Miskatonic Monday #81: The Great Trap

 Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was a Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise of the Dead, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—

Name: The Great Trap

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Heinrich D. Moore

Setting: Jazz Age Chicago

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Sixty-six page, 18.39 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: What were the  Investigators doing thirty years ago and don’t know about?

Plot Hook: A letter from their past reveals an unknown future.

Plot Support: Highly detailed plot, seventeen good handouts, one map, three NPCs, four Mythos tomes, three Mythos entities, and six pre-generated Investigators.

Production Values: Fulsome.

Pros
# Time travel and quantum mechanics—fun for the whole party

# Fitting choice of Mythos elements

# Surprisingly experienced pre-generated Investigators 

# Death is not the end, merely a change

# Straightforward plot with a complex conclusion

# Even the chase tracking sheet is themed!

# Could be run using Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos

# No, Gary Gygax has not been born yet, but neither is this Castles Forlorn—though it is close...  

Cons
# Pre-generated Investigators too powerful? (Keeper’s Discretion)

# Non-Public Domain artwork scrappy

# Straightforward plot with a complex conclusion

# Keeper needs a better grasp of multi-temporal causality than a concussed bee

Conclusion

# Complexity to the scenario’s potential outcomes means it needs care study and preparation

# Science Fiction Horror

# To infinity, and beyond!