Miskatonic Monday #237: Trutz Blanke Hans

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: Trutz Blanke Hans

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Florian Krates

Setting: German North Sea Coast

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Sixteen page, 1.87 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Dunwich-am Meer

Plot Hook: An invitation to a séance turns decidedly strange
Plot Support: One handout, four maps, one NPC, one Mythos artefact, and two Mythos creatures.

Production Values: Adequate

Pros

# Unexpected time travel trip against the clock

# Nice sense of growing urgency

# Plenty of historical and regional background

# Chronophobia

# Thalassophobia

# Antlophobia

Cons

# German equivalent of ‘An Amaranthine Desire’ from Nameless Horrors: Six Reasons to Fear the Unknown

# Easy to adapt to other time periods

# Needs a hook to get the Investigators involved

# No map of Rungholt

# What if the Investigators act against the instigator of the scenario’s plot?

Conclusion

# Decent enough race against the environment with undeveloped set-up and conclusion

# Needs work to provide a motivation for the Investigators