Miskatonic Monday #248: Season of Growth

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: Season of Growth

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Carrer Marco

Setting: 1990s

Product: One-on-One Scenario
What You Get: Fourteen page, 1.06 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Twin Peaks-style small town, forest mystery

Plot Hook: What secrets does the oldest tree in America hide?
Plot Support: Staging advice, one pre-generated Investigator, one NPC, four handouts, and one Mythos creature.

Production Values: Rushed

Pros

# More folk horror than Mythos

# One Keeper, one Investigator one-shot

# Nicely played sense of eeriness

# Nice sense of small town paranoia

# Dendrophobia

# Seismophobia

# Ruraphobia

Cons

# Needs a strong edit

# Familiar and linear plot

# More folk horror than Mythos
# Why not just use Shub-Niggurath?

Conclusion

# A familiar combination of Twin Peaks meets The Wicker Man

# Strong atmosphere directed down a familiar and linear plot