Miskatonic Monday #465: Cosa Nostra Conflagration

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: Cosa Nostra Conflagration

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Authors: Nick Olivo

Setting: Boston, 1923

Product: Scenario

What You Get: Fifteen page, 861.33 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Extortion fuelled by the fires of madness

Plot Hook: A strange death and a strange burning in the North End

Plot Support: Staging advice, eight NPCs, two handouts, one map, four Mythos tomes, and one Mythos spell.

Production Values: Good

Pros

# Short, focused scenario for Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos

# Likely to end in either becoming one of the family or a confrontational conflagration 

# Easy to adjust to other eras and cities

# Easy to prepare and run
# Easy to add to a campaign

# Pyrophobia

# Rhabdophobia
# Scelerophobia

Cons

# Needs a slight edit

Conclusion

# One session investigation into a strange arson with a fiery finale

# Quick and easy to prepare

Miskatonic Monday #355: Burton’s Motel: A 1920s Call of Cthulhu One-Shot

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: Burton’s Motel: A 1920s Call of Cthulhu One-Shot

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Bart Verhoeven

Setting: New England, 1923

Product: One-shot
What You Get: Forty-four-page, 60.10 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Psycho meets Call of Cthulhu

Plot Hook: “Inside No. 9: Where things aren’t what they seem, and the truth is always a twist.” – Inside No. 9

Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Investigators, nine handouts, three maps, two NPCs, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# Classic, stormy night, motel horror
# Easy to adapt to different eras

# Obvious in its inspiration, but different

# Covers all the eventualities

# Lost-o-phobia

# Hodophobia

# Sciophobia

Cons

# Investigator backgrounds would have been nice
# Keeper may want to adjust Investigator numbers

# Needs a slight edit

Conclusion

# Serviceable, service-based one-night horror

# Would be tighter and better motivated with Investigator backgrounds

Miskatonic Monday #337: Blackthorne Bridge Club

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: Blackthorne Bridge Club

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Gavin Bastiensz

Setting: New York, 1923

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Sixty-one page, 5.37 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Only Murders in the Building meets Rosemary’s Baby
Plot Hook: Is the strangeness coming home or it already there?

Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, forty NPCs, 

twenty handouts, five maps, three Mythos monsters, and a frog plague.

Production Values: Art Deco

Pros

# Apartment building, community-based investigation

# Nicely detailed pre-generated Investigators, complete with secrets

# Socially driven investigation

# Linear, but scope for lots of interaction

# Potential start of a campaign

# Egyptophobia

# Oneirohobia

# Nyctophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Actually only a partial eclipse in New York

# LaSalle 328 not introduced until 1929

Conclusion

# Only Cultists in the Building at the height of Tut-mania

# Pleasingly self-contained, socially driven investigation
# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends

Miskatonic Monday #309: Temple of the Crawling Chaos

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: Temple of the Crawling Chaos

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Man Of Thousand Hobbies

Setting: Egypt 1923

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Ten page, 287.19 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Is there more to the tomb of Tutankhamun?

Plot Hook: Something has been stolen from the tomb of Tutankhamun... possibly.

Plot Support: Staging advice, one map, three NPCs, and two Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Slapdash

Pros

# Intended to be a starter scenario

# Something of a ‘Doer-Upper’ for the Keeper

# Taphephobia

# Claustrophobia

# Egyptophobia

Cons

# Not a starter scenario

# Does not clearly state the plot

# Needs a slight edit

Conclusion

# Too bare bones and not enough clarity

# Underdeveloped and ‘Pay What You Want’ is still underdeveloped
# Reviews from R’lyeh Discommends