Modern, not retro
Smartphones, security systems, livestreams, drones, and a bleeding-edge AI drive the danger instead of steampunk trappings.
Valkyrie Rising
A luxury airship. A corrupted AI. A midnight ritual above the clouds. Six hours to stop the impossible.
Investigators board the maiden voyage of the Valkyrie II in October 2025 and quickly discover that the ship’s polished future hides sabotage, cult intrigue, and a consciousness upload designed to merge ARGUS with an aspect of Nyarlathotep.
What begins as social maneuvering and suspicious glitches escalates into engine-room bomb threats, hidden cult rings, and a final confrontation in the Observation Dome while the Black Star rises outside the hull.
Pulp with teeth
Cinematic action and real stakes. Heroes can win, but only by making hard choices under pressure.
True agency
Multiple investigation paths, tactical choices in every act, and four distinct endings shaped by player decisions.
Keeper-first design
Scene-by-scene guidance, clue redundancy, pacing targets, and troubleshooting tools are built in.
A luxury voyage over the North Sea. A countdown to midnight. And an AI speaking with a voice that is no longer entirely its own.
The ship is already compromised
Valkyrie Rising opens with the investigators boarding a state-of-the-art airship carrying passengers, VIPs, crew, and a hidden cult network. A suspicious poisoning and escalating glitches reveal that ARGUS, the ship’s AI, is being manipulated from within. By the time the investigators understand the scale of the conspiracy, the ritual clock is already running and the ship itself has become the battlefield.
The adventure is built around time pressure and practical choices. Investigators can gather clues through social play, inspect the security office, check the medical bay, search cabins, interrogate crew, or push into technical spaces like the server room and engine room. Every path reveals more of the conspiracy, and every delay makes the finale more dangerous.
The scenario flow
Boarding and First Blood
Meet the crew, assess the VIPs, and survive the first suspicious death. The luxury atmosphere is the bait. The poisoning and initial glitches are the warning.
Rising Tension
Six key locations open up: security, medical, dining room, Bauers cabin, server room, and Room 7A. Cult operatives, sabotage, and AI corruption push the ship toward open crisis.
Engine Room Bombs
A timed sabotage sequence threatens the ship’s core systems. The investigators must disarm bombs, defeat cultists, and keep the Valkyrie II airborne long enough to reach the ritual confrontation.
The Ritual
The Observation Dome becomes a three-ring stronghold as the cult attempts to upload Nyarlathotep into ARGUS at midnight. Reality begins to bend as the ritual approaches completion.
Dr. Elsa Krüger
The hidden mastermind behind the conspiracy. Brilliant, ruthless, and convinced she is saving humanity through transcendent evolution.
Four Outcomes
Victory can be clean, costly, partial, or catastrophic. The ship, the passengers, and the investigators’ future all depend on how fast they act and who survives to the end.
What keepers get
Six balanced pregens
Each investigator has a clear role and niche: tech journalist, ex-military security, AI engineer, influencer-paranormal investigator, mechanical engineer, and private investigator.
Thirty-plus handouts and maps
Emails, security logs, ritual fragments, photos, comms, schematics, and tactical layouts support table play and clue redundancy.
Four endings
From heroic shutdown to catastrophic merge, the scenario tracks how much was stopped, how many allies survived, and how badly reality was damaged.
Ritual progress tracker
The finale includes a clear mechanical clock that makes the dome assault readable, tense, and easy to run under pressure.
Choice-driven investigation
Clue summaries are organized by source and significance so the Keeper can keep the mystery moving without railroading the table.
Split-session friendly
The scenario is built with natural breakpoints between acts, so it can be run in one long night or across two sessions.
Inside the book
Scenario Content
- Modern-day Pulp Cthulhu adventure
- Set aboard the Valkyrie II in October 2025
- Three escalating acts plus aftermath
- Designed for a 5-6 hour session
Characters & Adversaries
- Six pregenerated investigators
- Dr. Elsa Krüger and cult ring adversaries
- Security drones and corrupted systems
- Cosmic horror finale tied to ARGUS
Handouts & Tools
- 30+ handouts and tactical maps
- Clue summaries and investigation support
- Ritual progress tracker and finale guidance
- Scene-by-scene pacing and troubleshooting notes
Keeper Support
- Difficulty scaling and fail-forward options
- Advice for splitting the adventure into sessions
- Prompting for bold pulp action and teamwork
- Clear resolution paths for the endgame
Who this is for
- Keepers who want a modern-tech horror scenario with cinematic momentum.
- Groups that like investigation, sabotage, and tactical action in the same session.
- Tables that want a prestige-thriller feel without losing the Mythos.
- Pulp Cthulhu players who want heroics, pressure, and a finale that can go sideways fast.
Content note: This scenario contains cult activity, body horror, AI corruption, environmental danger, violent conflict, and reality distortion. It is intended for mature players and Keepers comfortable with high-stakes horror and action.
By midnight, the ship will either rise into legend or fall apart in the dark.
Valkyrie Rising gives you a complete modern Pulp Cthulhu adventure aboard the Valkyrie II, with investigation, sabotage, escalating ritual pressure, and a finale that turns the whole ship into a stage for cosmic horror.