Miskatonic Monday #104: Missing in the Woods

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 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: Missing in the Woods

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Brandon Estelle

Setting: Blackwood National Forest, Modern Day USA.

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Fourteen page, 648.65 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Can the investigators find the missing, before they become missing too?

Plot Hook: A search for a missing girl turns strange 

Plot Support: Straightforward plot, one handouts, and one monstrous entity.

Production Values: Plain.

Pros

# Modern day, backwoods one-shot

# Easily adapted to other periods

# Eerie sense of unreality

# Folk horror more than Mythos horror

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Short and linear

# Emphasises physical skills rather than mental

# Folk horror more than Mythos horror

# Not much for the Investigators to do

Conclusion

# Easily adaptable, short piece of folk horror with a sense of the eerie that is all too straightforward with little for the Investigators to do