I've been eyeing this one at Drivethru. I've heard the original is one of the best adventures out there and I've been curious about it.

The price is higher than I would normally pay for a .pdf (the hard copies are exorbitant!), and between that and the sort of deep dive I'd need to take to familiarize myself with an 1100 page adventure, asking around seemed like a good idea before pulling the trigger.

So, does anyone have this and have an opinion on it? My main concerns are for the overall quality, the length of the adventure, and whether it is written by someone with the worldview of a 2019 Berkeley graduate or not.

If you can get past the woke 2019 Berkeley graduate additions/ommissions/changes and the virtue signalling? I honestly dont know. There is an older thread here on the problem.

Personally I think the PDF price is gouging of the worst sort. Especially for a reprint. 15$ I could see. But 60$? No.

Especially since I could have a 1200 page book printed hardbound for around 30$

The original was not one of the better CoC campaigns... but it was hard to get ahold of a copy and that seems to have given it some mystique. Maybe the remake is better somehow? I don't know... fancier components I'm sure. Meh.
I'd rather spend the money on some Pelgrane/Delta Green or a ToC adventure to convert.

It's a great sprawling investigation-adventure if you love the period setting of it all.
Although for a Call Of Cthulhu campaign of this magnitude I prefer Masks Of Nylarthotep, and using Pulp Cthulhu rules
But Horror On The Orient Express is still a great campaign, it is very detailed and it will be time-consuming (for good or bad)
I have it and have read a bit of it, but never got around to running it.
It is a large campaign, but even so, I don't like pdf versions being this pricey - about $45 USD for something this size would seem reasonable, but $60 USD just feels a bit steep...

Thanks for the heads up, I think I'll hold off on it for now.

Quote from: Mankcam;1102879It's a great sprawling investigation-adventure if you love the period setting of it all.

Although for a Call Of Cthulhu campaign of this magnitude I prefer Masks Of Nylarthotep, and using Pulp Cthulhu rules

But Horror On The Orient Express is still a great campaign, it is very detailed and it will be time-consuming (for good or bad)

I have it and have read a bit of it, but never got around to running it.

I'm not sure if it is worth the asking price however. It is a large campaign, but I don't think pdf versions should be that pricey - about $45 USD for something this size would be reasonable, but $60 USD seems a bit steep...

The price of our PDFs is almost always half the price of the physical book. If you buy the PDF and later buy the physical book from us, you get a credit for the value of the pdf. And you always get the PDF for free when you buy the physical book from us or from participating FLGS.

Quote from: Conanist;1102780I've been eyeing this one at Drivethru. I've heard the original is one of the best adventures out there and I've been curious about it.

The price is higher than I would normally pay for a .pdf (the hard copies are exorbitant!), and between that and the sort of deep dive I'd need to take to familiarize myself with an 1100 page adventure, asking around seemed like a good idea before pulling the trigger.

So, does anyone have this and have an opinion on it? My main concerns are for the overall quality, the length of the adventure, and whether it is written by someone with the worldview of a 2019 Berkeley graduate or not.

I am a player in a current HotOE (7th Edition) campaign and I can say it is a blast. There is detail and mood aplenty everywhere. And it's creepy AF.

Quote from: richaje;1103003The price of our PDFs is almost always half the price of the physical book. If you buy the PDF and later buy the physical book from us, you get a credit for the value of the pdf. And you always get the PDF for free when you buy the physical book from us or from participating FLGS.

Yeah the deal with Chaosium print & pdf products is pretty good, and if the poster was after a hard copy then going directly thru Chaosium is the way to go.
Pity the dollar exchange rates are so high at present, but that is not in Chaosium's control!

Quote from: Anthony Pacheco;1103047I am a player in a current HotOE (7th Edition) campaign and I can say it is a blast. There is detail and mood aplenty everywhere. And it's creepy AF.

Great to hear this. Its in my bookcase and on my 'to-run' list...

Quote from: richaje;1103003The price of our PDFs is almost always half the price of the physical book. If you buy the PDF and later buy the physical book from us, you get a credit for the value of the pdf. And you always get the PDF for free when you buy the physical book from us or from participating FLGS.

But if you just are interested in a pdf, $60 is pretty expensive considering it's an old campaign that you have "spiffed up". Same old car but with some new bodywork and a paintjob.

I'm running HotOE with my home group, and we're probably at about the half-way mark. I never ran the original version of the campaign, so I'm working from the deluxe 7th ed update.

The Good...
Fantastic amount of background information on the history and events of the early months of 1923: unrest in Ireland; Black Shirts in Italy; deciding the fate of Constantinople in Turkey. You get a real sense of place, and the Venice segment has a poignant section dealing with a family firm that's turned its doll making capabilities to helping post-war amputees.

Its an epic campaign that spans London to Constantinople and back again. If you like sweeping travelogues, then this is a great resource, and a lot of the background information is eminently usable in non-HotOE adventures

The production values are good. The props are excellent and very well done, with lovely floorplans for the train itself, and a special set of pieces for the macguffin. The tourist guide for the players is invaluable, as are the timetables and various handouts. The books are readable and functional, and make use of period photos rather than line illustrations. I found a lot of the maps quite murky and difficult to use, but some of the photographs employed help convey a great sense of place.

The Weak
The plot - both the set-up and the various arcs - is incredibly convoluted, confusing, and doesn't really stand up to close scrutiny. It is, IMO, over-thought and needlessly complex.

Scenarios I - some work well, some are quite weak/contrived, and one or two actually play better than they read. Enterprising players are going to quickly find loopholes that will derail (ho-ho) one of the main conceits of the campaign. Plus, the game is, literally, a railroad: you cannot sandbox this. The characters are jumping on and off a train to solve the Mystery of the Day in the Next Stop City and pursue the objectives set at the start of the campaign. There's no real story progression except to get X, go to Y and get Z.

Scenarios II - the new edition has quite a few new scenarios added that take this campaign to its huge, sprawling size. Unfortunately, most of them are side quests in other eras, dream-states, and so on that are superfluous to the plot. Given that so little happens aboard the actual train, this is a squandered opportunity to really make this a campaign with the Orient Express at its heart. Instead, the OE is merely a conveyance. There is a book of NPCs sketched out to various degrees that can be used for colour during segments on the train, but the train itself doesn't really feature as a character or a locale in its own right - and it should. There's obviously scope for the GM to create situations aboard the train, and the support material is there, but I find it perplexing that the new scenarios ignore the possibilities of a grand, opulent train journey and instead overthink and complicate an already overthought and complicated campaign.

For all this though, we are enjoying the campaign. I've made good use of recurring villains, and a couple of the scenarios have been quite harrowing for the players and their characters. None of them have played Cthulhu before, so it's a new experience to be investigating and interacting at this level.

Is it worth the money? Probably. It's an iconic campaign that has a lot of play value if you invest the time to run it. However, it is flawed, and I wouldn't call it a masterpiece as such. It's a good idea that I don't think was fully realised, and in updating it and expanding it, there were some missed opportunities. Overall though, a good Keeper will get their money's worth from the boxed set.

Quote from: GIMME SOME SUGAR;1103113But if you just are interested in a pdf, $60 is pretty expensive considering it's an old campaign that you have "spiffed up". Same old car but with some new bodywork and a paintjob.

Perhaps people would find it easier to decide for themselves if they feel a $60 price tag is warranted for the product. Here's what you get:

Book 1: Campaign Book, 72 pages
Book 2: Through the Alps, 264 pages
Book 3: Italy & Beyond, 272 pages
Book 4: Constantinople & Consequences, 192 pages
Book 5: Strangers on the Train, 96 pages
Book 6: Handouts for the Investigators, 192 pages
The Traveler's Companion, 48 pages
1923 Calendar
European Route Map, color
Air Routes in 1923, color map
Player Maps in color, 13 pages
Keeper Maps in color, 18 pages
Props: Three luggage stickers, Two postcards, Matchbox, Scroll of the Head, U.S. passports, Bumper Sticker, Six pages of Train Plans, Mims Sahis ceremonial knife, Sedefkar Simulacrum.

What you are looking at is basically the equivalent of FOUR books of 256 pages each. Would those be worth $15 each as a PDF?

NOTE: The original 1991 campaign was packaged in a 1 inch thick box. The 2nd edition 2014 came in a 3 inch thick box (stuffed full).

That's a lot of pages.

Quote from: Loz;1103117I'm running HotOE with my home group, and we're probably at about the half-way mark. I never ran the original version of the campaign, so I'm working from the deluxe 7th ed update.

Thanks for the great write up. Lot of good info there! How long do you think it will take to go through it without using the flashback vignette adventures, and are there others you have played that you would call a masterpiece?

Quote from: rmeints;1103162What you are looking at is basically the equivalent of FOUR books of 256 pages each. Would those be worth $15 each as a PDF?

NOTE: The original 1991 campaign was packaged in a 1 inch thick box. The 2nd edition 2014 came in a 3 inch thick box (stuffed full).

Thank you (and Jeff) for the response. In the hypothetical of 4 separate books, I could buy the first one and see if I liked it, and then get the rest if I did.

Free .pdfs with a purchase of the hard copy does sound pretty good and I'd be up for that if they were available. Any plans to reprint this set? I'm definitely not willing to pay $300+ for it on the secondary market.