Review of the Call of Cthulhu scenario Al-Azif Unearthed: The Unraveling, written by John Crowdis.

Note: I was provided with a free review copy.

In-Short:

An extremely well-produced and fleshed out classic scenario, featuring a fun cast of characters, an action-packed third act, and a wealth of digital extras.

Spoiler-lite for Players and Keepers:

The Unraveling is the first in an upcoming series written by John Crowdis, focusing on the background of the titular Al-Azif – The Necronomicon. The scenario takes place in 1920s Boston, largely inside a fictional, storied hotel called the Ackerly House Hotel, and centres around investigating an ancient scroll that appeared in a classified ad and will be exhibited during a soiree at the hotel. It’s a very classic-feeling premise reminiscent of The Auction, but with enough tricks up its sleeves to stand out.

It’s an extremely well produced scenario as well, among the best on the Miskatonic Repository, and stands alongside official products in many ways. Ample artwork and varied text formatting make reading very smooth, and chapters are well organised with a very detailed table of contents to help navigate the document. The main scenario document is 76 pages in total, made up of 42 pages of main text, 5 pages of stats, 8 pages of 18 handouts, 6 pregen investigators taking up 12 pages, a 3 page ‘Keeper Quick Reference,’ a Keeper’s note page, and the last 4 pages for the table of contents and credits. All in all a very beefy scenario, and its further expanded with a wealth of extras, including maps and tokens for VTT-use, a Keeper Deck of NPCs (cards with character art on the face and stats on the back), and multiple versions of handouts for printing or online use.

There were a few hiccups with the PDF related to the table of contents when I ran the scenario, but Crowdis is quick with updating and correcting the files.

The scenario is a mix of investigation and action, with players able to look into the past of the hotel, the scroll, and interact with a large cast of colourful NPCs. 18 handouts in the form of newspapers, letters, business cards, etc. give players plenty of goodies to pour over, and the character art by Meg Fanning gives the NPCs a nice dash of personality. I’d love to play this again in-person just so I can handout business cards each time the investigators meet a new character. Latter scenes feature large action set pieces that on the surface may seem difficult to handle, but there is plenty of aids and tips on how to run things smoothly.

Despite the hefty page count, The Unraveling is a fairly compact scenario, likely taking most groups one or two sessions, with my run taking two sessions for a total of about seven hours.  We took our time though, and depending on the players and Keeper the scenario could be significantly shortened, and with some sever slashing it could fit a convention-friendly four hours.

Most any investigator could be fit into the scenario, making it very easy to slip it into an ongoing campaign, though there are also six pregenerated investigators included. While they are varied and have some fun details to make them stand out, they are fairly standard as far as premade characters go, with not many direct connections or motivations related to the scenario’s plot. The text helpfully lists ways to include player-made investigators and useful skills, and again most investigator types can work, either by working for the organisation interested in the scroll, or otherwise commissioned to investigate the scroll. I am a big fan of premade investigators though, and I would never complain about some more background for them to give players in one-shots more roleplaying hooks to grab onto. I do very much appreciate one character having their treasured possession being ‘Gobbles the cat.’ MVP right there.

I have very few criticisms, and none related to the actual contents of the scenario, rather more ideas for how to expand on the best parts of it, and as such those are relegated to the spoilers section.

Al-Azif Unearthed: The Unraveling was a blast to run and a pleasure to read. From the perspective of a Miskatonic Repository creator, it should also be used as a standard for how to present community-made work. It’s hard to state how good it looks. Even if you, as a creator, are not interested in running the scenario, it has value just as a source of ideas for layout and design. Highly recommended, and I hope Crowdis continues with the series.

Al-Azif Unearthed: The Unraveling can be found on DriveThruRPG.

Before you go, maybe you would be interested in some of the below reviews or replays?
MJRRPG scenarios, Chaosium-released scenarios, Miskatonic Repository scenarios, Japanese scenarios

The scenario is broken up into a standard three act structure that can be cleanly cut into two sessions or parts.

First, there is an initial meeting and pre-investigation, where the investigators are given the task of going to the Ackerly House Hotel on behalf of the Miskatonic Exhibit Museum to inspect the scroll. They then have a week to do some preliminary investigation, looking up the background of the hotel, and what little they can of the scroll or its seller. If short on time, this first scene could be almost entirely cut out and instead simply dump the players at the hotel door after an explanation of what they are doing.

The investigators then travel to Boston and the hotel. There they have a night and a day before the soiree and displaying of the scroll, before which they have a chance to talk with the seller of the scroll, poke around the hotel, or try to learn about other parties interested in the scroll. They could also stroll out into Boston to do any further research they might not have had a chance to do before leaving. This is also the time for the Keeper to start giving hints that the hotel is haunted, and the text gives plenty of ideas for spooky events. In the end this haunting is mostly set-dressing and red herrings, though some of the ghostly apparitions inhabiting the hotel could help or hinder the party during the third act.

The second act is the soiree itself, and once again, depending on the players or Keeper, this section can greatly vary in length. I took my time with it, and the players likewise dug into the social investigation aspect of the scene. Personally, I find this the best part of the whole scenario, and I imagine Crowdis does as well, with this scene and its associated character introduction pages taking up the bulk of page count.

There is a half dozen interested parties, each led by one detailed and three-dimensional NPC. Keepers that like acting out NPCs should have great fun with this section, bouncing the NPCs off each other, the scenery, and of course the players. The background description of the characters is thorough and gives the Keeper a good picture of their motivations and personality. Each also has a full-body portrait in a subdued cartoony style that accentuates their traits, and each character also comes with personalised business cards. I enjoyed sharing the character art without the names with the players first, then handing out business cards as they met and were introduced to the NPCs one by one.

Once the players have had a chance to get to know the NPCs and inspect the relic, the third act kicks off and the scenario is turned on its head. One of the NPCs fumbles a spell, unleashing the power in the scroll. The hotel is cast into a pocket dimension, and soon the NPC ‘unravels,’ his skin and flesh stripping away and turning into a nigh-unstoppable beast bent on grabbing the scroll. The NPCs (and players) can only flee, but soon find that the hotel is also unravelling, its rooms and floors jumbling at random.

This act takes the form of an extended chase, though in a way that heavily changes how the basic chase rules work, and functioning just fine as regular play if you don’t want to use the chase rules at all. Every time an investigator opens a door they could end up anywhere in the hotel, and each room could have a random environmental hazard and occupant. A Keeper could either roll on three tables each time a player enters a room, making the chase and the hotel layout completely random, or prepare or preroll to save time in session and have a fixed layout.

I went with complete randomisation, and delegated rolling to the players. Conveniently we had three players, so one rolled for each table. Once we got in the swing of things this went along fairly smoothly, though I could see some groups preferring to have everything ready ahead of time to avoid the ‘gamey’ feeling of rolling constantly. I like rolling though, so no problems here. I’m also a big fan of the chase rules in general, though I understand many Keepers do not feel the same. Luckily, I feel this section might work better without the chase rules.

We used them, but if I ran the scenario again, I think I’d do without them. By default chases are usually laid out linearly for simplicities sake, but as the escape from the hotel is completely random, the layout of the chase could quickly branch out if the investigators are separated. Given the randomness of the hazards, this is entirely possible, and indeed in our run all three investigators ended up one their own paths by the end of the scene. The randomness also means the Unraveled, the chaser, can quickly become cut off from the escapees or out of sight. If using the optional idea of having rooms shuffle anytime a door is closed, the chase layout completely breaks down anyways.

I think the smoothest way to run the escape would be to do it without the chase rules, and instead switch to DEX order if the investigators are separated. To make up for the pressure lost by losing the chase framework, you could emphasise the crumbling of the hotel around the party, or even set a timer. Instead of having the Unraveled play by the chase rules, I’d up the chance of it appearing in a room, or even do a roll every ‘turn’ to see if the Unraveled catches the trail of the party.

I made one addition to the ending during our run. The NPCs are given lots of attention, detail, and plenty of time for the investigators to interact with in the soiree, but once the escape begins, they largely fall out of focus. Investigators can save some of them during the escape if they feel so inclined, but if and when they make it out of the hotel the scenario more or less ends. To make the players social investigation and rubbing shoulders in the soiree feel more impactful, once outside the hotel I had the seller of the relic decide on the spot that he wanted to hand off the relic. Any NPCs that escaped would still be interested in obtaining the relic for their own various reasons, but depending on if the party had befriended or saved (or hindered) the NPC, the players would get bonus or penalty die to convince the other NPCs to back down, or to make their case with the seller that the Miskatonic was the safest place for the relic.

Overall, Al-Azif Unearthed: The Unraveling is easy to recommend for its social investigation, wild escape, and sheer production value. It’s a beautifully made scenario, as much fun to look at (and steal ideas from) as it is to run.

Al-Azif Unearthed: The Unraveling can be found on DriveThruRPG.

Before you go, maybe you would be interested in some of the below reviews or replays?
MJRRPG scenarios, Chaosium-released scenarios, Miskatonic Repository scenarios, Japanese scenarios