Allow me to step away from the World’s Most Hotly Debated RPG on-line for a bit, and try the latest installment of the Achtung! Cthulhu journey line. Operation Snowstorm is a little bit bit completely different from a number of the different adventures in that it takes place in Canada, after the US has entered the battle, and by default is a mission undertaken by Majestic brokers.

Disclaimer

I used to be despatched a assessment copy of Operation Snowstorm by Modiphius Entertainment. I’ve reviewed a number of different Achtung! Cthulhu merchandise. While I’ve not had an opportunity to play this journey, I’ve had expertise working and enjoying the 2d20 System. 

Achtung! Cthulhu Mission: Operation Snowstorm

ACHTUNG! CTHULHU CREATED BY CHRIS BIRCH
Writing Ben Maunder
Editor John Houlihan
Cartographer Ute Gundacker
Graphic Designers Michal E. Cross, Matthew Comben, Richard L. Gale
Project Managers James Barry, Gavin Dady
Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 Creative Lead John Houlihan

Mission Brief

Operation Snowstorm is a 32 web page PDF, together with a credit web page, a desk of contents, 4 pages of handouts, and two pages of advertisements for different Modiphius merchandise. The formatting of this journey follows the identical “worn pages” structure of earlier Achtung! Cthulhu merchandise, and consists of a number of blueprints of areas that the participant characters might go to.

The Plan

This journey is split into the next sections:

• Mission Briefing & Goals
• Act One: Enter the Storm
• Act Two: The Lock and the Key
• Act Three: Choices
• Debriefing

While there are Mythos shenanigans happening, sadly, there aren’t any Nazis to shoot, punch, or blow up.

Oh, Canada

A Majestic analysis base has gone silent, and the PCs are despatched to British Colombia to research the trigger. To get to their mission goal, the PCs will want chilly climate gear, and the power to climb.

Upon reaching the analysis facility, the PCs might want to poke round to seek out clues. They might be able to discover provides and supplementary weapons, and with some luck and time, they’ll discover a surviving member of the army, a Majestic scientist, and somebody nonetheless alive in her lab that clearly shouldn’t be.

Eventually the workforce will discover out that the scientist is experimenting with an historical stone that was excavated from a web site close by. While she has managed to make her personal, um, enhancement process from her experiments, the longer the stone is free from its burial place, the broader the scope of winter turns into, and the extra these close by are affected by The Presence.

The Presence is mutating folks and animals into harmful carnivorous berserkers. In some circumstances, the transformation is much more excessive. Eventually a few of these contaminated by the Presence would possibly rework into lesser Wendigos. 

When the contaminated overflow the part of the bottom the place they have been trapped, the PCs should survive till a gaggle of Pathfinders Demon Hunters, Indigenous troops working with Majestic, relieve them. At this level within the journey, the PCs have to select between serving to the scientist smuggle the pill away from the outpost, in opposition to the needs of the Pathfinders, or if they’re going to face a Child of the Wendigo guarding the location the place the pill has been entombed.

From a mechanical standpoint, this journey is partaking a number of extra guidelines than a number of the different adventures on this sequence. Specifically, in a number of locations it’s utilizing the prolonged process guidelines to trace journeys in tough terrain, and a possible race to flee with the pill on a prepare.

I really feel like this can be a pure transition from “starter” merchandise to get folks within the line, to adventures which might be designed to complement teams which have the core guidelines and are enjoying ongoing video games. This journey notably doesn’t embrace pregen characters.

I’m not overly thrilled with one other journey involving chilly climate that equates to the presence of Wendigo associated lore. I’m nonetheless a little bit conflicted realizing that some Indigenous persons are uncomfortable with Wendigo lore getting used on this method, but additionally as a result of it’s a observe that’s been performed a number of instances already. That mentioned, I just like the addition of the pill as a possible harbinger of everlasting winter, with the Wendigo results being extra of a aspect story.

I actually like the concept the PCs should resolve whether or not to assist a clearly morally compromised scientist on “their side,” doing a little unnatural issues to create her personal super-soldiers, or the Demon Hunters, who’ve rather more ethical readability about coping with harmful supernatural issues.

It’s additionally price noting that most of the earlier Achtung! Cthulhu adventures have had the next “pulp” quotient. There are some horrific issues, however for essentially the most half, it’s evil Nazis utilizing superscience and evil magic to do unhealthy issues, and PCs discovering out how you can blow them to Kingdom Come earlier than their plans take impact. This is unquestionably extra of a horror journey than a number of the earlier entries within the 2d20 line.

While there may be some grotesque physique horror and cannibalism within the journey, I really feel like the actual content material warning I wish to present concerning the journey is the surviving army officer on the base. It’s totally doable that the character will use a gun to commit suicide in entrance of the PCs, and I really feel like this may increasingly cross a variety of character traces. I do know it’s a trope in horror tales when somebody has “seen too much,” but it surely even hit me a little bit more durable than I anticipated simply studying the journey, so be sure to’re utilizing security instruments and respecting your participant’s boundaries when you run this journey. Its fairly straightforward to seek out different methods for this NPC to hazard himself in a fashion that received’t go away the PCs helplessly witnessing a graphic suicide.

Mission Accomplished

This is a really atmospheric journey, utilizing the isolation and the chilly to inform the story, and including in varied charts and problems that may reinforce the risks of touring in blizzard situations for an prolonged time period. I respect the ethical quandary offered to the participant characters, even when I very a lot hope they don’t aspect with the soulless Majestic scientist.

Mission Scrapped

I’d have beloved a extra The Thing really feel from some sort of mythos menace than going to the Wendigo effectively once more. I want there was a content material warning up entrance for some parts of the journey.

Qualified Recommendation–A product with numerous constructive elements, however consumers might wish to perceive the context of the product and what it incorporates earlier than transferring it forward of different purchases.

I feel this can be a strong journey, and switching to a extra horror-themed journey after a number of the extra pulp oriented adventures could also be a pleasant change of tempo. That mentioned, it’s not a gradual transition to a horror story, it dives proper in. If you wish to preserve your Achtung! Cthulhu tales targeted extra on saving the world from evil Nazi sorcerers, you would possibly have the ability to delay selecting this one up for some time.