Miskatonic Monday #107: Nightmare in the Sanitarium

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: Nightmare in the Sanitarium

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Rudy Peverada

Setting: An asylum

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Elven page, 3.61 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: An Escape Room meets Murder in the Dark

Plot Hook: Can you escape the asylum?
Plot Support: Staging advice, two floorplans, some NPCs, and some Night-Gaunts.

Production Values: Adequate.

Pros

# Murder in the dark one-shot
# Nice cover

Cons

# Murder in the dark

# Sanitarium as a reverse dungeon

# No investigation
# No background

# No plot

# No pre-generated Player Characters

# Devoid of roleplaying potential as written

# The Player Characters have ‘special powers’

# Choice of ‘special powers’ limited to three

# Cuts the Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition rules down unnecessarily for brevity 

Conclusion

# Murder in the Dark combined with an Escape Room set in a sanitarium, reverse dungeon-style.

# Potentially mildly interesting set-up undone by a lack of plot, background, or pre-generated Player Characters, leaving the Keeper to develop the roleplaying possibilities they would provide.