Dossier 1 – The Maw Review – Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu scenario, Dossier No 1 – The Maw, written by Matthis Sperlis and Björn Soentgerath, produced by OBSCURIAT WALSER.

Dossier 1 – The Maw Review – Call of Cthulhu
This is a review of the Call of Cthulhu scenario Dossier 1 – The Maw, written by Matthis Sperlis and Björn Soentgerath, the first scenario in the Obscuriat Walse series. You can find the written review on mjrrpg.com You can purchase the scenario from DriveThruRPG. And credit to CryoChamber for use of their album ‘Cthulhu.’

In Short: Top-notch layout and design complement a meaty, two-part investigative and adventure focused scenario that makes full use of its setting and colourful NPCs, but does need a bit of work from the Keeper to smooth over a mechanically difficult climax. DISCLAIMER: I was provided with a free review copy.

Spoilers-Lite for Players and Keepers:

Dossier No 1 – The Maw, written by Matthis Sperlis and Björn Soentgerath, is the first in the Obscuriat Walser series of German scenarios, and so far, the only translated into English, put out by the appropriately named OBSCURIAT WALSER. Centered around Obscuriat Severin Walser, a sort of occult-focused antiquarian, and his business in the fictional German town of Aken in the 1920s. The Maw tasks the investigators with hunting down a lost, high-value shipment Walser had been waiting for, leading into a beefy two-part, 5-8 hour, very classic-feeling scenario with a balanced mix of investigation and adventure.

The bulk of the scenario is a very classic-feeling (and indeed an unofficial sequel to a Lovecraft story) investigation, moving from location to location largely freeform through Aken, finding clues and talking to people of interest. The slow ratcheting of mystery and tension is done very well, and without giving too much away, the quiet investigative sections are perfectly balanced with eventually excitement and suspense. Aken is also very rooted in its time and place, giving extra texture to the exploration. I don’t have the book myself, but I imagine Berlin: The Wicked City would go alone well with this scenario.

The scenario itself is a hefty 54 pages of text, along with 36 pages of stats, handouts, and pregens. You’ll also get three .pdf versions (a small-size hyperlinked .pdf, a full-sized print-focused .pdf, and a background-less printer-friendly .pdf), a clean text version of the handouts, and two fillable custom character sheets, one full colour, one printer-friendly. Completely ignoring anything else, it is a huge amount of content for its price.

Miskatonic Repository creators, myself very much included, should take note of The Maw’s layout and design. The legibility rivals professional products, with narrative text, text boxes, lists, and images all arrayed in a clean and understandable manner that still looks great. A lot of care can be plainly seen, with custom backgrounds, borders, text box and image frames, and list markers. A combination of stock period pictures and some staged photos (with the writing/editing staff providing actors, I believe) break up the text and add colour to the setting.

The standout feature of the layout are the summary pages at the end of each scene, condensing the scene’s setting and main events, where the investigators may go to next, additional hints and leads that may be found in the scene, as well as additional investigative options that a Keeper may include if they desire or if the investigators want to poke around more. Though a beefy scenario, these summary pages help keep the everything manageable, and after a read through of the full text, Keepers can mostly refer to these summaries as a reminder while preparing or running the scenario. I really hope more scenarios, including officially published scenarios, include sections like this, as they make preparation much, much easier. As far as layout and physical design goes, The Maw is near perfect, with the only addition I could think of being a flowchart, but that’s a personal preference for me (I always draw my own flowcharts before running anyways, but its nice to have one already there).

As with the general layout and design, the bundle of handouts is also detailed and believable. The scenario opens with the investigators receiving a bunch of handouts, and its neat to right away hand ‘control’ of the initial investigation to the players by letting them sort through the various documents and notes before getting into the meat of the game. I particularly like one appendix, a set of NPC bookmarks with pictures and names, and I’ve already stolen that idea for my own future scenarios to both help the Keeper and players keep all the various characters in order. A physical collection of the handouts is also available on OBSCURIAT WALSER’s website – it looks fantastic, though the shipping for me across an ocean would be a bit much, but for those in Europe or with deep pockets, it looks very neat.

There are a few criticisms, though most of them I’ll talk about below as they spoil a few moments, and for the most part impacts Keepers more than players. While very well designed and constructed, there are occasional awkwardly worded phrases. Another editing pass might have helped smooth out the translation, though it is all fully understandable.

Only two pregenerated investigators are included. Unless a scenario is specifically designed for a specific number of investigators or highly encourages players to bring their own, I always prefer at least four pregenerated characters. I don’t feel like the scenario is particularly designed towards only two investigators, as you’ll likely be able to tell from the spoiler-full section. A custom, fillable character sheet is included, and I’m always excited to see custom character sheets, but it still would have been ideal to have two more premade characters as detailed as the ones already included. You can find the two additional investigators I rolled up here if you need two more and don’t want to make them yourself.

One last point that isn’t much of a criticism, is that while the NPCs are colourful and fleshed out with portraits, stats, and detailed backgrounds, it’s easy to miss out on a few of them completely, and many only show up for a single scene. I hope they pop-up as reoccurring characters in future Obscuriat Walser scenarios, otherwise it seems like a lot of effort for one-scene appearances.

Overall, I had a great time not only running The Maw, but just reading it. A unique setting, fun NPCs, great handouts, and a classic investigative feeling with a thrilling conclusion make playing the scenario great fun. As a Keeper and a scenario creator, the layout and design are also top notch, and a reminder that arranging content is as important as writing it. Highly recommended.
The Maw is available on DriveThruRPG.

Before you go, though, maybe you would be interested in reading some other scenario reviews?

MJRRG: Branches of Bone – Cthulhu Dark Ages, A Chill in Abashiri – A 1920s Taisho-Era Japan

Seeds of Terror: Series Overview, The Mummy of Pemberley Grange, Endless Light, One Less Grave, Hand of Glory, Tickets Please , Fish in a Barrel

Miskatonic Repository: Dossier 1 – The Maw

Chaosium: Amidst the Ancient Trees, Gateways to Terror Overview, The Necropolis, What’s in the Cellar?, The Dead Boarder

Japonism: Do Gods Dream of Digital Drugs?

Bibliothek 13: A Cup of Horror, Erich!

The Maw is not overly complicated to run, and the summary sections clear up any confusions you might run into when reading through the scenes. The general outline of the scenario is as such:

The investigators are tasked with locating missing package, a stone relief from Egypt, and start out trying to find it at the local train station. From there they learn two missing workers may have been involved with the package, leading the party to the workers’ apartments. More clues lead to a few different places, potentially including a pawn shop, a mob-run restaurant, and a pub. With various rumours and clues, the investigators eventually find their way to an abandoned brick factory, where they fall into a trap that ends the freeform investigative portion of the scenario.

From there on out, the scenario is essentially linear, as the party finds themselves trying to escape an Egyptian tomb. While this could have been a plodding dungeon crawl, the scenario makes it very tense and well paced, from the out-of-control terror of the initial trap, the slow problem solving in complete darkness through a few rooms until finding a light source, then a puzzle to avoid a few deadly traps. The final scene is once again largely free form in how the investigators tackle their escape, evading a ceremony involving a crowd of mummies, beast-men, ghouls, an evil pharaoh and queen, and The Maw itself.

It’s a great contrast to the lower-stakes, relaxed investigation and growing mystery of the first section. There is an escalating sense of dread, as well as complexity, as the chambers become deadlier and larger.

Unfortunately, while the final chamber and escape is an appropriately large and exciting climax, it has some mechanical issues that need to be smoothed over before playing. Some combat-related details are missing, and if played exactly as written, the investigators will inevitable die.

The final scene has the investigators sneak through a massive chamber, then climb up a huge staircase of giant stone blocks. The sneaking through the chamber is great, but the climb is problematic. The creatures notice the party as it escapes up the stairs, leading to two main issues. 1) The number of creatures, and 2) the pace of the final escape up a giant set of stairs.

The number of creatures is not laid out in detail. This isn’t too much of an issue for a normal game, as if the investigators directly attack a horde of monsters they will simply perish, but in the climax of the scene the investigators are shot at by beast-men with a variety of ranged weapons (though stats are only given for a sling). It would be nice to know how many are shooting at the investigators, or have some advice on how to adjust the number depending on the group size. Otherwise, in conjunction with the next issue, the investigators will inevitably be turned into pincushions during their escape.

To make things simple, I gave each player the option to focus on climbing, or to try to take cover with a Dodge roll. If they focused on climbing or failed their Dodge, I would make a single ranged attack on each of them, with an added penalty die once they were halfway up the stairs, and on a hit do a simple 1D6 damage.

The other issue with monster numbers is ghouls – to be specific, the three ghouls the scenario includes. While the ghouls in the scenario are a little weaker than those in the Keeper Rulebook or Malleus Monstrorum, a single ghoul is fast and has three attacks of 2D4, more than enough to tear apart an investigator or two in a single turn. The investigators may have one or two magical items that can fend off the ghouls, but if they don’t, or for any investigator unlucky enough to not be carrying one of the items, they are 100% dead. If the Keeper is determined to kill an investigator or three, then three ghouls will certainly do that. For my run, I reduced the number down to a single ghoul. Along with the constant raining arrows and spears, one investigator still died, and the others escaped only by the skin of their teeth.

The second main issue is the pace of escaping up the stairs. There are 30 bocks to climb, and the scenario says investigators can climb two a turn with a DEX or Climb roll, otherwise one a turn. I refuse to run a potential 30 round combat in Call of Cthulhu, and if the investigators are being shot at every one of those rounds, probability is not on their side, and they will almost certainly die.

For my run, I reduced the blocks by half, and allowed the investigators to sneak a bit of the way up thanks to a distraction before being noticed. I’d also suggest allowing an investigator to climb 3 blocks with a Hard success, and 4 with an Extreme success. Alternatively, this section could be converted with the Chase rules, or condensed down to a single Climb roll if a group is running low on time, or does not want to get into an extended combat scene.

Despite these speed bumps, our group’s escape was exciting and tense. One investigator had already gone insane by this point, but managed to cause a distraction, allowing the others to climb a good ways up the stairs before being noticed. The rain of missiles miraculously didn’t hit any of them over four rounds, and at the top of the stairs the fastest investigator desperately fought off the ghoul until another investigator with the magic relief could arrive to drive off the creature. A final brawl with a mummy capped off the excitement as the party wrestled a stone block into place to block off the tunnel, and finally the three bruised and bloodied survivors found their way back to Aken.