Five scenarios of Cthulhu Mythos terror designed for new players and keepers!
Chaosium Unveiled: Inside Doors to Darkness
Watch the unveiling video to see the book for yourself. Remember that you get the PDF when getting the physical copy.
What’s Inside?
Doors to Darkness is a collection of five scenarios for Call of Cthulhu. Explore the signature setting of 1920s New England through these tales of eldritch dread designed for brand new Keepers—if you’re new to Call of Cthulhu, this is your next step!
Expert Advice for Keepers
An essay by prolific Call of Cthulhu author Kevin Ross (Down Darker Trails, Masks of Nyarlathotep), details a wide range of hints and tips on running Call of Cthulhu—guidance any Keeper, new or experienced, will find very useful.
The Scenarios
Those who dare to open the doors to darkness will discover just what secrets and dangers lie within the five scenarios!
The Darkness Beneath the Hill - A house renovation in Providence, Rhode Island lures the investigators into ancient earthly secrets.
Genius Loci - The investigators explore the Danvers State Asylum in a desperate attempt to help a friend in need.
Servants of the Lake - Pursuit of a missing friend finds the investigators sequestered in a roadside motel where not all is as it seems.
Ties That Bind - Strange rock formations appear in the fountain of a wealthy Arkham resident, leading to a wellspring of forbidden knowledge.
None More Black - The death of a Miskatonic University student leads the investigators into unsavory neighborhoods and dark business dealings.
Maps, Handouts, & Ready-To-Play Characters
Premium maps and player handouts are provided for each scenario, with both player and Keeper versions (with the secrets!). Additionally, 10 diverse, pregenerated investigators are included, allowing new and returning players to dive straight into the one-shot adventures on game night.
Your Next Steps
If you’ve purchased and played through the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set, then Doors to Darkness is the ideal next step. After that, you can move on to Gateways To Terror to expand your Call of Cthulhu experience.
Gateways to Terror contains three short-play scenarios for Call of Cthulhu, perfect for beginning and experienced players and Keepers alike. Originally, all three—The Necropolis, What's in the Cellar? and The Dead Boarder—were designed as demonstration games to give a taste of the game's core motifs—mystery, investigation, and horror—for those with limited time. The scenarios can be played in as little as one hour or be expanded for slightly longer play. Each comes with four ready-made investigators so you can jump right into the action!
Play online with our Licensed Partners
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What The Critics Say
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"The latest, entry-level product in the Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG... It includes five new scenarios as well as ten diverse and ready to play investigators. If you can’t tell your fhtagn from your mglw'nafh this sounds like a fabulous place to start."
— Polygon, Best Tabletop RPGs of 2017.
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"Where does a new Keeper start from if he has never played Call of Cthulhu before?... All its adventures are straightforward, without complicated subplots, and explore basic principles of the horror genre, while at the same time slowly increasing the difficulty and the interaction with the rules... they are not good just for new Keepers; they work fantastically as one-offs, or in situations with timing considerations (e.g. as events in conventions)."
— Antonios S., RPGNet Review - Doors to Darkness.
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"The subtitle is “Scenarios for Beginning Keepers.” The intention here was to provide Keepers fresh to Call of Cthulhu five scenarios to run with extra training wheels. Even if you’ve been at this a while, I highly recommend this book. Primo stuff here."
— Vintage RPG, An RPG book I have run recently.
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"Doors to Darkness makes for a great jumping on point to Call of Cthulhu for both beginning Keepers and players. The tales within are each easily completed in a couple of gaming sessions at most and make for excellent introductions to Lovecraftian horror roleplaying."
— The Gaming Gang, Call of Cthulhu - Doors to Darkness Reviewed.
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- ISBN:
- 978-1-56882-437-6
- Page Count:
- 144
- Format:
- Full color Hardcover
- Authors:
- Christopher Smith Adair, Glynn Owen Barrass, Brian Courtemanche, Tom Lynch, Kevin Ross, Brian M. Sammons
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5 Great Starter Scenarios
I've run all 5 scenarios from this book. I've run Ties That Bind multiple times as its solution is fairly unique and fits in a 4 hr convention time slot. Genius Loci is probably my favorite as you can google real pictures and maps of Danvers State Lunatic Asylum. I used None More Black as part of a series of scenarios at Miskatonic U. Servants of the Lake is a creepy motel set in 1920; For what it is, it works. The Darkness Beneath the Hill I felt was the weakest and closer to a dungeon crawl, though there are some great illustrations in it. Overall, a strong set of scenarios.
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A great bunch of adventures for beginner keepers
The Doors to Darkness book is a lovely hardcover with 5 one off scenarios, some really good others less so. Of the scenarios the stand out is Darkness Beneath the Hill, a fabulous, almost dungeon crawl, adventure that throws your investigators into a basement dwelling mystery. The rest of the scenarios are fun and have a nice mix however the only scenario I wasn't impressed with was Servants of the lake. The premise isn't particularly exciting and the regurgitation of the servants of Gla'aki come off as a poorer Amidst the Ancient Trees with less flavour, places and character, which is in the rulebook. Despite that the book is worth it in my eyes and the other scenarios can be mixed into campaigns here and there.
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Five Great Scenarios for a Campaign
These five scenarios are somewhat more involved than the introductory scenarios found in the Starter Set and Quick Start Guide. If a Keeper wants to begin building an ongoing campaign after running the Starter Set material, the DTD scenarios provide an excellent bridge to the more advanced scenarios and full-length campaigns down the road. The standout is "The Darkness Beneath the Hill" which is very pulpy (almost a dungeon crawl) and features the Serpent People!
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Great Quality!
Wonderful in-depth short adventures. great art, fun to read. I'm sure I'll read and play this many times.
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An Excellent Book
This book is full of five very interesting adventures, I have only ran the first two so far and my gaming group loved every moment. I can't wait to run the next three.
