Miskatonic Monday #239: Lucie’s Dispensation

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: Lucie’s Dispensation

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: John Dyer

Setting: Post-World War I France

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Fifty page, 13.94 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Which is worse? The trauma or the covering up of the trauma?

Plot Hook: Why would the Germans attack a village they already occupied so late in the war?
Plot Support: Staging advice, seven handouts, four maps, five NPCs, one Mythos tome, eight Mythos spells, and two (and more) Mythos creatures.

Production Values: Reasonable

Pros

# Interesting period for a Lovecraftian investigative horror scenario

# Detailed scenario and investigation

# Teutophobia

# Rhabdophobia

# Traumatophobia

Cons

# No, the Keeper doesn’t know or why else would she be reading the scenario background?

# Who are the Investigators meant to be given the recent Armistice?

# Why refuse to give the villain a motivation?

# No historical background for the period

# Frustratingly overwritten in places

# No Sanity rewards

Conclusion

# Sometimes oddly written, often overwritten scenario hides a solid plot and investigation into collective trauma and delusion

# Interesting period left unexplored