Your Name in the Book

Details

Scenario opening illustration

Pages: 32

Authors:

• Steffie de Vaan (scenario)
• Chris Spivey (pregenerated characters)

Artists: Jabari Weathers, Alex Mayo

Editor(s): Dixie Cochran, Jill Spivey, Adam Alexander, Mike Mason

Setting: Nieuw Haarlem, New York, 1680

Appears in: Harlem Unbound, 2nd ed.

Summary

The freed Black population of Dutch Haarlem is on edge as a British takeover looms, bringing with it uncertain changes to the laws governing slavery and freedom. So when David Martin turns up murdered by the Hudson, the investigators must find his killer before the British get wind of the murder and use it as a pretext to take over. Meanwhile, rumors swirl that the Devil himself is offering guarantees of continued freedom in exchange for signing his Black Book

Spoilers - Keepers Eyes Only

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Synopsis

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The investigators are either freed Blacks living in Dutch Haarlem, or Black time travelers from a more recent period who find themselves transported to the seventeenth century. Either way, Dutch Haarlem's small Black population is on edge, since the British have gained political control of the area, meaning that previous legal freedoms for people of color may be rescinded. The local Black pastor asks the investigators to investigate the murder of a local man named David Martin; by finding his killer quickly, the pastor hopes to avoid alarming the British and speeding up their takeover. The investigators determine that Martin was killed by a strange being some call the devil or the Black Man—actually an avatar of Nyarlathotep—who is keen to get signatures for the Black Book of Azathoth in exchange for guarantees of continued freedom under British rule. Eventually, the investigators learn that the Black Man has been active in the area for some decades; in searching the abandoned home where he was once seen, they find underground tunnels (carved by the Mi-Go) and the lair of a shell of a man called the Revenant. The investigators must stop the Black Man's plan from coming to fruition—or else sign the book to end his machinations that way.

References

Player Handouts:

• The Yellow Sign
• Medical records

Locations:

• The Bowl and Spoon (cookshop)
• Church of Our Lady of Harlem
• David Martin's boarding house
• Nell's Barbershop
• Palmer Stoddard's house
• The Schipper house
• Shrine to the Mother Goddess
• Sint Antonius church
• Terrance Walker's house
• Underground tunnels

Creatures:

• Black Man (avatar of Nyarlathotep)
• Revenant

Artefacts and Tomes

• Black Book of Azathoth
• Basalt statue
• Bird amulet
• Lizard amulet
• Experimental blade
• Pocketwatch