Miskatonic Monday #243: The Flood

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: The Flood

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Cesar Silva

Setting: Jazz Age New England

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Nineteen page, 2.06 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: If you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise—Deep Ones!

Plot Hook: A missing persons case sends the Investigators deep into the weird woods of New England
Plot Support: Staging advice and two Mythos creatures.

Production Values: Excellent

Pros

# The Sinister Secret of (the) Saltmarsh

# Simple, but not straightforward plot

# Easy to adapt to other time periods

# Mysophobia

# Ichthyophobia

# Teraphobia

Cons

# Needs a very strong edit

# ‘Glens’ of New England?

# NPC descriptions, but no stats

# Simple, but not straightforward plot

# Instructions to draw the map, instead of an actual map

Conclusion

# Very serviceable plot undone by a lack of maps and NPC stats

# Unsettling small town horror that could be better and easier to run