The Shab-Al-Hiri Roach

The Shab-Al-Hiri Roach obviously draws on some of the horror ideas of Call of Cthulhu but it trims the Mythos down to a small setting on a college campus, with evil embodied as an ancient Sumerian roach that offers awesome power in exchange for a little control. All you have to do is swallow it.

The players are all professors of various academic ranks, with specialty fields and enthusiasms beyond their primary knowledge. The action resolves around the infighting and politics that plague most campuses, but with the added taint of a malicious, intelligent roach that offers the promise of power in return for letting it take a little control. The setting is most likely to appeal to those who have experience in academia, as much of the humor is skewed towards college tropes.

The most noteworthy feature of the game is the deck of cards that provides opportunities for free characters (those who have not swallowed the roach) and commands from the roach to those that it controls. Opportunities give minor bonuses, and commands usually involve lying, cheating and stealing. This deck creates the conflict that the game thrives on.

At any time, a character can accept the roach's offer and gain considerable power, but must accept the roach's orders as well. The deck can also force a character to swallow the roach, meaning that the most important choice in the game can be taken out of the player's hands. This can make the game seem random, but it's a very deliberate choice: it means that even the best intentions can fall flat. Losing the roach once swallowed is a gamble at best.

Scenes in the game come from a set calender, representing the semesters at fictional Pemberton University. This gives each game of The Shab-Al-Hiri Roach a refreshing similarity, kind of like returning to a college campus. Each scene also has certain NPCs associated with it, who play some part, perhaps just through their influence (since the NPC may be dead by the time their scenes come around).

It's worth noting that The Shab-Al-Hiri Roach is a competitive game. The players are trying to gain reputation, and the free character with the most reputation at the end of the game wins. However, the game is best played for everyone's enjoyment. Each character needs to be vying for reputation, but the players enjoy the game most when they work together. The game is refreshingly up front about this, it's a game about competing characters and cooperating players.

At it's core, The Shab-Al-Hiri Roach is a game about ambition, and it lends itself well to situations where ambition is key. There are two alternate settings published together as The Roach Returns, one based on an English college, and set in World War II. Using The Shab-Al-Hiri Roach for a game of political candidates is also a popular unofficial setting, especially around the U.S. presidential elections. The ease with which the game can be adapted to other settings is a tribute to how pure it is, how well it speaks to human ambition and failure.