Miskatonic Monday #319: Stage Fright at the Playhouse

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. 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: Stage Fright at the Playhouse
Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: John Hedge with The Miskatonic Playhouse

Setting: Arkham, 1923
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-Nine page, 36.38 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: It’s a sequel to ‘Edge of Darkness’
Plot Hook: Arcane marks add to the mystery of the theatre
Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, six NPCs, six handouts, one map, seven Mythos artefacts, and three Mythos monsters.
Production Values: Excellent

Pros
# Sequel to ‘Edge of Darkness’
# Can be played using the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set

# Part of ‘The Next Adventure’ series
# Part of the Call of Cthulhu – Ongoing Horror BUNDLE

# Seedy feel of small town theatre with big dreams

# Suitably overwrought

# Kinemortophobia

# Theatrophobia

# Achondroplasiaphobia

Cons
# Needs a slight edit

# Alternative hook stronger than the sequel hook

# Pre-generated Investigators an odd Miskatonic Repository medley

Conclusion
# Once it gets going, turns into a frothy Mythos farce
# Underwhelming sequel, but an entertaining scenario