Miskatonic Monday #170: Stolen Grief

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: Stolen Grief

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Stuart McNair

Setting: 1920s North of England
Product: Scenario

What You Get: Forty page, 46.38 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: There are blacker hearts than those that are grieving

Plot Hook: A forced stop reveals a village in sadness behind which hides ancient horror
Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Investigators, six NPCs, eight handouts, three maps, one Mythos spell, and four Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Decent.

Pros

# Bucolic horror one-shot

# Enjoyably vile villain

# Potential side adventure for a campaign

# Not Omar Shakti’s cat, but…

# Easily adapted to Cthulhu by Gaslight

# Ailurophobia

# Wiccaphobia

# Speluncaphobia

# Dendrophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Slightly underpowered hook to motivate the Investigators to act

# No area map

# No NPC portraits for the players

Conclusion

# Decently described English village forms the setting for a horribly bucolic scenario in which grief is co-opted by greed and desperation
# Solid scenario slightly undone by underpowered Investigator motivation in the second act