Miskatonic Monday #336: Dead Body Shore

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: Dead Body Shore

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Agata Brig

Setting: Scandinavia, 1925

Product: One-on-One Scenario
What You Get: Forty-six page, 2.24 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: When your Evil Grandpa is dead, he should stay dead

Plot Hook: Go climb a mountain

Plot Support: Staging advice, three NPCs, two dogs, seven handouts, one map, two Mythos spells, two Mythos tomes, and three Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# One-on-one scenario, but can be adjusted

# More Norse than Mythos

# Descent into the depths of Norse myth and betrayal

# Necrophobia

# Orophobia

# Apeirophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Could be better organised

# Underwhelming Investigator hook
# Needs pre-generated Investigator(s)

# More Norse than Mythos

# The Lockheed Vega is a year out, so why not shift the scenario date?

Conclusion

# More Norse than Mythos

# Fear of the family is the greatest danger in a linear descent into Norse myth and betrayal

Miskatonic Monday #288: The Calling of the Blood

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.

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Name: The Calling of the Blood

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author Jonas Morian

Setting: Modern day Sweden

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-seven page, 32.62 MB PDF

Elevator Pitch: Some origins are left a secret...

Plot Hook: The opportunity to learn your Swedish heritage reveals too much.
Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Investigators, three handouts, four NPCs, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Swedish

Pros

# Austere one-session folk horror inspired by Midsommar

# Straightforward and easy to run

# Potential convention scenario

# Hemophobia

# Syngenesophobia

# Nyctomania

Cons

# Linear

# Takes a while for the horror to build

Conclusion

# Straightforward, easy to run, underplayed horror scenario
# Austere one-session folk horror

Miskatonic Monday #151: The Flooding of Black Tarn

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.

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Name: The Flooding of Black Tarn

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Jonas Morian

Setting: Jazz Age Sweden

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-three page, 3.06 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Change must come, even if not all want it.

Plot Hook: The secrets of the past stand in the way of modernisation.
Plot Support: Staging advice, ten NPCs, seven pre-generated Investigators, one handout, and one (Mythos) monsters.

Production Values: Decent.

Pros

# Gold medalist for the 2022 national Swedish Call of Cthulhu scenario competition

# Eerie Sweden-set investigation

# Backwoods folkloric horror

# Engaging portrayal of period Sweden

# Good NPC portraits

# Easy to adapt to other time periods

# Gerontophobia

# Hippophobia

Cons

# Pre-generated Investigators need mechanical development

# Map would have been useful

Conclusion

# Gold medal winner in the 2022 national Swedish Call of Cthulhu scenario competition sees the modernity of the Investigators clash with the past in backwoods folkloric horror

# Eerie, under-played one-shot drawn from Swedish history and Norse folklore.

Miskatonic Monday #136: Gold Fever

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.

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Name: Gold Fever

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Erik Åhlin

Setting: Jazz Age Sweden

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-nine page, 9.56 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “All that glisters is not gold.”

Plot Hook: A missing son leads to murder, mystery, and the Mythos under the Midnight Sun.
Plot Support: Twelve NPCs, five (ten) handouts, and two Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Decent.

Pros

# Silver medalist for the 2022 national Swedish Call of Cthulhu scenario competition

# Solid Sweden-set investigation

# Detailed notes and handouts provided to adapt the scenario to the USA

# Engaging portrayal of period Sweden

# Good handouts

# Potential for expansion into the Dreamlands

# Easy to adapt to other time periods

# Ophidiophobia

# Aurophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Clearer final Sanity rewards and losses needed 
# No Swedish pre-generated Investigators

# If the silver medal winning scenario is as solid as this, how good is the gold medal winning scenario?

Conclusion

# Worthy medal winner in the 2022 national Swedish Call of Cthulhu scenario competition 

# Impressively decent scenario combines solid investigation with an engaging portrayal of Sweden in the 1920s