Horror on the Orient Express

Details

Front Cover

Publisher: Chaosium Inc.

Product Code: 2331

Publishing Year: 1991

Pages: Booklets 1-4 collectively comprise 206 pages; the box also includes a booklet of handouts (16 pages), a booklet of additional NPCs (28 pages), plus a wealth of props and paraphernalia (see below)

Cover Price: $39.95

Author(s): Geoff Gillan, Mark Morrison, Nick Hagger, Bernard Caleo, Penelope Love, Russell Waters, Marion Anderson, Phil Anderson, Richard Watts, Peter F. Jeffery, Christian Lehmann, L.N. Isinwyll, Thomas Ligotti

Artist(s): Gustaf Björksten, Les Brooks, Laurie Deitrick, Earl Geier, Lee Gibbons, Charlie Krank, Carol Triplett

Setting(s): 1920s Europe

Format(s): Boxed set containing multiple booklets (without separate card covers)

ISBN: 0-933635-76-1

Contents

BOOK I - Campaign Book: I. The Orient Express, II. Simplon-Orient Express Operations, III. The Campaign.

BOOK II - Through the Alps: IV-a. Dancers in an Evening Fog (London), IV-b. The Doom Train (London), V. Les Fleurs du Mal (Paris), VI. Nocturne (Lausanne), VII. Note for Note (Milan).

BOOK III - Italy And Beyond: VIII. Death (and Love) in a Gondola (Venice), IX. Cold Wind Blowing (Trieste), X. In a City of Bells and Towers (Dream Zagreb), XI. Little Cottage in the Wood (Belgrade).

BOOK IV - Constantinople & Consequences: XII. Repossession (Sofia), XIII. By the Skin of the Teeth (Constantinople), XIV. Blue Train, Black Night (Europe), XV. The Fog Lifts (London Again).

Also includes 'Strangers on the Train', four blank passports, passage stickers, scroll of the head, Sedefkar Simulacrum, train car plans and a period poster.

Campaign: The chapters found in the four booklets collectively make up the Horror on the Orient Express (Campaign)

Scenarios: Horror on the Orient Express: Dancers in an Evening Fog (London), Horror on the Orient Express: The Doom Train (London), Horror on the Orient Express: Les Fleurs du Mal (Paris), Horror on the Orient Express: Nocturne (Lausanne), Horror on the Orient Express: Note for Note (Milan), Horror on the Orient Express: Death (and Love) in a Gondola (Venice), Horror on the Orient Express: Cold Wind Blowing (Trieste), Horror on the Orient Express: In a City of Bells and Towers (Zagreb), Horror on the Orient Express: Little Cottage in the Wood (Belgrade), Horror on the Orient Express: Repossession (Sofia), Horror on the Orient Express: By the Skin of the Teeth (Constantinople), Horror on the Orient Express: Blue Train, Black Night, Horror on the Orient Express: The Fog Lifts (London)

Front Cover Text

For Call of Cthulhu 1920s

Travel in Splendor via the Simplon Route in a Luxury Campaign

Back Cover Text

Man Dies Three Times in One Night!

A puzzling headline begins a front-page article found in the Times of London. Three men, all identical in identification, were found dead in the same room of the Chelsea Arms. All were dispatched in a similar manner - stabbed through the heart.

Then the home of a valued friend burns to the ground, severely burning him in the process. An odd summons, a surreptitious meeting, and a thousand-mile journey begins on the legendary rail service carrying the investigators to the Gateway of the Orient.

Orient Express contains a massive adventure for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. Beginning in 1920s London, the investigators journey to Paris and thence to the ancient city of Constantinople. With luck, they also return home. Four books are contained within, Through the Alps, Italy & Eastern Europe, Constantinople & Return, and Strangers on the Train. In addition there are numerous player handouts: a European route map; luggage stickers; scrolls; passports; 25mm cardstock plans of the train that can be laid end-to-end; and fragments of an ancient artifact collected along the way.

"What does it all amount to anyway? In a few million years there will be no human race at all. Man, at best, is but an incident -- and a very trifling incident -- in the limitless history of Nature. I am inclined to think that all entity evolves in cycles -- that sooner or later everything occurs practically all over again. Not that all details are necessarily alike -- but that general forms and principles are repeated. Planets are born, die and are born again -- and so on without end."

-- H.P. Lovecraft

Cthulhu and its supplements have won dozens of best-of-class gaming awards. Editions include French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.

Comments / Trivia

Featuring the Brothers of the Skin, this is a classic campaign and the last boxed set produced by Chaosium to date. Chapter X - In a City of Bells and Towers (Dream Zagreb) - was written by Mark Morrison in an attempt to capture in scenario form the work of author Thomas Ligotti. A previous version of this Scenario was published in the British CoC fanzine DAGON.

Winner of the 1991 Origins Award for Best Graphic Presentation and Best Role Playing Adventure. The majority of authors on this book are Australians, mostly based in Melbourne. Penelope Love must enjoy gondolas - see also the entry for Abhoth Omnipotens.

This campaign has spawned a soundtrack CD; a recorded "actual play" rendition by the Bradford Players has achieved significant notoriety and has even been novelised.

In late 2012 Chaosium held a successful Kickstarter campaign to create a new edition of this (long out of print) classic. A significant number of new chapters are expected in the revised edition.

Links

• link 1
• link 2

Spoilers - Keepers Eyes Only

Players should not read any further.

Comment here to Keepers about this book. Comments on specific Scenarios and Campaigns go on their respective pages. Keep DISCUSSION on the talk page.