Review & Commentary On The Mirage Hills Chronicles By The Red Room Campaign & Setting for The Wretchedverse rpg System

 "Under the California sun lies the city of Mirage Hills, a glittering chimera promising fame and fortune. Its skyline gleams like a beacon for dreamers and visionaries, its iconic sign a siren's call. Beyond the glamorous veneer of movie stars and mansions, however, Mirage Hills harbours plenty of dark secrets." 


" It is a crucible where art and commerce clash, where artistic visions must contend with the harsh realities of the movie business. Mirage Hills is a highstakes game where the players range from struggling starlets to ruthless moguls, and only the shrewd and determined survive. Its streets have witnessed meteoric rises and tragic downfalls, noble artistic pursuits and Faustian bargains." 

Hollywood 1930's through the  1940's the Noir era  is full swing & you won't find a more wretched hive then Los Angeles as well as California. And in this campaign setting of broken lives and dreams are the world of Hollywood stardom. Mirage Hills Chronicles puts the PC's center stage during the 1930's into the 1940's.  You can be anyone from a no name average joe to a struggling starlet dealing with the casting couch and the murders that went with it. Mirage Hill Chronicles isn't a shiny, clean Hollywood setting. Rather this is the underbelly of Los Angeles that was made famous during the era of gangsters, city hall corruption, and much more. 

The Mirage Hill Chronicles is a big book clocking in at an expansive one hundred and sixty eight pages of  Wretched Los Angeles covering everything from Hollywood to the dregs of the underworld of Los Angeles. This book goes deeply into sources, changes in PC classes, PC generation, and more from the Wretchedverse rpg rulebook. Mirage Hill Chronicles delves deeply into the history of the Hollywood of yesteryear with a Wretched spin on things. And 'The Mirage Hill Chronicles is well laid out with plenty of well done A.I. artwork, the layout is well done, and the font is again easy on the eyes.  We get new equipment, vehicles, weapons, and more all centered around the eras best and brightest for technologies during this era. Hell, there's even a flame thrower baked into the Mirage Hill Chronicles. Make no mistake while the Mirage Hills Chronicle campaign setting can easily handle crime, murder, and any other Noir adventure elements. The campaign setting can just as easily handle horror in spades and blood splatters. Everything from Hellraiser movie style Faustian deals to full on slasher murders plus zombies are all easily done. 

And there are tons of NPC's in The Mirage Hill Chronicles from Mob bosses to the ordinary beat cop this campaign setting has it all. This includes details on thier own Hollywood studios, stars, radio stars, and more. All of this boils down into the introductory scenario "The Mystery of Evelyn Harlow" which details a murder mystery with all kinds of twists and turns. What the "The Mystery of Evelyn Harlow" does is to weave all of the elements of 'The Mirage Hill Chronicles' into a whirl wind tour of  all of the seedy & sleazy adventure elements and locations while twisting the PC's in the steaming L.A. wind. And believe me there's a ton of twists and turns in "The Mystery of Evelyn Harlow" 
The Mirage Hill Chronicles is the perfect venue to take PC's who have been dealing with the Wretched Interbellum era before the war and drop them whole cloth into The Mirage Hill Chronicles. 

The PC's who have been dealing with the inter war era's Europe may find themselves in a completely different venue and have to deal with the intricities of 1930's Los Angeles. And this along with it's underbelly could give even the most jaded player some pause. Is The Mirage Hills Chronicles worth getting?! In a nutshell, oh yes especially if your looking for something very different in a campaign world.