Nightmare from the Depths. A Call of Cthulhu RPG campaign by Alan Kissane and Robert Francis

Seth Stauffer

Tragedy and madness collide in a new campaign for Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu. Via the Miskatonic Repository, Nightmare from the Depths, from the Cleric Press, sees players uncover a mystery buried beneath layers of intrigue while being pursued by malevolent forces. Investigators will be challenged to pursue leads into Boston’s darker corners, avert a catastrophic event in a small beachside community, or lose everything in the process. 

   Reading through Nightmare from the Depths, I really liked how the story unfolded. At 452 pages long, with two optional one-shots to extend the “fun” in case players want to squeeze every last eldritch drop of horror from this campaign, the structure is welcome. Rather than one lead simply taking players to the next step, each chapter felt like sinking deeper into the mire; every layer is more terrible than the one before it. It works extremely well to ratchet up the tone and scale of the hazards the investigators face. 

Organization is handled well, also. The writers do a good job anticipating needs to ensure things flow smoothly, i.e., links at chapter beginnings to facilitate transitions from one scene to another, or alternative beginnings to love things along more quickly. Clues and leads are set up to help keepers track everything, which is welcome. These tools for clues and plot are especially worthwhile because it’s a fairly complex story with a timeline that players will need to respect. An NPC initiating the investigation is pregnant and wants a resolution to her husband’s disappearance before the birth of their child. Care must be taken to respect that, and investigators won’t have much time for dilly-dally.

There are a couple of other aspects to this book that make it a nice read. First, the book has a great old-timey feel and is printed in sepia tones to match the throwback to the early 20th century. I’m always a sucker for a nice-looking book, and this one is well-crafted. 

Another component of the text is the depth of knowledge on display throughout other CoC products and Lovecraftian lore. At various points, sidebars and bullet points highlight reference material that inspired this campaign or how this particular product might be associated with another CoC supplement. This design shows good attention to detail, especially since it is for experienced keepers who might just have this stuff lying around.

On that last note, I must emphatically agree. Playing in Nightmore from the Depths would be reasonable, but the amount of bookkeeping required would be daunting for inexperienced keepers. The authors did a good job of ensuring clues would link to various parts of the campaign so that people wouldn’t be overwhelmed, but the fact that this became an important component of the design makes it clear that it will require a keeper’s attention to detail and even be somewhat cumbersome.

By the time I finished reading Nightmare from the Depths, I felt like I’d put down a very comprehensive and challenging campaign. The story flowed well and embraced much of what makes CoC the game it is. New England goes with H.P. Lovecraft, as Cthulhu goes with insanity. Some things are just perfect for each other. For this book, it is particularly true because the plot and setting hew closely to the source material by none other than H.P. Lovecraft himself. Basically, purists will like this one. It will be a task in itself to work the players through this book with the players, but it’s a solid product from start to finish.