Miskatonic Monday #205: The Colour of Cattle

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: The Colour of Cattle

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: John LeMaire

Setting: Illinois, 1885

Product: Scenario for Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos
What You Get: Sixty-three page, 142.09 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Colour Out of Space drains the colour out of cattle!

Plot Hook: A cattle drive takes a short cut to death
Plot Support: Staging advice, three handouts, six pre-generated Cowpokes, four maps, twelve NPCs, one creature, one bad bear, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Unworldly.

Pros

# Scenario for Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos
# Can make use of Get Along, Little Dogies
# The snake oil turns out to be the balm needed

# Mostly a physical and combative investigation

# Plenty of extra background material provided

# Includes bonus encounter

# Chromophobia

# Arkoudaphobia

# Bovinophobia

Cons

# Needs a slight edit

# More a change of genre than a change of story

# Can make use of Get Along, Little Dogies

Conclusion

# Solid, slowpoke of a scenario as the cowpokes try to drive the Colour from the region in order to drive their cattle through

# Brings a fresh approach to dealing with a Mythos threat which really cannot be dealt with and offers limited story use.