Miskatonic Monday #380: Abyssus Aquae

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: Abyssus Aquae: Dark Secrets of Naples Undergroundio for Call of Cthulhu

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Ruggero Cortini

Setting: Naples, 2023

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-five page, 27.37 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Crime, corruption, and corruption of the soul in Naples!

Plot Hook: A hunt for a missing friend leads to a descent into a pit of horror.
Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated investigators, six NPCs, three handouts, two maps, one Mythos spell, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# Nicely detailed investigation

# Takes the Investigators through the highs and lows of Neapolitan society

# Gephyrophobia

# Scelerophobia

# Scoleciphobia

Cons

# Needs a slight edit
# Odd hyperlinks

# No map of the summoning location

# Climax not as fully developed as it could be

# Aftermath not as fully explored as it should be

# But what if the Investigators do descend into the tunnels?

Conclusion

# Solid detailed investigation undone by slightly underdeveloped climax and aftermath

# Engaging atmosphere of pervading small-time corruption