The Brotherhood of the Beast

De: H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society

Narrado por: H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society

A hardened archaeologist and a wealthy adventurer join forces to look into inexplicable murders in Boston. Before long, their investigation reveals a nefarious conspiracy, with tentacles reaching from their own past to the furthest corners of the globe. Will the duo and a team of trusted comrades be able to thwart an unholy alliance of dark forces, or does our very world stand upon the precipice of a terrifying doom?

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2016 HPLHS, Inc. (P)2016 HPLHS, Inc.

Dark and edgy pulp!

THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BEAST is another audiobook drama created by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. While they’ve been doing many adaptations of Lovecraft’s actual work, they’ve also done a number of pastiches as well with this being the second Chaosium-adapted module after MASKS OF NYARLATHOTEP. I am really interested in these and hope they’ll continue to do them. I would also be interested in them adapting some other Mythos authors. I think this format is perfect for, say, Brian Lumley’s The Burrowers Beneath.

The premise of Dark Adventure Theatre is that in an alternate universe, HP Lovecraft managed to get his stories adapted to radio play dramas in the 1930s. They’re deliberately bombastic, over-the-top, and even pulpier than Lovecraft’s own words that were in pulp magazines. It’s a format that worked exceptionally well for Masks of Nyarlathotep and I was excited to see used again for THE FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH, which is a module I own.

If you wonder why they renamed it to THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BEST, it’s because older Chaosium modules had a weird habit of naming themselves after things not in the adventure to mislead players. For example, THE SHADOW OF YOG-SOTHOTH doesn’t have Yog-Sothoth in it but is instead about the rise of Cthulhu. Which is a TLDR way of saying, “It’s not called The Fungi from Yuggoth because there’s not many Mi-Go in the adventure, nor are they the focus.” It would later be republished as The Day of the Beast but opening with that means I wouldn’t be able to share this weird digression.

The short-short version of the plot without too many spoilers is that after a horrific encounter with a monster-spawned abomination, a millionaire and his archaeologist friend discover an ancient Egyptian cult is plotting to bring about the rise of a godlike being who will usher in the end of the world. They journey from New York to Transylvania to Peru to San Fransisco and possibly Ancient Egypt. Why possibly? Well, the module has the unique fact that it has multiple endings like the movie version of Clue. More on that later.

I, overall, enjoyed the audio drama tremendously. They made a lot of cuts of fluff and it’s a much more manageable three hours long versus the Masks of Nyarlathotep‘s seven hours. I particularly loved the character of Jenny who is an ex-gangster’s girlfriend and adds a lot of levity to the story. Indeed, Jenny is my favorite character so much that I desperately wanted her to live through the story so she could star in further adventures. The protagonists are enjoyable and the kind of people you’d find in actual adventure radio of the time.

The story suffers a bit from being too similar to Masks of Nyarlathotep. There’s an evil cult out to overthrow the Earth and bring about the end of the world. Indeed, people from the Bible Belt like myself will note that this adventure leans a bit too much to fundamentalist Christian eschatology. Which, translated for normal people, Nyarlathotep’s agent (or Nephren-Ka’s agent in this case) acts way too much like the Antichrist from the Omen movies or Left Behind versus a human in a cosmic horror story. Weirdly, I much preferred Baron Hauptman as a villain because while he heavily beats the “Dracula” drum, he actually subverts some expectations along the way.

The audiobook also suffers from the fact the four endings are completely unnecessary. Not only do they end more or less the same way three out of four times (one of them at least ending in the villain’s victory), they disrupt the radio play format of things. I feel they should have stuck with one ending or found some contrived way to include all of their material. As such, you’re left to pick one of the endings as “canon” and wonder why they kept them so similar if we’re never likely to see the protagonists again.

In conclusion, it’s a very fun pulpy story and anyone who has read my own books knows that I love pulpy Cthulhu. There’s globe trotting, millionaire playboys, creepy cults, and heroic sacrifices. My only real regret is that it doesn’t feel very Lovecraftian. This could easily be about a Satanic cult plotting to bring about the Biblical apocalypse. After all, I’m fairly sure Cthulhu doesn’t care about who is President of the United States even if I wrote him in a couple of times.

Thoroughly entertaining fun adventure!

Man I absolutely loved this one. I really like the globe trotting feel and it felt like I was watching an Indiana Jones movie in my head. The multiple endings were so fun as well!

H.P Lovecraft Historical is the only to go!

I've listened to many different versions of H.P Lovecraft audio books, and the H.P. Lovecraft Historical is by far the best and most entertaining.

Interesting twist on Lovecraft

This is definitely worth a listen if you like Lovecraft. It’s made by people who really understand that world and are willing to have a little fun with it.

Super intriguing especially different endings

I feel like this book was one of the best I’ve listened to ever I love everything hp lovecraft he’s my favorite author and the different endings of this book with what would have happened if chuck considered the different plans and the power boy at the end screaming what would’ve been the aftermath truly a masterpiece

DART does it again!

Longer than their usual programs, BotB is a real treat. More time to bring characters to life, and four different endings gives everyone what they might be looking for.

Amazing story thrilling adventure

If you like table top stories brought to life then you will love this title. The detective aspect is gripping and logical and the action is all there.

One note, idk if it was part of the scenario, or just bad rolls but on character kept getting the worst of it.

Such a cool idea, what a great story!

This is another departure from adapting straight-up Lovecraft stories. I've never played the Call of Cthulhu RPG but this episode made me want to try it out. The characters were so fun (love that they continue to bring back characters from other episodes). Loved the way the story progressed from one small investigation into strange murders to this globe trotting adventure to stop the end of the world. I thought the multiple different endings was a very cool choose-you-own-adventure idea, that I wouldn't want every episode to have but really liked as a one-off experience (especially since some were pretty dark). Hope for more like this from the HPLHS and Dark Adventure!

Brilliant!!!

This was absolutely wonderful - a must listen too if you enjoy action filled adventures! This book and the Masks of Nyarlathotep have been my favorites by far!

would love to see a movie iteration of this

fantastic and well preformed. really the type of adventure style movie that just isn't out there anymore. the narrator was great. all the characters were fantastic. really would love to see this be made into a movie or at least a mini series.