Miskatonic Monday #167: Dracula, the Great Old One

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.

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Name: Dracula, the Great Old One

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Marek Golonka

Setting: Jazz Age or Cthulhu by Gaslight
Product: Supplement

What You Get: Thirty-six page, 45.46 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “What if Dracula was more than just a vampire?”

Plot Hook: “What is the truth behind the Dracula myth?”
Plot Support: Staging and roleplaying advice, five NPCs, three new and three old Mythos tomes, four spells, and three Mythos monsters, and one vampire(?).

Production Values: Brown.

Pros

# Explores the malleability and inhumanity of the Dracula myth through the Mythos

# Dracula as Great Old One or near Great old One

# Goes beyond time and space... to the Dreamlands?

# Draws from both H.P. Lovecraft and Bram Stoker

# Includes ‘Dracula’s Maze’, a Cthulhu by Gaslight campaign outline in which Count’s influence across Europe grows and his castle connects to the continent’s greatest cities

# Includes ‘Dracula’s Age’, a Jazz Age campaign outline in which conservative Hungarian occultists attempt to restore the Habsburg Empire by using Dracula’s power!

# Hemophobia

# Sanguivoriphobia

Cons

# Dracula as Great Old One or near Great old One

# Dracula and Cthulhu? Noooooooooo!!!

Conclusion

# Damn the outlines! Give me those campaigns, ready to play NOW!

# Fascinating treatment of the Dracula myth through the Mythos which makes the ultimate vampire more than than just a vampire