Harlem Hellfighters Never Die

Details

Scenario splash illustration

Game System: Call of Cthulhu (RPG) (both editions), GUMSHOE (1st edition only)

Pages:

• (1st ed.) 25
• (2nd ed.) 28

Author: Chris Spivey

Artists: Nino Malong, Alex Mayo

Editor(s):

• (1st ed.) Rachel Wolfe, Jill Spivey, Jeffrey Eaton, Jennifer Harlett
• (2nd ed.) Dixie Cochran, Jill Spivey, Adam Alexander, Mike Mason

Setting: Harlem, New York, December, 1920

Appears in:

• (1st ed.) Harlem Unbound
• (2nd ed.) Harlem Unbound, 2nd ed.

Summary

When a Harlem rent party turns violent, the investigators must follow the trail of a revenge plot that targets the remaining members of the Harlem Hellfighters, the all-Black army unit that fought in the Great War.

Spoilers - Keepers Eyes Only

Players should not read any further.

Synopsis

 Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)
The investigators are at a rent party in Harlem, New York, when it comes under attack by a German veteran of the Great War and his undead allies. The attack seems to target African American army veterans that fought as part of the Harlem Hellfighters in the Great War. More bad luck is in store for the Hellfighters, as two members get arrested, and one of them is killed in what seems like a ritual murder. The investigators discover that at the Battle of Belleau Wood, the Hellfighters thwarted a German attempt to activate Mi-Go technology and awaken the Old Ones. As a result, the Hellfighter survivors were bathed in Mythos energy, meaning that if they die, the energies necessary to empower the ritual will be released after all. Now two German survivors of that battle are determined to eradicate them with the help of the KKK. If they succeed, the ritual will take effect after all. When a Hellfighter issues a challenge to those assailing them, the investigators must prevent a bloodbath at the 369th Armory.

References

Player Handouts:

• Attacks on French Officers / French Officers' Fate (newspaper article, translated from French)
• Recruitment Office Attack / Recruitment Office (newspaper article)
• More Black Veteran Trouble in Harlem / Hellfighters Arrested (newspaper article)
• Message in Harlem Papers / Final Battle (newspaper clipping, translated from German)

Locations:

• 369th Armory
• Harlem Police Precincts
• House at 110th Street and First Ave.
• Macombs Place (apartments)
• Moore’s Auto Repair
• Summer Set Hotel

Creatures:

• Great Old Ones (mentioned only)
• Mi-Go (mentioned only)
• Zombies (reanimated German soldiers)

Tomes and Artifacts:

• Bex Box
• Brain cylinder
• Ethereal hümmelchen

Organizations

• Germanenorden Walvater Desk Heilman Grals (GWDWG)
• Harlem Hellfighters
  • Phoenix Squad
• Hell's Legion
• Knights of Ouroboros
• Ku Klux Klan

Comments

In the author's note, Chris Spivey notes that, as an African American Iraq War veteran, this scenario is special to him. He suggests that he wrote it to help honor the memory of the Harlem Hellfighters, an all-African American unit that fought in World War I despite a climate of intense racism.

Keeper Comments

The scenario's introduction suggests that getting the investigators involved may be easier if one of them is a veteran of the Great War (World War I).