Miskatonic Monday #152: Back to Nature

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: Back to Nature

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Bored Stiffs

Setting: 1970s California

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Forty page, 54.34 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Nature’s roar reaches out to those who hear it and make a wholesome offer!

Plot Hook: Take a escapade and really get back to nature...
Plot Support: Staging advice, three NPCs, twelve handouts, two maps, one (Mythos) monster, and Pearl the pig.

Production Values: Fabulously freaky.

Pros

# Back to nature as nature reaches out

# Entertainingly gonzo layout and art inspired by Gilbert Shelton

# Investigator sheets done as comic book small adds

# Period NPC portraits (including Pearl the pig)

# Could lead into the Dreamlands

# Easily pushed back to the sixties

# Notes to run it in the Jazz Age or the Purple Decade

# Interesting playnotes

# Mycophobia/Mycophilia
# Dendrophobia

Cons

# Period piece

# May need careful timing to run as a convention one-shot

# Bigfoot notes including, but no Bigfoot?

Conclusion

# Thematically entertaining twist upon the Green Man

# Drop out, get off the grid, in this psychedelic trip to the woods one-shot