Pyramid: Pyramid Review: The Esoterrorists

Pyramid Review

The Esoterrorists

Published by Pelgrane Press

Written by Robin D Laws

Cover & Illustrations by Jérôme Huguenin

88-page b&w softcover; $19.95

The Esoterrorists is the second RPG to be released by British publisher Pelgrane Press, best known for The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game and The Book of Unremitting Horror. Designed by Robin D Laws, the man behind other games such as Feng Shui, Rune, and HeroQuest, the first game powered by the new GUMSHOE system, a modular rules set that sets out to combine a foolproof method of handling investigative games and a means to create such games, with a sound set of General abilities. Significantly it is this same game system that will power the new version of Call of Cthulhu, to be written by Ken Hite.

The Esoterrorists is also designed to be several things. It is meant to be easy to learn, teach, and play, fun to play, as well as innovative, approachable, and sustainable. A GM should be able to learn the game in 30 minutes, its nuances in 60, and be able to teach the game in 15. These make up a design dogma that future releases are also intended to live up to.

Fundamentally though, what the GUMSHOE system (and also The Esoterrorists) is designed to do is counter a problem in all investigative RPGs, particularly Call of Cthulhu. Which is this: "What happens when a player character fails the roll and thus fails to get the clue?" Does the GM let the game run its course, and if the missed clue is important, . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.

Article publication date: December 22, 2006

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