A Harlem-based adventure, featuring mobsters, racial tension, the living dead, and… jazz.
Dead Man Stomp is the third and final scenario from Call of Cthulhu’s Starter Set, following on from Edge of Darkness. It’s has a very different feel to the previous stories – I suspect it may be a bit of a Marmite adventure. Interracial distrust is a big part of the scenario’s flavour, and if that’s not your thing then it might be one to skip.
Setting
1920s (of course) Harlem, a melting pot of cultures as folk flee racial segregation in the southern states. The group of investigators have an appointment with someone at the famous Small’s Paradise – a fairly exclusive nightclub. Who they are meeting is up to the Keeper, but it could be someone related to an earlier case. It’s not overly important because they don’t show up before the drama kicks off.
A down-on-his-luck trumpeter comes into possession of a cursed horn, capable of reviving any dead within earshot. How unfortunate that this fellow is a member of the band when a hitman blows a hole through the head of a guest at the team’s table. Carnage ensues, people scream and fight their way out of the venue, and the poor chap dies a second time when rammed by a police car.
Cue some hunting of clues, speaking to the locals, and generally getting into mischief. The mob gets involved and there’s a potential showdown to be had. Finally, the horn man realises his abilities and heads to the local cemetery. He’s planning to bring back his lost love… and with her every corpse in the grounds.
Props and handouts
There really aren’t any to speak of for this campaign. The box comes with printouts of the city, graveyard, and mobster’s hideout. Players can discover a handful of notes, detailed in the booklet. Those are pretty succinct and it’s probably not worth printing them out if you only have the PDF.
There is however a Dead Man Stomp playlist on Spotify, put together by Conner Zimmerman. Conner, I salute you! Thanks for saving me from composing my own – I hate jazz.
Locations
Dead Man Stomp’s main locations are:
- Small’s Paradise (nightclub)
- Mobster’s garage
- Trinity Cemetery
- Peter Manusco’s home and office (first victim)
- Morgan and Dupuy’s funeral home
- Leyroy’s bedsit (trumpeter)
Playthrough
The investigators attended the nightclub and witnessed the horror of a man’s face exploding. The hitman responsible shot one of the pursuing characters and they retreated back to the table, just in time to witness the victim’s resurrection. The band’s frontman wrote the name of a doctor on the back of the funeral home’s business card and they retreated into the night. The backstreet doctor identified the shooter as Joey Larson – a mob hitman.
Patched up and well slept, the team regrouped over breakfast at the Hotel Royale. The bloodstained business card fell out of the player’s pocket when they tipped the staff, leading to the discovery of the scribblings on the front. The morning papers named the deceased accountant from the club shooting, and they headed off to the funeral home to witness events unfold.
Exploration of Manusco’s office and home led to further mob links, and Leyroy was tracked down to a speakeasy near his bedsit. After spilling his guts, the gang convince the horn man to follow them, and they broke into the funeral home. They want to put a theory to the test.
Suspicions confirmed, the investigators bribe Leyroy to lay off the trumpet for a while. They need time to consider the options and come up with a plan! Alas, now aware of his abilities, Leyroy later heads to the cemetery and attempts to revive his lost love, Marnie. The gang heard the familiar tones of the unique instrument in the distance, arriving just in time to see the dead sprout from the earth.
Leyroy had his chest opened with a shotgun round but was immediately revived by his own music. The horn was eventually wrestled from his grasp, the dead collapsed to the floor, and they got the hell out of dodge.
Post-game thoughts
I don’t like this scenario. It’s very linear and you really need to nudge players along a set path if you want this game to run as described. The racial aspect isn’t something that interests me, or I think, any of the players at my table. If you’re into that sort of thing then this might have enough meat on its bones for your group.
This adventure is big on 1920s detail. There are relentless references to music pieces which players are unlikely to recognise. The mob angle is alright but it doesn’t have much depth; it’s a decent filler if you want some gunplay. I didn’t feel there was enough material to stretch to a second session, so I completely ignored Leyroy’s kidnapping and the garage encounter.
In the game’s defence, there probably would have been enough time if it was run as written. The players spent a lot of time at the hotel, the doctor’s place, and the funeral home – I really cannot abide railroading.
If I had to run this again (I won’t), I would take the story and be even more freeform. Possibly the players would come to Harlen after hearing of the dead rising, only to collapse a short time later. I’d make the source of the problem less obvious and require more legwork – as written it is immediately clear who is responsible. The rest is just fluff.