Reviewed By Steve Dean

As you might have guessed, this is an adventure for the Call Of Cthulhu rules, set in the days leading up to the second world war. As such it requires the 6^th edition rulebook to play.

The plot revolves around the dastardly goings on inside Castle Karlstein, near Prague, in what was then Czechoslovakia. The players are sent to investigate the strange goings on, children disappearing and screams in the night from the Nazi occupied castle.

This is a standalone adventure, but links in with a planned series, creating a whole campaign. Everything you need to play is here, except the main rule book, of course. There is a decent amount of background material, historical references and such. This really adds to the flavour, but isn’t so much that it becomes over-powering. The author has certainly done her homework.

Otherwise, we have an introduction, the adventure itself, split into manageable episodes, the stats for allies and enemies, and some pre-generated characters so you can get stuck into play as soon as possible. There are also a few new rules to add to the fun, including a trio of new skills.

The adventure itself is varied and would suit the whole variety of Cthulhu characters. The players will need to deal with ordinary citizens, resistance fighters, soldiers, Nazi scientists and mad priests along the way, as well as stay alive without going bonkers.

There’s plenty of opportunity to link this adventure to your own, to customise it as you see fit, and to expand along either your own lines, or to continue with the future releases.

The presentation is very good, interesting and varied but always readable.

Overall then, don’t let the somewhat sensationalised title put you off, this is a professional and well-crafted adventure, one I’m sure will only gain in popularity as more modules and expansions are added.