Miskatonic Monday #173: Play, Repeat, Return

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: Play, Repeat, Return

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Braydon Fiveash & Stars Are Right

Setting: Modern Day Alaska
Product: Scenario

What You Get: Twenty-nine page, 6.58 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Groundhog Day, but with dinosaurs!

Plot Hook: Home just got really strange.
Plot Support: Staging advice, one NPC, three handouts, six maps, table of timelines, two dinosaurs, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Decent.

Pros

# House in a bottle weird mystery

# Survival horror begins at home

# Easy to prepare

# Entertainingly different set-up and mode of play

# Mythos twist upon a cliché which makes good use of the environment

# Chronophobia

# Frigophobia

# Ornithoscelidaphobia

Cons

# Scenario could last twenty minutes, could last four hours

# Not all of the maps in the right places

# Cliché is easy to work out

Conclusion

# Infuses a cliché with the Mythos for an intriguingly different one-shot  

# Short, sharp, easy-to-prepare weird Science Fiction horror one-shot that can be ready to play in minutes