Queer of Cthulhu
MOONLIGHT ON ROSEVILLE BEACH
Designer: Richard Truane | Publisher: R Rook Studio
Roleplaying is about becoming other people, to a degree. It helps when this is done in the context of a contained world that isn’t ‘real’ in any meaningful way.
So what then, when we’re presented with a game about being queer in the 1970s? Simple, you can be a witch, shapeshifter or alien at the same time.
There’s an easy connection to be made here about the ‘othering’ of queer identities in the time period, but that’s missing the point – this is a game of a gay safe space at a beach resort island where there’s little police presence, no cars, and no mobile phones. Solving all of the problems of a modernish mystery game all in one, Moonlight thrives on a kind of Call of Cthulhu cosiness, a Vaesen-like genteelness, a purposeful mix of the old-fashioned and the arcane that strips neither of their humanity or magic.
The system in Moonlight is a boardgamey feeling dice-pool-andallocation system. This means that the GM explains the situation, and the players roll a number of dice relating to how suited they are to the situation. The players then allocate their dice – 5-6 is usually a success although it varies by type. You’re left with a choice then, on a mixed or bad roll, of taking physical or mental harm (‘the jitters’ is suggested as a low-level option for the latter) or failing somewhat at what you’re doing. Players choose how they want the story to proceed in this way, which can initially feel a bit backwards, but ends up flowing well.
Your characters always come with a trouble (in the form of a person you owe, who is looking for you, or relies upon you) and some quirk (like just being really handsome, or being a cat familiar) and that’s about it. ‘Guest star’ characters make for brilliant quick starts (and we’d be tempted to start a very short-on-time group with these).
Magic is a very modern system of combining randomly rolled words of power to form something like spells and they work like any other action.
There’s a clever mixed text approach here within the book too. Examples of how everything works comes in the form of short fictions between sections, it’s a clever way of getting the message across without having a section about Gerald the GM asking how quickly you’re approaching a goblin.
The mysteries themselves, and there’s six whole adventures in the book along with a ton of other hooks, locations, NPCs and prompts, do really feel like the classic ‘mystery’ approach of Call of Cthulhu, which is to say, brilliant. They’re much lighter in touch, but they have ways to escalate the proceedings simply and because the set of locations (although many) are a kind of closed loop, players will quickly get a sense of the kind of places they’re going to end up. All of these adventures are full of wit and come with their own kind of charming resolutions, whether that’s lesbians disappearing or nearly drowning (there’s a hot sea monster/spirit, it’s not really her fault) or rituals that need to be performed to excise a spirit that’s transforming people into animals.
All of this is handled with deft and clever presentation – pulp novel, post cards, salacious and amusing adverts promising a bit too much. Brilliant.
CHRISTOPHER JOHN EGGETT
WE SAY
A really impressive work of small-town investigation wrapped up in a queer, occult, package.
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED VAESEN…
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