Miskatonic Monday #249: The Pirate and the Bride

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: The Pirate and the Bride

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Jazmin Ospa & Meghan Kuschner

Setting: Regency-era Bahamas

Product: Scenario for In Strange Seas: Horror in the Royal Navy for Regency Cthulhu and Regency Cthulhu: Dark Designs in Jane Austen’s England
What You Get: Seventeen page, 6.21 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Dagon’s ‘Red Wedding’

Plot Hook: A sudden society wedding threatens to reveal all manner of scandal
Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, eight NPCs, four handouts, and several hundred  (Mythos) monsters.

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# Strongly plotted combination of societal and nautical mystery

# Easy to run once past its issues

# Thalassophobia

# Decantophobia

# Kinemortophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit and further development

# Needs a clearer explanation

# No maps

Conclusion

# Solid scenario that needs a bit more work to make it run easily

# A ‘Red Wedding’ meets Pirates of the Caribbean is a perfectly good combination