kafka’s shining review of Albion’s Ransom: Little Girl Lost & Albion’s Ransom: Worm of Sixty Winters is available in full at rpg.net 10/10: “this is British horror at its best.” “The Esoterrorists picks up where Cthulhu games sometimes leave off in creating a truly horrific experience without getting into gore and staying true to the cosmic horror […]
Search Results for: Albion's Ransom
20
Apr
Apr
Albion’s Ransom is a full-length campaign for The Esoterrorists.
This could be your toughest case yet. First up, get the girl back. Next, find out if the Esoterrorists are involved. Then shut down their conspiracy. Finally, just try to stay alive.
Little Girl Lost is an Esoterrorists scenario set in the UK, particularly Manchester & Derbyshire. It forms the first part of the two-part Albion’s Ransom sequence, though it is also designed to stand alone. The scenario revolves around a missing 18-year-old student, the daughter of a major figure in the Ordo Veritatis who also happens to be a highly ranked member of the FBI – a former field agent now funded to do research into counterterrorism.
The player characters are brought in to find her – partly as a favor to Van Rijn, but also because there is a risk that she’s been specifically targeted by the Esoterrorists to put pressure on her father.
The sequel to Little Girl Lost, The Worm of Sixty Winters is now available.
People who bought this also bought Book of Unremitting Horror, The Esoterror Fact Book and The Love of Money.
20
Apr
Apr
Worm of Sixty Winters is a full-length campaign for The Esoterrorists. It works as a stand alone adventure, or as the conclusion of Albion’s Ransom: Little Girl Lost.
An Esoterrorist weather control ritual has brought sudden blizzards and extreme temperatures to an unsuspecting England. This they hope will be the first stage of the Fimbulvetr of Norse mythology – a dreadful winter that lasts three full years and heralds Ragnarok, the Viking apocalypse.
You are the American team – brought in as experts in your field – that failed to stop that ritual.
Now only you can prevent the Esoterrorists from causing irreparable damage to the Membrane. In a hazardous chase across a snow-covered Britain, facing sinister cultists, terrifying bikers and ordinary people taking desperate measures to survive the extraordinary circumstances, you must use all your resourcefulness just to carry on.
Featuring additional adventure seeds by Matthew Sanderson which focus on individual tales of horror to personalise the impact of Britain under snow, Worm of Sixty Winters allows your players to fully experience the breakdown of society in the Esoterrorists’ greatest threat to the Membrane.
Given one final chance to make things right, can you prevent the Esoterrorist plot to unleash Fimbulvetr?
People who bought this also bought Albion’s Ransom – Little Girl Lost, Book of Unremitting Horror, and Worldbreaker.
22
Apr
Apr
“You’ve outdone yourself with the Esoterrorists and SSF themes. My reaction to the latter was, “I want to see this movie!””
Robin D Laws, creator of the Esoterrorists
James Semple, sound designer and musician, offers you four new contemporary tracks for your Esoterrorists game, or any game of contemporary horror. The music here incorporates contemporary rhythms, electric guitars and sound design elements in addition to the expected orchestral and cinematic elements.
The Tracks
The Esoterrorists Theme: This music has been written to introduce a session of the game. It begins by hinting at the mystery and horror using sound design and a female vocal. The music then shifts into a faster rhythm culminating in the action theme of the game. The heavy drums and insistent violin ostinato are overlaid with distorted powerchords and squealing lead guitar lines representing the contemporary edge of the game. This track prototypes the sonic palette of the Esoterrorists mixing elements of rock, orchestra and dance music. You can hear a lower quality version of the track here.
Special Suppression Forces: Although much of the Ordo Veritatis work is based on investigation, there comes a time when action is needed and the Special Suppression Forces are called in. This track reflects the overtly military nature of this force and the dangers that they face. The music relies on a lot of very heavy percussion from Japanese taikos and similar instruments but also includes contemporary instrumentation. Eventually the piece closes with a restatement of the main action motif but with even heavier percussion than before.
Little Girl Lost: This track was designed to be played alongside the adventureAlbion’s Ransom: Little Girl Lost. The feeling behind the track was to create a mood evoking the urban and spiritual backdrop of this story. There’s clearly a strong trance and trip-hop influence here. Furthermore, the minor harmony and dark instrumentation hint at the underlying peril and mystery. Again a contemporary instrumentation integrates with orchestra, drum loops and voices.
The Membrane: The Esoterrorists use the media to help spread fear and weaken the membrane. The music here is suggestive of that influence and is a mixture of percussion, sound design and ambient ideas. Even the main theme is incorporated into this collage of sound although in a twisted manner, sometimes in reverse. Unlike the other tracks to date, The Membrane is specifically designed as background music, to be looped at low levels in the background in times of tension.
20
Apr
Apr
A fast play adventure for The Esoterrorists
From one of the authors of Spirit of the Century
Not all miracles are holy
Jonathan Bentley, millionaire financier, has been raised from the dead at a Los Angeles charity ball by self-styled “psychic to the stars” Cassandra Madrigal.
Is Bentley really alive, or in some other state? What is his wife Grace’s involvement? Is Madrigal an agent of esoterror, and how deep does the conspiracy go?
Your team of investigators must range far afield to find the answers, from the opulence of high society, to the dangers of The Core and Skid row, through mansions, through hospitals and the morgue.
Profane Miracles is designed for a group of 3-6 players looking for a fast-paced, action-packed adventure to set the blood pumping with easy pick up and play action.
If you can avoid heavily armed criminals and survive the machinations of esoterror agents unscathed… it will be a miracle.
People who bought this also bought Albion’s Ransom – Little Girl Lost, The Love of Money and Worldbreaker.
20
Apr
Apr
A stand-alone roleplaying game by Robin D Laws
You are elite investigators combating the plots of the Esoterrorists, a loose affiliation of occult terrorists intent on tearing the fabric of the world. The Esoterrorists introduces the GUMSHOE rules system, which revolutionizes investigative scenarios by ensuring that players are never deprived of the crucial clues they need to move the story forward.
Upgrades, Improvements and New Content for the 2nd Edition.
This new edition of The Esoterrorists is 4 times longer and allows you to:
- Equip your characters with fine-grained investigative abilities, ranging from Interrogation and Data Retrieval to the ever-popular Forensic Entomology and always useful Bullshit Detector.
- Round them out with 13 crucial action abilities, which help you fight, run away, and retain your mental stability when the horrors come knocking.
- Absorb the latest, in-depth intelligence data on the terrifying world of the Esoterrorists.
- Learn the never-before-revealed inner workings of the Ordo Veritatis, the secret international agency that sends you out to smash the foe.
- Recoil at raw reports detailing all-new creatures of unremitting horror.
- Root yourself in a site of small town menace with the new Station Duty campaign frame and scenario.
- Confront fever dreams of the apocalypse in a brand new introductory scenario, OPERATION: PROPHET BUNCO!
Also included, for gamemasters:
- Data on the terrifying world of the Esoterrorists, and the Ordo Veritatis, the benevolent global conspiracy that fights them
- Creatures of unremitting horror.
- Detailed instructions on structuring investigative scenarios for the innovative GUMSHOE system
- Advice on bringing those scenarios to life in play
- Operation Slaughterhouse, an advanced example scenario of geopolitical horror
The Esoterrorists is easy to learn, easy to play and replayable by design.
Incorporating years of advice, actual play experience, and design evolution, The Esoterrorists Enhanced Edition includes all the rules you need to play the game that revolutionized investigative roleplaying. Dripping with ichor and jammed with content, this is the heftier, meatier, definitive tome gamers have been crying out for ever since they laid their paws on the original.
Reviews of The Esoterrorists:
… the game does deliver on its promise. You could easily explain the rules to someone in 15 minutes enough so that they could play. You can also learn them enough to run the game in about an hour.
I was apprehensive about the system but I was wrong – it worked really well for me.
The rules are incredible – I honestly think this is the best investigation-based RPG ever printed.
People who bought this also bought Albion’s Ransom – Little Girl Lost, Albion’s Ransom – Worm of Sixty Winters and Worldbreaker.
You may also be interested in Fear Itself 2nd Edition, The Yellow King RPG and GUMSHOE Starter Kit Bundle.
20
Apr
Apr
Six months ago, Ordo Veritatis agent John Sheldon went off the organisation’s radar, following an emotional breakdown in the wake of losing his wife in a car crash. He held his sister, fellow Ordo Veritatis agent Caroline Sheldon, responsible for his wife’s death, as Caroline was drunk at the wheel that night. Psychiatric Metrics feared John went out to perform a solo mission to expose the heart of an Esoterrorist funding network he had uncovered in Amsterdam. The proposal for that mission had been shelved months ago due to its low probability of success.
When his body turns up in Amsterdam, evidently the sacrifice in an Esoterrorist ritual, the eye of suspicion turns on the rest of his team he left behind. Are they guilty by mere association, or are they innocent of his fate? They are given a chance to find out what happened to their friend and colleague, and in the process, clear them from any suspicion in the eyes of the Ordo Veritatis.
The Love of Money is an Esoterrorists adventure for 4-6 players from incredible GM and Pelgrane Crew favourite, Matthew Sanderson. It is designed as a single stand-alone adventure with pre-generated characters provided, but can be tweaked to accommodate integration into an ongoing campaign.
Read a review of Love of Money on rpg.net 10/10
Pelgrane Press is a venerable workshop of the dreadful and breeding terror by producing highly skilled adventures and supplements that contain just that – FEAR and PANIC – containing the best of what one’s own nightmares may conjure up.
People who bought this also bought Book of Unremitting Horror, Albion’s Ransom – Little Girl Lost and Profane Miracles.
The following article originally appeared in an earlier iteration of See Page XX in September 2008. Robin D Laws discusses the nature of believability in RPGs, and we present not one, but three interviews from Luke Crane. This month also sees the launch of a flurry of new products, including a Keeper’s Screen, and James […]
The following article originally appeared on an earlier iteration of See Page XX in April 2008. News from Pelgrane Press We’ve had a great month, although some shipping issues have reared their ugly heads, mainly with shipments from the US taking their time to reach Europe. We’ve fixed those now. Leonard Balsera’s Profane Miracles, another fastplay […]
The following article originally appeared on an earlier iteration of See Page XX in February 2008. News from Pelgrane Press Short and sweet. The blog has more Pelgrane details and a caption competition. This month we’ve released Fields of Silver, Lynne Hardy’s Turjan-level adventure, and Ian Sturrock’s Esoterrorist adventure Albion’s Ransom. Playtesting The Mutant City Blues and Stunning […]