Miskatonic Monday #168: The Souls of Briarcroft

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 Souls of Briarcroft

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Joshua Callanta

Setting: Cthulhu by Gaslight Black Country
Product: Scenario

What You Get: Thirty-one page, 8.89 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Black seeds in the Black Country

Plot Hook: Not yet All Souls’ Day, but souls may be lost by the remembrance…
Plot Support: Staging advice, nine NPCs, ten handouts, nine maps, and two Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Vibrant.

Pros

# Halloween horror

# Bucolic horror one-shot

# Seeds of destruction threaten to undo Allhallowtide

# Can be adapted to other rural times and settings

# Horrifying transformation of traditional Halloween rituals

# Pleasing sense of village ecumenical matters

# Malusdomesticaphobia

# Trypophobia

# Dendrophobia

Cons

# Long set-up before the Investigators can act

# No village map

# No NPC portraits

Conclusion

# Under-powered player agency and long set-up means the horror takes a while to strike in this tale of ecumenical undoings

# Parish life is threatened in this bucolically transformative horror one-shot