The Haunted Case of Eleonore
Zugan by Marek Golonka (Grade: C)
Blood in Budapest
by Marek Golonka (Grade: C)
I wanted to like these mysteries much more than I did. They deserve
praise for professionalism in the face of almost no published examples to draw
from and an outside author bravely entering a foreign language market. I was advanced
free copies for review with no strings attached. The author solicited feedback
from both Michael Sands and the Dungeon World Tavern community. All of this
should be applauded.
The mysteries are not horrible, I have written far worse.
However, I did not expand any of my fan mysteries to thirty pages and then charge a
reasonable fee. I am now convinced this
idea itself was a mistake. Most Monster of the Week mysteries are simply not strong enough in my opinion to alter the standard mystery format and support a full
thirty page treatment. Say ten mysteries
in the standard format with some sort of unifying theme would have been far better. An
exploration of the Monsters and Legends native to Eastern Europe with a unique Campaign
Arc I might have found promising and compelling.
While the Eleonore Zugan module is something like the Eastern European
version of the infamous American “Bell Witch” case; neither historical events to
my mind dramatized present mysteries ideally suited to the Monster of the Week role playing game.
The Blood in Budapest presents Hungarian vampires. Why Hungarian
and not Romanian or Serbian in following with the actual history of vampire mythology? Budapest is a lovely city but then so is Toronto and I find the idea
of extremely polite Canadian vampires far more amusing. I
think Marek Golonka is a promising author who I hope will soon present us with
Role Playing adventures that are exceptional as opposed to merely routine.I wanted to like these mysteries much more than I did.
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