Terror Australis is a role playing game supplement published by Chaosium Inc. for use with their Call of Cthulhu horror role playing game based on the works of H. P. Lovecraft. This is a sourcebook for Australia in the 1920s and contains background information and adventures.
The supplement was originally available as a perfect bound softback book that can still be bought from places such as Amazon. It is also available as a PDF from RPGNow for $8.95. The book has 136 pages, with four being the front matter, one being the Contents, two pages being Period Information for Australia and Selected Bibliography, one being a starmap of the southern hemisphere and nine pages being removable handouts for the various adventures. The handouts are single-sided and one page is brief details. There is also a fold-out colour map of Australia in the 1920s at the front of the book, not included in the page count, that is a bit under A3 in size. The original printed book is the version reviewed.
The Introduction is a couple of pages long and gives a brief overview of the supplement.
The first part of the book, Australia, is factual. About the Nation gives an overview of the land, the climate, how to get to Australia and how to travel around in it – the continent is a substantial distance away from anywhere else and is also rather large, with most settlements being coastal in nature.
Australian Language is on the language spoken – which is English, with some differences. There is also a list of Australian slang, some of which is only suited to that time period, and some Australian phrases.
The New Ghosts has a number of mysteries, hauntings and occurrences on the continent.
Australian Timeline has a list of important events by year for the decade of the 1920s, although the sole event listed for 1929 is a duplicate of one from 1928; the event did happen in 1929, not 1928.
The Aboriginals gives many details on the native inhabitants of the continent, such as history, beliefs, art, behaviour and weapons.
Alcheringa is the Dreamtime and is similar in some ways to the Dreamlands. The section also has a list of spirits and animals of Alcheringa; many of the latter are now-extinct real-world creatures that have lived on in the Dreamtime.
Creatures from the Dreamtime has stats for many new monsters.
The Adventures is the second part of the book and the largest, taking up about two thirds of it.
Pride of Yirrimburra has characters who are travelling to Australia asked by the mother of one to go and see her brother, the black sheep of the family. The characters are assumed to be American in this case, and visiting the continent for other reasons. The uncle is dead when the investigators arrive, and he is only one of a number of people who have or will die in the Dreamtime in revenge for an act of brutality against some natives many years ago.
Old Fellow That Bunyip has the investigators in Melbourne, perhaps visiting or passing through for some reason – as part of Masks of Nyarlathotep is one given reason and the next adventure, City Beneath the Sands, is another. A bunyip – a dangerous local monster – has awoken and is killing people. The bunyip needs dealing with, which is not easy.
The final adventure, City Beneath the Sands, is the longest and takes up about a third of the book by itself. It is based to a degree on the story “The Shadow Out of Time” by H.P. Lovecraft. This adventure makes a reference to Shadows of Yog-Sothoth (which is also contained in the old compilation supplement, Cthulhu Classics) and there are many suggestions on how to integrate it with the Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign. This is also the most dangerous adventure, as if Masks was not dangerous enough by itself.
Terror Australis in Review
The Contents is pretty thorough, covering the major and minor sections and many, but not all, of the sidebars. Navigation is above average for a Call of Cthulhu book. The text maintains a two column format and no major errors were noticed (bar the mistake in the timeline). There are a number of black and white illustrations, ranging from portraits to a two page image, throughout, all appropriate for the relevant material, as well as numerous maps. Presentation is very good.
Like many of the regional and period sourcebooks, Terror Australis is a combination of regional/period sourcebook and adventures, with adventures taking up the majority of the book. Perhaps it might have been better as two different books, but this would have created two much smaller books and might not have been worth it when the supplement was originally published.
Another common element is with the first adventure, Pride of Yirrimburra. The adventure has something seen too frequently in published adventures from this time; a character discovers a relative (in this case; sometimes it’s a friend) that they never knew existed – and who is now dead. Sure, with Call of Cthulhu, setting up long term relationships with NPCs is difficult beforehand, given how often characters go mad or die, but this method seems lazy and annoying. Certainly for players, who may never have intended their character to have such a relationship. The idea of integrating the last adventure with Masks of Nyarlathotep is far more interesting and original. Given travel time to get to the continent, it helps to have a reason why characters would be visiting Australia in the first place.
As is common with these sourcebooks, this does feel like a bit of a mashup between sourcebook and adventure book, but there is a fair amount of detail provided on the continent, especially on the Aboriginals and the Dreamtime. Terror Australis is a useful companion for Keepers who want their investigators to go a bit further afield than normal, providing a nation that is similar to, yet different from, the United States and Great Britain.
Leave a Reply