Cold Harvest: Roleplaying During the Great Purges

Cold Harvest: Roleplaying During the Great Purges

  • Downloads:3437
  • Type:Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date:2021-10-17 08:55:39
  • Update Date:2025-09-06
  • Status:finish
  • Author:Chad Bowser
  • ISBN:1568824335
  • Environment:PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Summary

ROLEPLAYING DURING THE GREAT PURGES OF STALIN'S RUSSIA All is not well at Krasivyi Oktabyr-3, a collective farm hidden away in the wilds of central Russia。 A fall-off in production has come to the attention of the Soviet authorities and communications are down。 No one has a clue as to what is happening out there。 Despite the ravages of the Russian winter, someone must be sent to uncover the reasons for the slackening production and to deal with the situation。 Vigilance is key, as there may be anti-Soviet agitators at work。 Trust no one! COLD HARVEST is a CALL OF CTHULHU scenario set at the height of Stalin's Russia in the late 1930s。 Players take on the role of NKVD agents from the People's Commissariat For Internal Affairs, tasked with investigating strange happenings at Krasivyi Oktabyr-3。 COLD HARVEST has been designed to be playable by one Keeper and one player, as well as for groups of between two to six players。 Eight pre-generated investigators are included, allowing players to chose from a range of characters。 Directions are also provided as to the role and duties of an NKVD officer, allowing players to quickly understand the motivations and responsibilities of their characters。 Throughout the scenario, guidance and roleplaying tips are provided for the Keeper, as well as advice for using other published Soviet-era scenarios with COLD HARVEST to form a larger campaign set against the backdrop of Communist Russia。

Download

Reviews

Ian

So this is a Call of Cthulhu scenario in which the players are NKVD agents in Stalinist Russia investigating a collective farm experiencing a mysterious decline in its productivity。 I'm not entirely comfortable with a game where the players are agents of a regime that is at least adjacent to genocidal and I would be sympathetic to anyone who felt that it was inappropriate to play this one。 That aside, what we have here is one of those scenarios where the investigators go to an isolated place whe So this is a Call of Cthulhu scenario in which the players are NKVD agents in Stalinist Russia investigating a collective farm experiencing a mysterious decline in its productivity。 I'm not entirely comfortable with a game where the players are agents of a regime that is at least adjacent to genocidal and I would be sympathetic to anyone who felt that it was inappropriate to play this one。 That aside, what we have here is one of those scenarios where the investigators go to an isolated place where something weird is going on and all the locals are a bit。。。 strange。 A lot of CoC scenarios are like that but here the player characters have the power to send all the locals to the Gulag or even at a pinch have them all killed, which changes the dynamic somewhat。 The PCs also have to worry about messing up in a way that has them either sent to the Gulag or summarily executed。I had a couple of minor gripes with this。 I think it could have done with some kind of handout for the players on the NKVD, its powers, and what was going on in the USSR at the time, but that's nothing that a GM can't knock up from the notes provided。 I'm still undecided on the scenario as a whole though。 As written it is likely to end without much of a resolution, the PCs ending by ordering some arrests and/or executions and leaving the area without much sense of what was going on bar that it was all a bit weird。 I fear that might prove a bit unsatisfying in game terms, but perhaps it is part of the scenario's point - that the Mythos is powerful and mysterious, and that human forces are also to be feared。 There are some interesting notes at the back on how "Cold Harvest" could be combined with other published scenarios set in the USSR to make a mini-campaign, possibly even with the players as part of a Stalinist Delta Green。 That could be interesting, though I suspect the PCs would be in as much danger from the vagaries of the extreme politics of the period as from the Mythos。 。。。more

Joseph Hirsch

I'm a fan of the "Call of Cthulhu" series and some of the supplemental separate campaigns, but the more of them I read, the more I'm starting to think gamers (or at least this gamer) would be best served by hewing very close to the rules of the core tomes and coming up with other campaigns from scratch。"Cold Harvest" has an inventive premise (like "Berlin: The Wicked City") but the execution falters or is too threadbare (even for a short supplement) for me to recommend it, and like "Wicked City" I'm a fan of the "Call of Cthulhu" series and some of the supplemental separate campaigns, but the more of them I read, the more I'm starting to think gamers (or at least this gamer) would be best served by hewing very close to the rules of the core tomes and coming up with other campaigns from scratch。"Cold Harvest" has an inventive premise (like "Berlin: The Wicked City") but the execution falters or is too threadbare (even for a short supplement) for me to recommend it, and like "Wicked City" there's something morally specious about it。 No, this game doesn't involve Mel Gordon's pederastic "pharmacy girls," but playing an NKVD agent around the time of the Holodomor, the engineered famine that killed millions, just doesn't sit well with me (and I'm a fairly morally compromised, or at least "gray" individual)。Another problem is simply that there is not enough Cthulhu in this "Call of Cthulhu" supplement。 Sure, we get the baddie with an unpronounceable name who is as much mist and intangible, free-floating angst as he (or it) is a flesh and blood (or scales and ichor) dragon, but it's merely mythos by way of paranormal expert and former "Angry Young Man" Colin Wilson。 And I love the bibliophile/positive existentialist as much as the next man, but his fictional works left something to be desired, and were not written from passionate (or, very well)。 That makes the choice to use Mr。 Wilson rather than Howard Phillips another strange one。 As per usual, this is a minority report, and the advice to follow when in doubt would be your own。 Some cool images, artwork, supplemental materials and a handy bibliography will make this one look good on the shelf even if it doesn't spent much time open on your gaming table。 And since it's only a few bucks, you might as well take the plunge。 。。。more

Richard

More review when I've run my second session, but this is an excellent Purist story with some neat twists on the Purist model。 More review when I've run my second session, but this is an excellent Purist story with some neat twists on the Purist model。 。。。more

pookie

Full review here: http://rlyehreviews。blogspot。co。uk/20。。。 Full review here: http://rlyehreviews。blogspot。co。uk/20。。。 。。。more