Reviews from R'lyeh: 2025

Sunday, 2 November 2025

Miskatonic Monday #387: Shadow & Illusion

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. 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: Shadow & Illusion

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: John Almack

Setting: Jazz Age Chicago

Product: One-shot
What You Get: Twenty-four page, 2.70 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Some dummies are no fools

Plot Hook: What’s the trick when a magician dies performing a magic trick?

Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, seventeen NPCs, two handouts, one map, and one ‘Mythos’ monster.

Production Values: Serviceable

Pros

# Magic murder mystery?

# Easy to adjust to other settings or time periods

# Magic and the Mob don’t mix

# Detailed staging for some scenes

# Option for running as a more mundane scenario

# Chance for some Investigators to shine on stage

# Rhabdophobia

# Automatonophobia

# Stagefright

Cons

# No Mythos

# No real introduction for the Investigators
# A lot of NPCs to keep track of

# Underwritten Investigators

# Needed more creepy venting

Conclusion

# The perils of performing in a tale of murder and magic

# Tonight’s performance is not going to go off like clockwork, it going to go like hackwork!

Saturday, 1 November 2025

Miskatonic Monday #386: For King and Country

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Name: For King and Country

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Michał Pietrzak

Setting: The Dreamlands, 2025

Product: Scenario for H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands – Beyond the Wall of Sleep
What You Get: Twenty page, 1.49 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: When your dreams of roleplaying turn against you

Plot Hook: Rescue the princess, save the Game Master!

Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Adventurers, five NPCs, one map, and one monster.

Production Values: Plain

Pros

# Winner of the Stars Are Right Scenario Outline Writing Contest

# Involves trauma as a roleplaying mechanism

# Straightforward, classic fantasy set-up

# Oneirophobia

# Rhabdophobia

# Pantophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# The Game Master as deus ex machina

# Involves trauma as a roleplaying mechanism

# Investigators do not have the ‘basics’ of fantasy skills for The Dreamlands

# Should the climber have the climb skill?

Conclusion

# Deus ex machina versus deus ex machina

# Interesting concept with underwritten player agency

Miskatonic Monday #385: The Grindhouse: Volume 4

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The Grindhouse: Volume 4 is a duology—a ‘double feature’—of scenarios within the grindhouse genre of cinema—low-budget horror, splatter, and exploitation films for adults which had their heyday in the seventies. It is a sequel to The Grindhouse: Ultimate Collection – Vol. 1-3, and like that anthology presents short scenarios that can be played in a single session. However, unlike the scenarios in the anthology, the two presented in The Grindhouse: Volume 4 are not locked room situations. Nevertheless, they are still action and horror focused and involving bloody and brutal horror. Each scenario is presented in full colour, comes with its own set of pre-generated Investigators, and follows the same format. This consists of ‘Prelude’, ‘Objectives’, ‘Secrets’, ‘Cast’, ‘Signs’, ‘Threats’, and ‘Changes’. The ‘Prelude’ sets up and explains the scenario, the ‘Objectives’ the Player Characters’ involvement, ‘Secrets’ reveals what is really going on, ‘Cast’ lists minor NPCs, ‘Signs’ details clues which can be found, ‘Threats’ the dangers both Mythos and mundane, and ‘Changes’ the major events which occur during the scenario.

The first of the two scenarios in The Grindhouse: Volume 4 open with ‘Nazi Bikers Must Die!’. As the title suggests, this is definitely a scenario that is far from the traditional Jazz Age, tweeds and pipes-style of Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying. As is made clear on the duology’s back cover, this is not, “…[Y]our typical Call of Cthulhu scenarios where some classy, well-dressed investigator sips tea and pours over leather books in some wood panelled library.” Instead, this is a muscular, bruising brawl of a scenario that ends in a knockdown bar fight and a showdown to prevent a summoning in dusty New Mexico, not all that far from Roswell. It takes place in the sleepy town of Dexter, where the Player Characters, the members of a biker gang called ‘The Devil’s Pistons’ ride into town in search of a book. They have been commissioned to intimidate or persuade a local dealer in antiquities and rare books to sell an eighth century Sumerian manuscript called The Eshnunna Rubbings. It appears to be a simple job, well within The Devil’s Pistons’ capabilities and they have been promised a solid pay-out.

Unfortunately, things begin to look bad for the Player Characters when ‘The Reichers’—a rival gang whose members’ bikes, clothes, and bodies are emblazoned in neo-Nazi symbols—rides into town. By the time the Player Characters get to the bookseller, it is clear that he does not have the book, but with some due diligence, they can learn that it is in the possession of a local bar owner, a friend of the bookseller. Fortunately, the Tread Mark bar is the kind of rough establishment where the Player Characters like to hang out. Unfortunately, so do ‘The Reichers’ and add in a Jewish occultist hell bent on revenge and what you get is knockdown, stand-up barroom brawl that Robert Rodriguez would be proud to stage.

In some ways, this is a nasty scenario, a dirty mix of Nazis, Nazi ideology expressed by the NPCs, occultism, and a criminal biker gang—and it is the members of that criminal biker gang that the players roleplay. To be fair, the scenario clearly advises that it is not for everyone and plus, the bikers of ‘The Devil’s Pistons’ are not evil themselves, just happy riding alongside and over the edge of the law and none of them are without a conscience. Further, the scenario is fun and the Player Characters get to punch Nazis—a lot! This is a very physical scenario, involving far more combat than most scenarios for Call of Cthulhu. Given that, a few tweaks to adjust to Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos might be worth considering and the big barroom brawl would also work with miniatures and a map given its focus on combat. Lastly, and as an aside, the scenario does miss a trick by not being set in the town of Castronegro from the scenario, ‘The Secret of Castronegro’, found in the Cthulhu Companion – Ghastly adventures & Erudite Lore.

‘Cold as Hell’, the second scenario shifts to the New England of Lovecraft Country and the long-blighted town of Dunwich in the heart of winter. It takes place in The Wayward Inn, a historic building in the heart of the town, where contractors employed to carry out some necessary renovations have made an important and of course, dangerous, discovery in the building’s cellars. The Player Characters are “private couriers of unusual items” hired to collect the item that was discovered during the initial work and deliver it to the archaeology department at Miskatonic University. Since they work across New England, they are pretty much used to transporting the weirdest of items, no questions asked. There is a fair bit of backstory and set-up before it is revealed what is going on.

Very quickly, the Player Characters and the patrons of The Wayward Inn find themselves under siege by members of the Dunwich community dressed with no regard for the frigid temperatures and hellbent obtaining the item that the Player Characters have come to collect and committing as much bloody mayhem and inflicting as much suffering as they can in the process. There is a handful scenes to set the situation up and highlight the cruelty of the threat that the Player Characters face, but after that, the Keeper is feel to proceed however she wants the monstrous Dunwichers to act.

‘Cold as Hell’ is a trapped room, survival horror scenario, though there is nothing to stop the Player Characters from making a run for it in their Chevy Impala. There are some secrets to be found in, or rather below, the inn, but they will not really help the Player Characters. The scenario is ably detailed and combines elements of John Carpenter’s The Thing from Another World with a classic zombie film, but it never rises above being okay for what it does. There is familiarity to it, to its set-up, and to its pacing. There is nothing to stop the players embracing that familiarity and playing along with it, but unlike ‘Nazi Bikers Must Die!’, none of those players are going to come away from playing ‘Cold as Hell’ shouting, “Hell, yeah!”.

In addition, ‘Cold as Hell’ gives the Keeper a lot of NPCs to maintain a track of and whilst there four pre-generated Player Characters for the scenario, four feels like too many for their backstory and occupation.

The duology comes to a close with rules for vehicle chases—since either scenario could involve a vehicle chase of some kind—and ‘News and Culture: 1973-74’, a quick guide to what the background period was like and what was happening, particularly in the USA. Both are useful in their way.

Physically, The Grindhouse: Volume 4 is decently presented. It is well written, and it decently illustrated throughout. In fact, some of the artwork is very good. The cartography is also good throughout. of the two, ‘Nazi Bikers Must Die!’ is the easier to prepare.

The Grindhouse: Volume 4 is a duology of two halves. One is a little too icy and lacks that certain spark on the page. The other is a grab ’em by the cojones, stone-cold dust-up in the sands of New Mexico that will have the players cheering on the action and their bikers pounding on the Nazis in a thriller of a showdown.

Miskatonic Monday #384: The Kofun Closes to the West

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Name: The Kofun Closes to the West: An island Hopping Scenario in Edo Japan for the Call of Role Playing Game

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author Steven Goodison

Setting: Edo period Japan

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-two page, 57.22 MB PDF

Elevator Pitch: Grave robbers of the Orient

Plot Hook: Against the clock, body snatching mystery

Plot Support: Staging advice, ten handouts, four maps, twelve NPCs, one spell, and four Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Underwhelming
Scenario Title: Overwhelming

Pros

# Set in Edo era Japan

# Second part of a five-part mini-campaign

# Interesting clash between ‘civilised’ and ‘uncivilised’

# Sequel to Thing Torments Poet, Daimyo calls on Greatest Help, Will the Players Fail?

# Could be adapted for use with Japan – Empire of Shadows: A Call of Cthulhu sourcebook for 1920s Imperial Japan

# Necrophobia

# Phasmophobia

# Osophobia

Cons

# Needs a strong edit

# Plot could be much clearer

# No suggestions as to how to create the Investigators

Conclusion

# Interesting period for Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying is left unsupported

# Decent mystery hindered by messy layout

Miskatonic Monday #383: Split Ticket

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Name: Split Ticket

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Steven Goodison

Setting: Wales, 2025

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-two page, 46.95 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Trên Cannibal i Gymru

Plot Hook: It’s in the blood!

Plot Support: Staging advice, two NPCs, six handouts, and three Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Cartoonish

Pros

# Easy to run with any type of character

# Straightforward one-shot

# Cannibal Combat in Spaaaaace!

# Kinemortophobia

# Siderodromophobia

# Ososphobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# No maps

Conclusion

# Expect three weird shifts in tone in an otherwise straightforward one-shot

# Anyone from anywhere, survival horror in the last place you would expect

Friday, 31 October 2025

Miskatonic Monday #382: The Sea-Chest

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Name: The Sea Chest: A One-Shot for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: John Baichtal

Setting: Anywhen from the Victorian era onwards

Product: Scenario hook
What You Get: Three-page, 2.03 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A locked box mystery!

Plot Hook: “Fifteen men on the dead man's chest—

...Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Drink and the devil had done for the rest—

...Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”

– Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

Plot Support: Staging advice, one ‘Mythos’ artefact, and one Mythos tome

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# Nicely detailed and well-written description

# Potential scenario/campaign set-up

# Easy to insert into a campaign

# Would work well with Cults of Cthulhu

# Kleidariaphobia

# Xenophobia

# Kleidiphobia

Cons

# Short and needs development

# A scenario/campaign starter rather than a one-shot

Conclusion

# Entertaining description of a locked-box mystery and its contents

# Pleasing single session waiting to be developed into something more

Miskatonic Monday #381: The Bride of Pendle

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Contrary to what the title might suggest, The Bride of Pendle has nothing to do with witches or the Pendle Witch Trails of 1612. Rather, it is a scenario set during the Jazz Age, the classic period for Call of Cthulhu, which takes place around, in, and on Pendle Hill in the county of Lancashire in the north of England. The year is 1922 and a group of friends are attending the wedding of their friend, Thomas Byrne, to Mary Osegawa, whom he met as an Embassy Clerk whilst posted to Japan during the Great War. They all met whilst studying at University College London following the war. This sounds like the start of a classic country house murder a la Agatha Christie or Dorothy L. Sayers, and whilst it has a little of the schemes and rivalries of that subgenre of detective fiction, it is far from that. The Bride of Pendle combines what would be a joyous event and local folklore with horror and revenge that have been brewing for centuries, and which will explode in the bloodiest of massacres since the Red Wedding on the day before coming to a climax on the magnificent, windswept Pendle Hill.

The Bride of Pendle: 1920s Folk Horror in Rural Lancashire is divided into three substantial sections. The first gives the background to the scenario, describing in some detail the NPCs and then in even greater detail, the scenario’s various locations. The maps of each are excellent, but the standout being that of Pendle Hill, imparting its sense of scale and bleakness, and how it imposes itself upon the landscape, whilst the scenario rips open the hillside to reveal its secrets hidden under layers of peaty morass. There is a lot of information that the Keeper will need to work through as part of her preparation to run the scenario.

The plot to the scenario itself concerns the long gestating plans of the daughter of a local cunning woman who turned to black magic when she fell under the influence of and began worshipping Selfæta, the ‘Self-eater’, a god of gluttony and narcissism, trapped behind a gate below Pendle Hill, and whose presence in local folklore is that of a boar god due to his appearance and a reaper of the Autumn Harvest. Every three centuries, at the Autumn Equinox, The Veil Between Worlds weakens enough that his cult can open the gate and allow him into our world to let him feast. She failed to bring this about the first time she tried and now is trying again—and of course, in 1922, a certain wedding takes places on the Autumn Equinox. Backed up by her cultists, she will trigger events that nobody will forget and potentially involve the loss of many lives.

The scenario plays out over the course of the Friday and Saturday of the wedding weekend. The Investigators arrive in the village of Downham below Pendle Hill where Tom Byrne and his brother have family. The events of the weekend are unsurprisingly tightly scheduled, but there is room in the schedule for the Investigators to look into the strangeness that pervades the village. The stampede by a herd of bedraggled sheep, the surreptitious manner of their host’s daughter, the unsettling outburst of the vicar, and so on, perhaps combined with a bracing walk up Pendle Hill or undertaking some light ecclesiastical research at the village church. Nevertheless, the Keeper will need to maintain an eye on timing as the Investigators are expected to be at certain places at certain times. That is, up until the scenario’s penultimate scene, the very strange, quite macabre events at the wedding. After that, the Investigators are free of the timetable, but will have a greater urgency to act.

The Keeper is ably supported throughout. Sections advise the Keeper on what to do if the cultists’ plot does not go to plan through the efforts of the Investigators and there are notes too, if the Keeper wants to run the scenario using Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos. In the third part of the scenario though, there are stats and names for generic NPCs as well as the named ones and the Mythos entities, as well as table for ‘Bouts of Madness’, descriptions of the various Mythos tomes, artefacts, and spells. There are versions of the maps for both the Keeper and her players, and six pre-generated Investigators, all friends of the groom, and representing a good mix of character types and origins.

Physically, can be no doubt that The Bride of Pendle is exceedingly well appointed. It is an attractive looking affair with a stylish layout and judicious use of period photographs. The few pieces of artwork are reasonable, but the handouts are also particularly good, but what really stands out are the maps of the various locations for the scenario. These are of near professional quality, barring the lack of lavatories at the town’s public house and inn!

If there is quibble with The Bride of Pendle, then it is that the Sanity loss for the bloody wedding scene is low given how shocking it is. If there is an issue with The Bride of Pendle, it is that is almost overly detailed which gives a lot for the Keeper to study and prepare in order to run the scenario. Also, as written it suggests that it is a one-shot scenario, but it is long for a one-shot, likely taking four or so sessions to complete. One thing that the scenario does not address is the aftermath, that is, what happens as a consequence of the Investigators’ actions. Depending upon the group, this can be explored on a player-by-player basis, but some suggestions in the scenario would not have gone amiss.

The Bride of Pendle: 1920s Folk Horror in Rural Lancashire is a richly detailed, very well appointed scenario. Although that detail does require a high degree of preparation and it is tightly scripted in places—as befitting the event at its heart, The Bride of Pendle serves up a weekend of rural oddity and genteel propriety and joy, undone by the squealing horror of the boar from beyond!

Miskatonic Monday #380: Abyssus Aquae

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Name: Abyssus Aquae: Dark Secrets of Naples Undergroundio for Call of Cthulhu

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Ruggero Cortini

Setting: Naples, 2023

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-five page, 27.37 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Crime, corruption, and corruption of the soul in Naples!

Plot Hook: A hunt for a missing friend leads to a descent into a pit of horror.
Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated investigators, six NPCs, three handouts, two maps, one Mythos spell, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# Nicely detailed investigation

# Takes the Investigators through the highs and lows of Neapolitan society

# Gephyrophobia

# Scelerophobia

# Scoleciphobia

Cons

# Needs a slight edit
# Odd hyperlinks

# No map of the summoning location

# Climax not as fully developed as it could be

# Aftermath not as fully explored as it should be

# But what if the Investigators do descend into the tunnels?

Conclusion

# Solid detailed investigation undone by slightly underdeveloped climax and aftermath

# Engaging atmosphere of pervading small-time corruption

Miskatonic Monday #379: Arkham Fire

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Name: Arkham Fire: A Modern Era Scenario for Call of Cthulhu

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Steve Anderson

Setting: Arkham, 2025

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Forty-six page, 12.86 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Conflagration Groundhog Day style!

Plot Hook: Rescue the girl! Rescue the mother! Get lost in time!

Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Fire Fighters, six NPCs, twelve handouts, two maps, one Mythos artefact, three Mythos spells, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Singed

Pros

# Action-packed mystery in time

# Good one-shot for a convention game

# Disjointed by intention, but well handled

# Good set-up

# Upgrade to a Hound of Tindalos?

# Chronophobia

# Capnophobia

# Pyrophobia

Cons

# Requires careful handling of intentionally disjointed nature

Conclusion

# The house is already burning. Setting it on fire is not an option.

# Time-fractured mystery with a conflagration looming in the here and now

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends

Monday, 27 October 2025

Miskatonic Monday #378: Walking the Streets of Arkham

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Name: Walking the Streets of Arkham

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Keith Craig

Setting: Arkham, 2025

Product: Scenario for Call of Cthulhu: Arkham
What You Get: Twenty-eight page, 2.06 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The witch house that is the Arkham Women’s Shelter

Plot Hook: The pimp is dead; the prostitutes fight crime!

Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, two NPCs, six handouts, one Mythos tome, and two Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Plain

Pros

# Definitely falls under ‘Your Call of Cthulhu May Vary’

# Makes use of the Prostitute Occupation in the Call of Cthulhu Investigator Handbook

# Can be run with Investigators who are not prostitutes.

# Does not involve the Investigators engaging in prostitution

# Straightforward investigation

# Hemophobia

# Musophobia

# Necrophobia

Cons

# Definitely falls under ‘Your Call of Cthulhu May Vary’

# Controversial set-up

# Makes use of the Prostitute Occupation in the Call of Cthulhu Investigator’s Handbook

# Scenario is set in 2025, the cover and suggested sourcebook are not

# Pre-generated Investigator backgrounds underwritten

# Treatment of the Investigators’ world and prostitution is superficial

# Needs an edit

# Talanda Hughes’ disappearance is the scenario hook, but the Investigators do not find out what happened to her

# No clear solution
# No Sanity rewards

Conclusion

# Serviceable investigation let down by poor Investigator backgrounds and development of their world

# Controversial scenario whose ending and consequences could have been better developed

Jonstown Jottings #102: Talismans of Glorantha

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford's mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

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What is it?
Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha is a short supplement for for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. It is by the same author of GLORANTHA: Trinkets from Dragon Pass.

It is a five page, full colour, 1.23 MB PDF.

Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha is reasonably presented, but it could have been better organised. It needs a slight edit.

Where is it set?
Dragon Pass.

Who do you play?
Adventurers of all types who could come across these rare items.

What do you need?
RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. It can also be run using the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – QuickStart Rules and Adventure.

What do you get?
Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha is a description of seven talismans, or rather pendants which might be found in the world of Glorantha. However, it begins by noting that such talismans are rare in Glorantha, but it contradicts itself because in a couple of examples, the items are obviously much more common than being simply rare. For example, Farmer’s Help is given by Barntar’s God-talkers to farmers to help them defend their farms against bandits, wolves, and monsters, whilst the Pelorian Firmament is described as a traditional Pelorian amulet.

All seven talismans in this supplement come with publicly sourced image and two short paragraphs, one giving its description and the other its effects when worn. The entries vary in their effects, the best being quite low key. For example, the aforementioned Farmer’s Help has the very straightforward effect of increasing the distance that the wearer can throw rocks and stones. Whereas the very alien Alien Fear, come from another world where Chaos has won, grants the wearer who is wielding a spear or a sword and strikes a target to inflict a point of extra damage from acid and temporarily lower the Power attribute of the target. Any creature or person with the Chaos rune affinity is immune, which makes sense. What does not make sense is the wearer suffers no drawback for wearing a magical device linked to Chaos and if the wearer does have an affinity for Chaos, surely there should be an extra effect?

The talismans detailed in Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha vary in quality and usefulness, as well as development. More description of their histories and their legends would have been welcome, especially since they are meant to be rare. At least one is too powerful, and another, The Lady, which grants the ability to use and train others in the Courtesan skill as if wearer was a member of Uleria’s cult, begs the question, what does the cult of Uleria think of it?

Is it worth your time?
Yes—Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha is an inexpensive way of adding more magic to give Player Characters or NPCs minor powers that will enhance their legends.
No—Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha is simply too expensive for what you get and the entries too underdeveloped in terms of the setting. Plus, the Game Master could create her own with a little bit of research which are just as good.
Maybe—Runequest: Talismans of Glorantha is expensive for what you get, but the Game Master might want to add a little variety to the treasure found or perhaps take inspiration from the treasures presented here and either develop more of their legend or create new ones of her own.