 1972. Here the party is tasked to persuade a low-level KGB double-agent that now is not the time to defect, he's of more use where he is. Meanwhile, word is that an American cultist is in town with a nefarious plot in mind... Is this an explanation for Bobby Fischer's erratic and paranoid behaviour? From a briefing in a posh London gentleman's club (complete with special arrangements to admit any female party members to the consternation of other fellows in the club!) it's off to Reykjavik via a quick meeting with N. There's ample background on Reykjavik to help you run the adventure effectively, and plenty about the chess tournament which provides a backdrop to events. It gets quite tense at times...

Then, Cadenza takes the party to Cyprus in 1974 as Turkey invades, with the action centred in Limassol and RAF Akrotiri. If the Royal Air Force personnel didn't have enough to worry about with the invasion there's a rising tide of sabotage and this is what the party - in the guise of RAF Police - are sent to investigate. The adventure revolves around a strange musical transmission picked up by a technician running a numbers station on the base and a honeypot trap that appears to be aimed at stealing a nuclear warhead... but the true explanation is mind-blowing! How will the party account for their discoveries to their superiors?

The fourth adventure is Guardians of the Forest, and takes place in East Timor. The Australians are covertly assisting an Indonesian invasion and have asked the British for help - and the party is sent. Meanwhile N would like them to investigate the disappearance of an expedition studying a remote tribe just before World War 2 broke out. The action starts in Hong Kong, to which they are summoned to receive a briefing on Christmas Day. East Timor is a former Portuguese colony, and their mission is to plant evidence that the current leader of the country is in the pocket of the Communists. From Hong Kong they are flown to Darwin, Australia, thence by boat to East Timor with the action taking place both in the capital city and in the jungle.

Next comes Operation Header, which occurs in the 1970s in Canada. It all begins with the agents being sent to the CIA headquarters in Langley, where it's revealed that they are to investigate a Distant Early Warning (DEW) outpost that has gone silent deep in the Arctic regions... and of course, it's winter! They soon find themselves heading north by airplane then helicopter... finding the outpost damaged and populated mostly by corpses, although there are a few terrified survivors. This is an adventure where atmosphere is important: a dark and bleak location ripe for horror. And a polar bear, plus some Inuit (Eskimo). Survival may well become more important than finding answers...

Finally, The Unclean occurs in Moscow sometime during the 1970s and starts with a rather spectactular defection. Meanwhile Section 46 wants them to investigate a series of deaths going back to the Russian Civil War. There's no mission briefing per se as this scenario starts with them, for whatever reason, manning the night shift for their agency's Moscow station when an unlisted phone rings. Then they are off down a veritable rabbit hole of violence, shady deals and intrigue when it's not clear who - if anyone - can be trusted. Just about every spy agency that is represented in Moscow seems to be in on the action, Russian and foreign alike - Cold War spy games at their very best!

Each adventure is well-resourced with masses of NPCs all pursuing their own agendas and details of locations to provide a backdrop. As just about everywhere is real, you can supplement this with additional information from guidebooks or online - just remember this is supposed to be the 1970s! If you can get hold of old National Geographic magazines, they make a fantastic resource for this style of game. This book provides a series of absorbing scenarios to whisk your party into the Great Game Cold War style.

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Reviewed: 19 December 2017