Oakwood Heights (Scenario Review)

Oakwood Heights art

Oakwood Heights was the first scenario published for KULT: Divinity Lost. It is free to download on their homepage. It can also be found in Taroticum and Other Tales. It is written by Petter Nallo, the creative director of the game and the writer of the mythos chapters in the rulebook.

Set during a crime scene reconstruction in Detroit the players assume the role of people connected to the justice system trying to discover what exactly happened during a murder spree committed in the area Oakwood Heights. The man arrested for the crimes, Franklin Mills, claims to have lost his memory. But during that day of blood and terror a boy disappeared, and they did not find his body. So the goal is to get Franklin Mills to tell (or remember) what he did to the boy.

It’s a scenario written for one session. The characters (four of them) are premade and tightly woven into the story. They each have personal motivations and hidden agendas. Especially two of them are extremely fascinating and creepy with a lot of hidden baggage that might (and probably will) be revealed during play. There are also several handouts.

Oakwood zugZug Island is one of the places that the characters get to visit in this scenario. 

This is an excellent scenario. One of the strongest I’ve read (and not just for KULT). Deep and complex characters, Locations that are memorable and varied and countless surprises and twists and turns. You are constantly forced to reassess the situations and the people involved and the deeper you go into it you discover the darkness that is underneath.

I don’t want to spoil the story and what happens since I think this is something that should be read, or even better, played. Everything is tied together in an elegant way. Franklin is a fascinating character. It also includes one of the scariest nepharites and a truly haunting purgatory.

If I would say anything bad about it, it would be that there are quite some information to take in up front. But, it is done as a scene in the beginning of the scenario so it still works.

I have played this scenario twice and both times it has been a memorable experience and really pushed the players to explore their own, inner, darkness.

If you want to dive into it and don’t mind to be spoiled you can of course read it but Red Moon Roleplaying has done an excellent playthrough of it. So listen to it here.


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