The Book of Unremitting Horror (GUMSHOE) by Adrian Bott and Dave Allsop is a role playing game supplement published by Pelgrane Press for use with GUMSHOE, in particular The Esoterrorists and Fear Itself. The supplement is also available in a version for d20 systems.
The supplement is available as a PDF from DriveThruRPG for $14.95 but was purchased at a reduced price thanks to a special bundle. It is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF has 224 pages with one being the front cover, one the Foreword and front matter, two the contents and two being blank.
The Foreword explains that players in horror campaigns are a little too accustomed to the nightmares they face, because they’ve faced them before, and this supplement creates new creatures for new nightmares. It is based on the original The Book of Unremitting Horror, but has been rewritten.
After the Contents, there is the Letter from Thomas Pepper, which describes the author’s encounter with something strange.
The Introduction explains that the supplement has the original creatures from the OGL edition, revised for use with Fear Itself and The Esoterrorists, along with some new monsters, together with plots for an Esoterrorists game, information on using the creatures in such a game, an expanded version of The Final Case and a new one, Crook’s End. Following this are two new abilities for GUMSHOE, one for PCs, one for monsters. PCs get Pathology; monsters get Aberrance, which is their ability to shred the Membrane. There are new GUMSHOE rules, many of them to do with how monsters can hurt PCs and NPCs.
Creatures of Unremitting Horror is the main bestiary of the supplement. The monsters follow a roughly similar format, though there are individual variations. There is a description of the creature, which can include its history and in-character pieces related to it, along with game stats and what various skills can discover about it. The creatures are, as befits the whole nature of the book, various levels of disturbing; none can be remotely called pleasant.
Artifacts has various items that are connected in some way to the creatures just described. They do not necessarily give a character power over a creature; they are part of their mythos and may give an insight into their origins. In some cases, there is a selection of alternate histories for their origins.
Esoterrorism and the World of Unremitting Horror explains that the world of The Esoterrorists and the world of Unremitting Horror are two distinct settings. The creatures can be used in both, but there are differences between how the supernatural works in each setting.
It starts by looking at The Esoterrorists. The Membrane that divides the world is a major impediment for magic. Supernatural horror is literally unthinkable, and the Esoterrorists seek to overturn that. In an Esoterrorists game, the monsters in this supplement are divided into two kinds, Folkloric and Engineered. Each category explains the difference, and folkloric creatures are listed. Folkloric creatures already exist, at least in legend form. The creature may not be real, but some at least believe in its legend. Engineered creatures are everything not in the folkloric category, and have been brought into being by the Esoterrorists, creating the lore that surrounds them.
It then looks at the World of Unremitting Horror. In this world, the Membrane is ragged. Magic works, albeit unpredictably. All the creatures exist, and this is the world that the Esoterrorists want to create.
Finally, there is an in-character look at how the Esoterror process works.
Scenario Outlines has ten different outlines for adventures. Each has the Sinister Conspiracy, which is behind-the-scenes information, Instigating Scene, Core Information, Supplementary Information, Antagonist Reactions, Climax and Aftermath/Veil-Out. These are more detailed than those found in The Esoterrorists.
Crook’s End is an adventure in which the characters are invited to stay at a country house, the aforementioned Crook’s End, by a friend, the daughter of a former criminal who won the lottery. The daughter is having problems as she claims she needs protection from ghosts. She’s right. Background is given and details on the ghosts, a timeline and how to do different types of exploration; necessity, story and event.
The Final Case is the second adventure and sees the characters following up on the disappearance of a friend who was themselves investigating the disappearance of someone. Background d is given on the friend and the case and various locations to visit and what can be discovered there.
The Book of Unremitting Horror (GUMSHOE) in Review
The PDF is bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Contents is not as deep, and is hyperlinked. Navigation is decent. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be mostly free of errors. There are a number of black and white illustrations, including for every monster. Presentation is okay.
The aim of this book is to have a collection of creatures that are truly monstrous, and it does succeed there. As mentioned, they are various levels of disturbing, generally ranging from highly unpleasant to deeply awful. This is a horror book full of horrible things and it should be approached as such. Nothing is, and nothing is supposed to be, remotely pleasant, though some of the creatures are able to lure the terminally foolish in, or cooperate for their own goals. The artefacts described are no more pleasant than the creatures.
Being as this is a book intended for use with different GUMSHOE settings, it will need some tweaking for a specific one; the world of The Esoterrorists, despite its horrific aspects, is not as truly bad as that of Unremitting Horror, where everything in this book is real. Horrific stories that someone is trying to make real are not as bad as if the creatures of those stories already are real. The adventure hooks and adventures in particular may need the most tweaking. Both scenarios are set in the UK and they’re a little too free with their use of guns at times to really fit with the UK’s rather strict gun laws. Neither adventure is really suitable for use with The Esoterrorists as-is; they will need some modification to fit in with that system and the Ordo Veritatis organisation. The ghosts in Crook’s End are those of people who nicely fall into the category of Too Dumb to Live. And, indeed, they died.
The Book of Unremitting Horror (GUMSHOE) is what it sets out to be, an often-disturbing collection of new monstrous beings and related items that are not remotely warm and fuzzy, and it can be found by clicking here.
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