Call of Cthulhu: Shadows of Leningrad – RPG Review

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A murdered artist, a lost book, and a child in need send the investigators to Soviet Russia, pitting them against cultists, monsters, and the secret police. Here are my suggestions and criticisms for this adventure.

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00:00 Intro
02:25 Backstory and Hook
08:11 Arrive in Leningrad
11:33 House Scene
14:36 Hospital Scene
19:24 Museum Scene
20:56 Return to the House Scene
25:23 Theater Scene
26:10 Ceremony Scene
28:45 Overall Thoughts

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39 thoughts on “Call of Cthulhu: Shadows of Leningrad – RPG Review”

  2. Funnily enough, I had an idea for a one-shot with a team of NKVD agents investigating the serious crime of Occultism in Leningrad during the late 1930s. My main desire is to keep the PCs guessing whether or not the Mythos is real or not, playing off the Marxist theory that all religions were distractions created by archaic power structures determined to oppress the People. The PCs, as loyal agents of the Revolution, would have a lot of prior experience hunting religious zealots practicing in secret, and so they'd not have reason to assume this group was any different.

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  6. Just how totalitarian was the Soviet Union a decade after the Revolution? How likely were things like museum art sales, inherited estates or private butlers (of whatever species)? I know it's pulp horror but wonder about the historicity of this one.

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  8. This is the first time I remember Seth not recommending an adventure, sure it may have happened before but I don't remember it. Feels weird. Still some interesting ideas I can yoink.

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  16. A lot of potential with that yeti…as pulp as it is. Since Russia has stories of "wild men" and H.P. Lovecraft connected the Fungi From Yuggoth with the Yeti. There is reported to be people from Russia that were part "Wild-Man" and part human from this time and I would also suggest look up the Dyatlov Pass Incident, due to the (alleged) ties of UFOs and Ape Men to this tragedy. Also, Stalin's Scrapped Project to make Ape-human hybrid Soldiers. I personally would change it to being half ape-man and half human with rumors around his parentage. Much like that one Lovecraft Story (Whose Title I forget. :().

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  18. Great video review. I actually would love to run it using Pulp Cthulhu. So I quickly went to Paizo's site, snagged and found a physical copy on eBay and snagged that too. lol. As usual, thanks for the great video Seth.

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  19. Tip for “the business card clue”.
    Noone carries a single business card for themselves (or calling card (in the literal sense), or similar casual means of identification). If you find a single business card (unless deliberately placed), it’s really evidence of anyone except the named party…
    Business cards therefore should always be found in multiples. In this instance either in the coat, in a scatter which might suggest that a pocket has been torn, or in a scatter where something else has been hurriedly dug out of the pocket they were in (perhaps a book of matches, found somewhere else in the area).

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  20. RE: Non-Russian speaking investigators and working within 1920s Soviet Russia.

    As a Keeper, unless there are investigators who are native Russian speakers, then they would simply hire a local official state-approved interpreter/fixer/minder who would almost certainly be a low-level intelligence agent – a complication/hurdle to overcome. The interpreter/fixer/minder would report all the conversations, movements and goings on of the investigators to their superiors regularly. Regardless, all foreigners would be given a shadow unit of agents whose sole purpose is to keep track of who the investigators contacted, and then interview those Soviet citizens to determine what it was that they talked about with the investigators. If the investigators need to find accommodation, they would only be allowed to stay at approved hotels and guesthouses – pre-bugged with listening devices. The only taxi cabs they can hail will all mysteriously be driven by the same five drivers. All telephone conversations will be recorded. I think you're getting the picture. From the moment the foreign investigators get their entry visas from the local Russian embassy/consulate to their arrival at their port of entry to the moment that they leave they will be under observation, and any citizen who they interact with will also be immediately under suspicion.

    The level of Soviet-Russian xenophobic paranoia can not be overestimated, as they are always worried about counter-revolutionary plots fostered by foreign agents.

    So… what to do about this… as a keeper I would offer up a local insider Soviet investigator NPC – a high-ranking member of the security services (a Coronel or Major) – who has had a previous disturbing brush with the Cthulhu cult. They have not been believed by their superiors in this past experience, and realize that they may need to team up with renowned Western/foreign mythos investigators in order to protect Mother Russia from a greater threat than capitalist counter-revolutionary agents. At great personal risk to their own position within the security apparatus, the insiders will intercept and kill all reporting to their superiors that the shadow teams are going to be making, and give the overseas investigators a small level of autonomy and freedom. But, only so far. The insider will also try to isolate and protect themselves politically from any silliness that the investigators may get up to during the adventure – a rolling shootout through the streets of Leningrad? Yeah, no. Even your insider can not protect you from the consequences when the investigators are inevitably caught. There should also always be a certain level of doubt about the loyalty of the insider as everything could be an elaborate setup to trip up the investigators and send them to the gulag or flip them into Soviet spies.

    One last wrinkle that a Keeper should consider would be the possibility of involvement of White Russian agents – counter-revolutionary royalists (Tsarists) – in some way, thereby muddying the political waters and adding an extra level of complication to the narrative/plot; Machiavellian machinations, double agents, betrayal, on-the-run, escape-and-evasion are all 'fun' extras to punch up the narrative.

    *Does all of the above sound a bit over the top (too much), not at all. Personal experience with Soviet delegations visiting here in the West, and my father's business trips to the Soviet Union and the subsequent investigation/phone tapping of your house phone by Western security apparatus after his return only hint at the level of paranoia that was (is?) rampant at the time of the Cold War.

    PS: Top tip – bring flea/bed bug powder to spread all over your bed in a Soviet state-approved foreigner-only hotel. You'll thank me later.

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  21. Sounds like 12th year old built that scenario. No need to place this story in Soviet Russia since there is absolutely no local touch apart from cliche. Great that such scenarios exist though. Their purpose is to get any second thoughts from the heads of keepers afraid of rolling with their own wacky ideas.

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  23. "Hello internet!"

    A sure sign that today's going to be a good day. It definitely sounds like there was the making of a good adventure here, but it needed a couple of more re-writes to iron all of the bugs. Which is a shame, because Pulp adventure involving magical paintings and a race to stop the summoning of an eternal winter while dodging the Proto-KGB sounds like a good time.

    The part at the end about the licensed adventures that have fallen out of print post-license expiration is a bit depressing to think about. Might be a good subject for a Top 10 list of your favorite such games to bring awareness of them to your fans. Lord knows I've bought plenty of stuff you've showcased or recommended, I could use some more items to add to my RPG shopping list.

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  27. OKAY SO
    During the Russian Revolution and subsequent civil war, there were basically four sides. You had the Communist army (Reds) and the counterrevolutionary army (Whites), of course. But both of those groups were basically seizing any food or weapons they could find from the third side, the regular folks, which both created the fourth side, bandits, and left the regular folks vulnerable to banditry.
    Now, when Russia withdrew from WW1 several years earlier, many soldiers just went straight home and took their Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifles with them. In the subsequent chaos, it became popular to cut down the barrel and stock to convert the gun into a large pistol-like weapon that could be easily hidden from the two armies and used for home defense against bandits. The resulting "Obrez" ("cut") Mosin is a perfect weapon to let the players find concealed around the house in this adventure. It's a weird and distinctly Russian weapon that's deeply connected to this specific setting and era.

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  31. While I was born at the very end of Soviet Union's era, our schools pay enough attention to it so I can confirm: USSR is a great place to have dark, slow and heavy plot for Cthulhu adventures. Multiple different ideologies blend and oppose each other all the time while everything looking strict and rigid on the surface like any good dictatorship should. Mythos can be within common folk, tied to pagan gods of the old, to church being oppressed by the state, to the state itself having dark affairs for powerhungry individuals.
    And all of it done under cold ruthless blanket of snow and grumpy unkind determination.

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