Miskatonic Monday #274: Kane’s Tone

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: Kane’s Tone

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Orlando Moreira

Setting: Modern day California

Product: One-session one-shot
What You Get: Twenty-eight page, 53.64 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Post-event, amnesiac countdown horror
Plot Hook: How can you save the world when you don’t even know how it ended?

Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, one NPCs, nine handouts, and two Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Good

Pros

# Shepard Tone

# High potential for Investigator versus Investigator violence

# Excellent staging advice

# Potential convention mini-scenario

# Dendropobia

# Amnesiphobia

# Thanatophobia

Cons

# Shepard Tone
# For full effect, requires careful staging

# High potential for Investigator versus Investigator violence
# No advice on lengthening it to a standard four-hour session

# Playing to the cues can end the scenario and the world

Conclusion

# Structured, post-event, amnesiac countdown horror one-shot

# Solidly written scenario that demands a lot of commitment from the players