The Russians Are Coming!! by Keith Craig is a role playing game supplement published by Chaosium Inc. through the Miskatonic Repository Community Content Programme for use with Call of Cthulhu, the horror role playing game based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. This is an early 1960s scenario; Atomic-Age Cthulhu is the closest setting.
The supplement is available as a 30 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. One page is the front cover, one the front matter and one the Table of Contents.
Scenario Introduction explains that the scenario begins on October 18th 1961 in Fairbanks, Alaska, and that the investigators are a group employed by the US government to investigate some strange radar returns. The scenario is designed to work with the pre-generated characters.
Historical Background gives some details on the Cold War and three historical events; the U2 incident, the construction of the Berlin Wall and Operation Sky Shield III, whose results caused concern for the military.
Keeper Information gives some details on an alien species, Tgeull’ckah, who lost a spaceship in Alaska 100,000 years ago which they are trying to repair. The beings are made of metal and cold harms and eventually kills them, making repair difficult, and over the years they were, comparatively briefly, involved with the locals.
Tgeull’ckah Transformation explains how exposure to the beings infects others with nanites that can also be transferred which transmute flesh into metal and eventually a Tgeull’ckah.
NPC Profiles gives details on four important NPCs.
Mission Briefing introduces the investigators to their mission which is to investigate some strange radar returns – Tgeull’ckah, though thought to be Soviets – that occurred during Operation Sky Shield III.
Environmental Hazards looks at the dangers of the Alaskan wilderness.
First days of Travel sees the characters arriving at a cabin where two of the NPCs live and where they can hear some old legends about the Tgeull’ckah when they were involved with the locals.
Into the Tundra continues into the wilderness.
First Radar Return has the characters getting a return from an arctic fox with a metal leg thanks to nanite infection.
The Fox has some more details on the animal, including the possibility that the nanites can be spread.
Petroglyphs has the characters finding some petroglyphs they were told about at the cabin.
River Crossing looks into getting across this.
The Hill is as the characters approach the destination.
The Ship covers the alien ship.
Epilogue assumes the characters flee; they will probably die if they remain.
Appendix has rules for arctic hazards, some new equipment for the region, some bouts of madness customised to the pre-generated characters and stats for animals and monsters.
Handouts has two pages of handouts.
Pregen Characters gives an overview of each of the six characters followed by six character sheets of two pages each.
The Russians Are Coming!! in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. The Table of Contents covers the various sections and is hyperlinked. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. Bar the handouts, there is a single illustration. Presentation is adequate.
For a number of reasons, this works best as a one-shot. Trying to move the scenario to another location is acknowledged as being difficult, and the adventure is set at a specific historical point when events were happening. It could be moved to another cold location, and there could be other reasons why the characters are investigating and other characters could be used, though they may lack needed skills, but to fully integrate it into a campaign in another time period will require sometimes extensive changes.
Very little is covered about how the characters might fight the Tgeull’ckah, apart from the fact they are vulnerable to cold. It seems as if the primary idea is for the characters to flee in order to survive. Which would mean that the characters just did a long trek into the wilderness, experienced many dangers and accomplished nothing beyond survival. They could have not bothered and achieved as much. The Keeper may want to do more work into coming up with ways for the characters to accomplish something. The Russians Are Coming!! can be found by clicking here.
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