OSR Wretched RPG Campaign Idea - Wretched Époque rpg 'Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror II The Second Movement '

 So this morning, our group of gamers spent time at the local coffee shop having a brew & talking gaming. The usual conversation came up but we came back to the Wretched Époque rpg ;"The Wretched Époque takes place in the period known as the Belle Époque. This is the time and the fictional place where Umberto Eco's Simone Simonini crosses paths with Jacques Tardi's Adèle Blanc-Sec, Edgar Allan Poe's Chevalier Auguste Dupin and Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin, amidst anarchist bombings, the echoes of the Dreyfus affair, the catastrophic side effects of secret societies conspiring in the shadows and the mysterious results of experiences conducted by mad geniuses" 

Why?! Because we came back to one of the most influencal vampire films created Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (German: Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens) a 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok. And when we look at the wiki entry on Nosferatu's plot; "In 1838, in the fictional German town of Wisborg,^[1][6] Thomas Hutter is sent to Transylvania by his employer, estate agent Herr Knock, to visit a new client named Count Orlok who plans to buy a house across from Hutter's own home. While embarking on his journey, Hutter stops at an inn where the locals become frightened by the mere mention of Orlok's name."  So all of the events of Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror take place in 1838 very much outside of the events of the Belle Époque which takes place in 1871–80 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914. What if Count Orlok wasn't destroyed in the sunlight by Ellen's valiant sacrifice. Instead Orlok's essence flees back to his coffin where he reforms until 1872 & then makes his move on Paris this time instead of Germany. 

Orlok makes his move by having his corpse & coffin shipped to a castle on the outskirts of Paris & begins to create mayhem with plague rats moving across the countryside. Plague begins to take over as he feeds on the human essence and fear. Count Orlok isn't your average vampire but one who has a deep & abiding connection to the Beyond allowing him to feed on not only the blood but the very souls of humanity. 
This will be a massive campaign with the player's PC's getting an updated 'Book of the Vampires' with the ancient tome being studied & updated by the L' Institut Scientifique Pour l'Étude Des Phénomènes Occultes (ISEPO). The vampires of Paris see this ancient upstart as out & out predatory competition to their herd population within the city of lights. This is a sprawling campaign involving both villains & heroes who will have to work together to rid the country of this upstart & his plague of vileness that has invaded the French countryside! 

Wretched Époque rpg 'Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror II The Second Movement ' Foes & Encounter Ideas: 

1. The PC's could come face to face with plague infected animals under the control of Count Orlok. There could well be all kinds horrors that await the player's PC's. 
2. Hordes of undead plague victims to cause the players delays, weird encounters, and more. 
3. The player's PC's are called before the vampires of Paris to discuss destroying Orlok freeing France from the grip of the invasive undead horror. 
4. Abandoned towns, villages, etc. become the hunting ground of ghosts & far worse as the dead do not remain quiet. France is known for its ghosts but Orlok's plague creates far more then the living know. 
5. France begins to slip into the grip of the beyond as dead shift the balance of power from the living to the supernatural. Things begin to cross between worlds. 

OSR Review & Commentary On Wretchploitation By Miguel Ribeiro From The Red Room For Old School Exploitation 60's & 70's Game Campaigns

 "While previous Wretched games are meant to play anti-heroes, Wretchploitation goes a bit further allowing you to take the role of obvious villains, such as Dominatrix Nazi officers with a taste for blood, sadistic wardens, psycho-killers, deranged cult leaders and other distasteful personalities. "

"Wretchploitation expands the Wretched line into exploitation movie territory, already rife with seedy anti-heroes. Whether you like violent action, in the way of blaxploitation, 70s cop movies, Hong-Kong flicks and Eurocrime, or if you would, instead, emulate the horror and gore of cannibal, zombie, Giallo and splatter films, or even if you prefer the sleaziness of sexploitation and nunsploitation, this set of rules has got you covered!"

Wretchploitation is another Red Room creation by Miguel Ribeiro &  Wretchploitation takes its que from the rest of the Wretched rpg titles. You play scum & anti heroes with a take on some really low down PC types with Assassin, Common Citizen, Investigator, Man of Action, Proselytizer, Rogue and Scholar, plus the optional Conjurer, Psychic and Shaman. The adult grind house & exploitation film genres are on  full display here as is the adult artwork & public domain comic book artwork. This style fills all one hundred & fifty five pages of weirdness & depravity. All of which is going to be familiar to the average OSR or old school D&D style of player. But Wretchploitation isn't one for the kids; not at all or anything to do with children around! Seriously this is an adult title & not for the faint of heart! You are playing the scum of the Earth, antiheroes with evil hearts whose character creation relies on the 13 deadly sins mixed in with old school OSR rules! Wretchploitation takes the idea of the exploitation & grindhouse style of OSR play seriously. The subject matter is another turn entirely with both an easy mode & hard play of style for PC generation. 
The attention here on Wretchploitation is the idea of the PC's doing 60's & 70's  'evil' and downright weird adventures. The layout, artwork, etc. are all geared in this direction. From Cannibal Holocaust style adventures, to 'Men's 60's Adventure' magazines to straight up Pulp style anti heroics Wretchploitation By  Miguel Ribeiro covers the whole affair. 

Adventures rules  run the whole way with play styles, adventure ideas, equipment, firearms, cars chases, etc.covered in detail within Wretchploitation. And the game excels at those details. But is Wretchploitation By  Miguel Ribeiro  actually playable? In a word, yes! The game takes enough time & energy to bare out Wretchploitation's game systems & rules well enough to encourage a very different OSR style of play. And this follows well in the wake of Wretched Époque which uses many similar rpg system but these are not quite the same. The reason is the fact that two different & very almost opposed fictional  historical epochs are covered. 
Wretchploitation covers this with gusto allowing both DM & players to get down & dirty with their OSR adventures. Sometimes it's fun to play the bad guys & Wretchploitation allows that to happen in spades. You're a part of a crew of the 'bad guys' and bad things are going to happen! 
Because Wretchploitation is an OSR game this is a rather easy game for OSR or old school players to slip into. But in no way or shape is this a game for children to even be near or to play! Wretchploitation lives up to it's sleazy & scummy roots with it's pedigree of exploitation films, softcore 70's & 80's sources, and some very questionable artwork. Wretchploitation fits the genre of 'exploitation noir' quite well & it's an actually quite well made game. Though I'd love to play this game I'm not sure that I'd ever allow the PC's near my family in real life. Five outta of five if your looking to do an Wretchploitation campaign. 

Wretchploitation By  Miguel Ribeiro From The Red Room For Old School Exploitation 60's & 70's Game Campaigns Is Available Here 

OSR Review & Commentary On Wretched Époque Rpg By Miguel Ribeiro, Sílvia Clemente, Joe Coombs from The Red Room For Your French OSR Campaign Games

 "Wretched Époque takes place in the period known as the Belle Époque. This is the time and the fictional place where Umberto Eco's Simone Simonini crosses paths with Jacques Tardi's Adèle Blanc-Sec, Edgar Allan Poe's Chevalier Auguste Dupin and Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin, amidst anarchist bombings, the echoes of the Dreyfus affair, the catastrophic side effects of secret societies conspiring in the shadows and the mysterious results of experiences conducted by mad geniuses. Not yet pulp, not quite historical, it is neither the right time nor the right mood for Steampunk or Dieselpunk. Welcome to the wretched times of Nouveaupunk!"

"Wretched Époque includes:

- OSR rules for playing fin-de-siécle anti-heroes (expanded Wretched rules for sanity and mesmerism)
- Information about fictional and real-world secret societies, cults and conspiracies
- Plenty of villains, among them criminal masterminds, mad scientists, mythical beasts and Lovecraftian abominations
- The Apache Underworld and Parisian law enforcement of the late 19th century, as foes or allies to the characters
- The Beyond, origin of all supernatural menaces in the Wretched universe
- Timeline and guide to the Arrondissements of Paris in the Belle Époque""

Wretched Époque rpg By Miguel Ribeiro, Sílvia Clemente, Joe Coombs from The Red Room. Covers a very specific period of French almost but not quite Pulp literature pre WWI according to its own introduction;"Wretched Époque takes place in the period known as the Belle Époque, which is dated between 1871 and 1914, ending when World War I started." Wretched Époque rpg covers both PC heroes & anti hero of these French pieces of literature that takes the Wretched Bastards rpg system & then mates it to a modern OSR undercarriage. The Wretched Époque rpg is fun & very well thought out in two hundred seventeen pages. Wretched Époque rpg plays up it's criminal elements of gangs, the underworld, the political climate, and more with a twist of mad science. 



There's a good balance within the Wretched Époque rpg from the Pulp elements into the fast paced weirdness & violence of the Wretched rpg system. Your PC's could be the villains finding themselves among them criminal masterminds, mad scientists, mythical beasts and Lovecraftian abominations. And its this combination of a party of players finding themselves at the throats of Pulp criminal masterminds one day, fighting the French underworld, and then moving toward the Lovecraftian horrors at the center of Paris. The layout of the Wretched Époque rpg is well done, the equipment list is extremely well done, details on the world of the Wretched Époque rpg is really solid. Gotta say that I've been really surprised reading through  the Wretched Époque rpg and how good the quality of it really is. At $10.50 for two hundred and fifteen pages the Wretched Époque rpg is actually really well done. And given the fact that the Wretched Époque rpg is OSR compatible means that this rpg system could theoritcally be used with a DM's other OSR systems. 

The overall feel of the Wretched Époque rpg is a step beyond the rest of the Wretched catalog that the Red Room has done. The Pulp elements of the Wretched Époque rpg capture its literature, source material, & feel of the time period where the blend of heroes & anti heroes blurs unto themselves. While the line between good & evil is here, it's one that get's moved completely around as the Wretched Époque rpg sees fit. And that's one of the strengths of  the Wretched Époque rpg in spades taking a point of the French literature and films unto itself. This captures the wild abandoned, absolute Hell, and yet civilized order that this time period evokes within the game's history. The Wretched Époque rpg does take its subject matter seriously and yet it game play seems to be very well done indeed! 

You can grab the Wretched Époque rpg right over here