1937: The Abyssinia Affair

An Ohio professor suddenly goes missing, abducted from his own home by gun-toting thugs. His two children head for Europe in search of him, constantly pursued by shadowy gangsters. Days later, a precious ancient religious artifact, The Black Shield of Abyssinia, is stolen from the British Museum in a daring overnight heist. Solving the mystery and recovering the missing artifact and the professor brings the adventurers on an international pursuit as the storm clouds of world war gather over Europe and Africa.

1937: The Abyssinia Affair is a historical setting for traditional tabletop roleplaying games, set in the pre-war pulp era. This book details technology and culture for the time, multiple locations, fictional characters, and a default, but adaptable, plotline. The adventure setting includes rural Ohio, New York City, London, Paris, Munich, Venice, Egypt, Sudan, and ultimately Italian-occupied Ethiopia.

1937: The Abyssinia Affair does not include any rule mechanics for playing the game. I’m more interested in writing stories than developing game mechanics. There are plenty of great roleplaying systems that can be easily used for historical roleplaying. Some obvious possibilities that would work well with this adventure setting include GURPS; Spirit of the Century; Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes; FUDGE; Pulp HERO; or Modern Age. Character descriptions in Past Adventures products provide just enough detail to help a referee understand what characteristics to set higher or lower, which skills to include, and defining motivations. Throughout the text, “quick roll” tables provide some simple variation to characters, encounters, or events. Resolution of these simple tables should be fairly seamless regardless of game system. 

The ebook is 160 pages of text, maps, photos, and artwork, all in beautiful black and white. As described above, the POD softcover version is also printed with a black and white interior.

Purchasing note: The POD printed softcover book is printed deliberately with a black and white interior (full color cover). The print options lists as "Standard Color" has a black and white interior, but is a slightly higher print quality than the B&W version.