The Secret of Chimneypots is a short scenario written for the glorious Casting the Runes roleplaying game (itself a derivation of the GUMSHOE ruleset modified to replicate the Edwardian ghost stories of M R James). Produced as an exclusive reward during the game’s crowdfunding campaign in 2020, the scenario is a self-contained mystery that can be easily run in a few hours.

Written by Christian Jensen Romer and released by The Design Mechanism, this publication is 30 pages all up and can accommodate a party of any size (although the author recommends up to 5 Investigators). Similar in design and layout to the core Casting the Runes rulebook (see here for my thoughts on that book) it has a very evocative cover drawn by Júlio Rocha, and a liberal sprinkling of period photos and line art throughout (including a very nice piece illustrating the adventure ‘McGuffin’ and some decent maps).

The adventure itself is set in the winter of 1900 and revolves around the strange events arising from the death of one Lionel Sharp, the owner of the small country holding called Chimneypots House. Drawn into this mystery, the Investigators will soon discover that the hauntings at the house are far darker and menacing than any simple ghost of the manor’s previous proprietor.

Thoughts on the scenario

The Secret of Chimneypots is a well-detailed adventure that does a lot to expose potential players to the game’s unique setting (that being the quaint, almost idyllic world of Edwardian England). Here we have a picturesque village, an old country estate and enough goings-on in and around the estate to ensure the source of the scenario’s mystery isn’t immediately obvious to even the most experienced gamers. We also get lots of background information for almost every aspect of the adventure setting; research into the pivotal Chimneypots House and its past residents, chunky sections on local folklore and the village of Ingham (where a lot of the scenario’s investigation will likely take place), and the various manifestations of horror that haunt the Investigators as they attempt to solve the mystery.

In some ways – and this isn’t really a complaint – we probably get too much detail, and while all this information will assist newer Game Masters (especially those who might not be as confident in bringing a turn-of-the-century English village to life) a lot of this might have been of better use if summarised further. In its defence, however, I would say that having all this detail does mean that the players are likely to be presented with plenty to do while they investigate the events surrounding Chimneypots House.

Where it all falls down

So, while the author has more than done their due diligence in creating a setting that is second to none, where the reader (and any potential GM) is badly let down by the scenario’s layout and composition. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a published scenario so awkwardly presented before, as it seems to have just forgotten or ignored almost all conventions when writing a scenario that someone else will be running.

What’s missing here, at least in my opinion, is the adherence to text structures that you’d normally find in professionally published scenarios. Ignoring the fact that there isn’t any table of contents or an index (as these probably aren’t that necessary for a 20-odd-page publication), the layout of the text seems to be presented as a ‘stream of consciousness’ than by any logical design. For example, on the first page, we get a section on introducing the Investigators to the story, which is all good, but then we jump right into what research the party might do on just a single location presented in the story (Chimneypots House). We don’t get any upfront explanation of what is actually going on in the plot (that doesn’t appear until 2/3rds the way through the text), and not once does it provide any advice or support on how the story might flow during play (doubly a crime if this adventure is meant to be written as an introduction for new players etc.). This ongoing confusion isn’t helped by the simplistic layout of the content, and inconsistent use of headings and text structures (I mean we have bullet point paragraphs here with no inset and absolutely zero consistency with heading sizes!).

Final Thoughts

The Secret of Chimneypots is a ‘unique’ scenario – although not always in a good way – doing more to bring to life the quaint world of M R James (and by extension the whole ‘Victorian’ or ‘Gaslight’ horror genre) than perhaps I’ve ever seen in any roleplaying game. It is, on the other hand, let down by not being a very comprehensible adventure and one that any GM thinking of running will need to condense and restructure to ensure they can run it to its fullest potential. Ultimately, I think it needs a good revision and a lot more GM-facing material, and if this was done, I’d have no problem recommending the Secret of Chimneypots as one of my all-time favourites for low-key occult horror.

Maybe it’s time to convince the team over at The Design Mechanism to do just that?