Category: The Esoterrorists Page 1 of 2

[Scenario] Operation Harvest Moon – The Esoterrorists

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On December 30, 2025

In Scenario, The Esoterrorists

But there’s a full moon risin; Lets go dancin in the light; We know where the music’s playin; Lets go out and feel the night.
Neil Young, Harvest Moon from Harvest Moon, 1992

OPERATION HARVEST MOON is a THE ESOTERRORISTS adventure (published by Pelgrane Press) designed as a one-off ‘convention-ready’ scenario or as a way of introducing new players to the world of The Esoterrorists. It also works well as a cold opening to a much longer series of dark and dangerous missions.

With the discovery of a body in the lower reaches of Blackbear Mountain (one of the many peaks within Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest), a Search & Rescue team is urgently summoned to determine whether others might be trapped by the early-season change in weather. But what starts as a civil response may quickly become a life-or-death experience, where the hunters become the hunted.

The Membrane is weakened. What has come through?

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[Scenario] Operation Parcel Post – The Esoterrorists

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On January 3, 2025

In Scenario, The Esoterrorists

“Just a quick and dirty pick up they said… a cake walk, huh?
Well, we’ll just see about that shall we…”

OPERATION PARCEL POST is a quickstart scenario written for Pelgrane Press’ The ESOTERRORISTS Roleplaying Game. Complete with three pre-generated characters, this adventure is designed to be run as either a one-night sample session or as a pick-up game at a convention.

In this scenario, the are Operatives assigned to investigate a strange crate that has been stopped passing through Customs in a large, international airport near where they operate. Arriving amidst an influx of holiday session travellers, the party will discover that the package in question contains an artifact infused with an Outer Dark Entity (ODE). Of course, what starts as a nice and simple ‘locate and grab’ mission soon escalates into a bizarre game of cat and mouse as the ODE uses its influence and power to escape the airport and the perhaps our heroes!

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[Review] The Esoterror Summoning Guide

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On December 4, 2024

In Review, The Esoterrorists

If I’ve ever publicly made a complaint about Pelgrane Press’ The Esoterrorists roleplaying game (powered as it is by the GUMSHOE system), then it has been the fact that no concerted effort has ever seemed to be made to really define its setting and background. As such, it often gets called a knock-off of other, more detailed, modern horror settings such as Delta Green, Hunter, or even good old Conspiracy X. (As an aside, I personally think this is an opinion that is a little unfair, given the unique approach The Esoterrorists takes on the conspiracy-horror genre, but hey!)

Despite this, it is still a valid point to say that if there is anywhere that Pelgrane Press has not done the game justice then it has been in its ongoing support. Sure, over the years we’ve had an expanded second edition of the game, a couple of official scenarios and even a campaign or two, but what has always been missing is that comprehensive explanation of the Esoterrorists world, i.e. the ‘this is The Esoterrorists bible’ or a guide that explains the game fictional premise in a concise manner. If that wasn’t unfortunate enough, what information there is about the ‘world of The Esoterrorists’ is spread between three separate products (these being the core rulebook, the excellent Esoterror Fact Book, and the supplement to which this review is dedicated – The Esoterror Summoning Guide)1.

So, why do I call The Esoterror Summoning Guide a vital part of the Esoterrorists’ core, and just what does this supplement add to the game? Well, read on and let’s see what’s inside this short but intriguing supplement, one that I think should be in everyone’s The Esoterrorists collection.

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[Review] The Esoterror Factbook

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On June 21, 2023

In Review, The Esoterrorists

Please note that this review was originally posted over on RPGGeek and is mirrored here for completist reasons only!

You know that feeling, the one that goes… “hang on now, they’ve definitely set this all up for a sequel, right?”. Well, that’s what I always felt when reading the original The Esoterrorists roleplaying game (the core rulebook now known as 1st Edition). Written by Robin D. Laws and published by Pelgrane Press in 2006, here you had gem of a great set of mechanics (the vast majority of what we know today as the GUMSHOE system), but no real substance behind it. I mean in The Esoterrorists 1st Edition you got the bare bones of anything you might realistically call a ‘game setting’, and worse, it really felt like a ‘quickie’ knock off of other more intriguing modern horror settings such as Delta Green, Hunter or even Conspiracy X. Sure, one could see that somewhere in the text there was a really neat unique game world just waiting to let loose … but where, oh where, was it!

Well, you’ll be pleased to know, 2009’s The Esoterror Factbook (also by Robin D Laws) is that missing ingredient; the background, context and detail that finally brings The Esoterrorists into its own… just a shame so few people know it even exists….

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[Scenario] The Esoterrorists: A Night on the Town

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On March 6, 2023

In Scenario, The Esoterrorists

With the creation of the GUMSHOE Community over on DrivethruRPG, I thought it was time that I updated and released my Esoterrorists 2nd Edition Demo scenario – A Night on the Town.

This is now available as a ‘Pay What You Want’ (nominally $2.00 US) over on DrivethruRPG – https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/429239/A-Night-on-the-Town–A-The-Esterrorists-Second-Edition-Demonstration-Scenario–Version-11

There isn’t too much substantively changed in this new version, barring a few spelling mistakes and a new ‘standard’ layout (oh, and a new much better looking cover!) and the original release will remain available here as an archive.

A Night on the Town has been written as a demonstration scenario for The Esoterrorists RPG. It arose after the author realised that the GUMSHOE system brought a specific set of expectations to the gaming table. These skills, while easy to learn, can be difficult to explain without examples, and are best demonstrated in play.

A Night on the Town is a quick, single session scenario (coming in at 18 pages) and provides three complete Ordos Veritatis’ operatives ready to roll into the action!

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