Miskatonic Monday #218: The Timeless Terror

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 Timeless Terror

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Marco Danili

Setting: Arkham

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirteen page, 1.17 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: All aboard the Groundhog Day Night Train!

Plot Hook: A train ride. A MacGuffin. A murder. A train ride. A MacGuffin. A train ride. A MacGuffin. A train ride. A MacGuffin. A train ride. A MacGuffin. Doom.
Plot Support: Staging advice, twelve NPCs, one floorplan, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Tidy

Pros

# Big structured puzzle of a scenario

# Easy to adapt to other time periods

# Works well with fewer Investigators

# One-shot or easy to add as in-between scenario

# Siderodromophobia

# Chronophobia

# Cleithrophobia

Cons

# Needs a good edit

# NPC reactions underwritten

# No handouts

# No Sanity-loss for the alive-dead-alive murder victim?

Conclusion

# Trapped on a terror twister train time-teaser

# Chronological conundrum mystery that needs development in places, but otherwise a serviceable one-shot