Endless Light Review: Call of Cthulhu (Seeds of Terror)

This is a review for the Call of Cthulhu scenario Endless Light, written by Allan Carrey, produced by Type40, the second entry in the Seeds of Terror series.

Endless Light Review – Call of Cthulhu (Seeds of Terror)
This is a review of the Call of Cthulhu scenario The Mummy of Pemberley Grange, by Type 40, the first scenario in their Seeds of Terror series. You can find the written review on mjrrpg.com. You can purchase the scenario from DriveThruRPG on its own, or as a bundle with three other Seeds of Terror scenarios, or get it through Type40’s Patreon.

In-short:

An atmospheric and hectic two-or-so hour scenario for any group. It can be run almost straight out of the box with little-to-no preparation. Highly recommended for anyone from first timers to experienced players, though the keeper should be ready for improvisation.

Spoilers-lite for players and Keepers:

Endless Light is the second Seeds of Terror scenario, (you can read the review of the first Seeds scenario, Mummy of Pemberley Grange, here) and as such is a very short scenario meant to be run with minimal prep and lasting only a few hours (my run took a touch over two hours). It is somewhat comparable to Chasioum’s other beginner scenarios, like the free Lightless Beacon or the Gateways to Terror scenarios, though likely to take longer than those scenario’s convention-focused one-hour run times (though I think it would be fun to try with Endless Light!), and requiring more Keeper improvisation due to the shorter but denser page count. I found it easier to run than the first Seeds scenario, Pemberley Manor, and think it could be run after a single read-through without having to prepare anything extra.

As with most Seeds, Endless Light is location-restricted and time-sensitive. In this case, it is an especially atmospheric location, set on a desolate island, and ramps up to break neck speed. This is not a calm investigative session, but a frantic and stressful race to solve or escape its central conflict.

The handouts are also beautiful, and all of them are of practical use. The only complaint I may have is that the pregen characters are not all that varied, with one engineer, and the rest of the characters mostly being variations of ‘gruff sailor,’ and their backstory sections being unevenly filled in.

Overall, if your group wants a one or two hour thrill ride of scenario, this is good bet and well recommended. I fully plan on running it again, and will keep it as a back-pocket, spur of the moment game to whip out on an unplanned game-night.

If you’re a keeper and want to run this for your group, or if you’re a player and want to subtly prod your forever-GM into running it for you, you can get Endless Light, along with the other Seeds of Terror scenarios, on DriveThruRPG individually or as part of a bundle, or on Type40’s Patreon.

If you are a player, stop here! Below be spoilers, along with keeper suggestions. You have been warned.

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!

Keeper Review and Suggestions:

Endless Light can be a frantic scenario, but isn’t necessarily a combat or action-focused scenario. There are not that many rolls that must be made at all, besides a handful of DEX rolls to avoid falling over and the prerequisite SAN tests. Otherwise, similar to the previous Seed, The Mummy of Pemberey Grange, the players could potentially ‘solve’ the scenario very quickly without much in the way of opposition. Simply toss a stick of dynamite down some tunnels then sit back, kick up their feet, and watch the fire works.

Even without much extra input from the Keeper, there is plenty to distract the players from that straightforward solution. In rapid succession, a storm turns into earthquakes, earthquakes turn into worm-like Dark Crawlers bursting from the ground, Deep Ones swarm in to hunt the worms, and both worms and Dark Ones trigger SAN test, likely pushing at least one investigator into a bout of madness, if not insanity. And that’s just running the scenario word-for-word.

You can ratchet up the tension by constantly interrupting the group’s discussions with descriptions of the horrible sounds between storm and the hunt, extra earthquakes and DEX rolls, and maybe the occasional Dark Crawler squirming into the room or a Deep One peeking in on the group. Some good stormy sound effects can also go a long way to really drive home the isolation and hostility of the setting. There is a balancing act of course, as interrupting the players too much could irritate or paralyze them, while giving them free reign deflates the tension and makes it too easy to see the ‘solution’ to the problem. This shouldn’t be much of an issue as long as you keep things moving at a clip, maybe by keeping a specific runtime in mind. I ran it with a three hour limit, and might have pushed the group a little too hard with the apocalyptic events going on around them, resulting in the game ending at pretty close to the two hour mark. But I had a great time, and players seemed to also enjoy themselves as well.

During our run, the players didn’t get an immediate sense that destruction of the lighthouse would be that big of an issue, and so very rationally decided to flee. The text does lay out near the end that if the lighthouse is destroyed, it spells the deaths of numerous sailors. If I ran it again, I would add a bit more foreshadowing to the introduction, making it clear that this area of coast is the both heavily trafficked, and also very dangerous. Something along the lines of – before the lighthouse was set up over a century ago, there were frequent shipwrecks, and if the light were to go out, there would no doubt be scores of lives at risk.

The only other large issue I could see, but which didn’t crop up in my game, is if your players are more dungeon-crawling or monster-hunting inclined. If so, they might be tempted to scour every tunnel and corner of the island on the maps, trying to kill the countless Dark Crawlers or Deep Ones. If this came up, I would ratchet up the earthquakes to make it clear the island didn’t have much time left, and certainly not enough time to hunt down every last worm. If that didn’t work, a Deep One can make short work of investigator on its own, and even a handful of Dark Crawlers can mess up someone up quickly. Keep the combat fast, and players should realise quickly, especially as they lack proper weapons, that they are not going to be able to murder their way out of the crisis.

I really enjoyed the scenario, and very much plan to run it again, adding only the above mentioned foreshadowing. It could also be wild convention game if run on a strict one-hour time limit, something I’d very much like to try.