Dead Light... A Review

As I understand it, the scenario was originally available as a funding goal of the 7th Edition kickstarter, now available as a standalone purchase.  I didn't follow the kickstarter, but it seems unusual that a bonus product would be available before the launch of the new edition.

Product Description: Dead Light is a slim, magazine-sized 32 page book.  It has a full colour cover with a black and white interior, very much the norm for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu releases.  The paper is quite low grade, but not enough to be a concern.

Interior artwork is sufficient, with character portraits, a few highlight scenes from the scenario and functional maps.  The cover art by David Oliver is rather impressive, reminding me of an eighties horror movie VHS cover.  Overall presentation is neat and tidy, nothing lavish but all quite acceptable for a budget scenario.

Spoiler Free Review: Dead Light is intended to be an introductory scenario for Call of Cthulhu's all singing, all dancing 7th Edition.  In that respect I can only say it is a disappointment, because the tone, pace and style of scenario on offer here owes far less to H.P. Lovecraft that it does Stephen King channelling H.P. Lovecraft for a low-budget eighties horror screenplay.

Not that there isn't some charm to that.  Personally, I love these kinds of movies.  However...  It makes for a terrible introduction to what Call of Cthulhu is about.  In far too many ways it defies how Call of Cthulhu is supposed to be played.  Unless 7th Edition is radically different to the previous six, I can't help but feel Dead Light will not serve as a good first scenario.

Which is frustrating precisely because it isn't a bad scenario at all...  It is a well-written single session affair.  In the hands a good referee it could be a truly delightful tale of terror for those who enjoy Creepshow, Tales from the Crypt or the aforementioned Stephen King stories.  Dead Light owes much to King's IT.

Since I can't plunge into dissecting the scenario without spoiling it, I shall say that is is quite useable, but would be far better served as a Cthulhu NOW scenario.  It has the cute tagline of "Surviving One Night Outside of Arkham" and describes itself as a survival-horror scenario, a pointless term and again, one that highlights how out of sync with Call of Cthulhu this is.

Now, some may suggest I'm being overly harsh and guilty of one-true-way thinking when it comes to Call of Cthulhu.  However, my problem is not with the quality of the material, it is with the purpose.  For a rookie, this scenario presents an approach to play that will not serve well in most published campaigns.  For a veteran, it suggests that 7th Edition will disregard the game's long-standing traditional style of play.  I doubt this is so, though I admit to having no interest in 7th Edition whatsoever.

Overall: As a low-price scenario, Dead Light stands as proud as any other.  I wouldn't recommend it over the likes of Trail of Tsathoggua, but it is fine.  As an introduction to Call of Cthulhu is better off ignored.  Pull it out for a one-off game when you're looking for something a bit different.  Update it to the seventies or eighties to really get into it.  Bonus points if you make a VHS cover out of the artwork!