Miskatonic Monday #446: Feed the Many

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.

—oOo—

Name: Feed the Many

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Lauren Hodges

Setting: Arkham, 1920s

Product: Scenario

What You Get: Thirty-nine page, 4.97 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The Thing from Another Trattoria

Plot Hook: What makes one restaurant more popular than another?
Plot Support: Staging advice, two handouts, three NPCs, two floorplans, and three Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Good

Pros

# Suitable for one Investigator and Keeper play

# Easy to add to an Arkham-based campaign

# Solid, food-based investigation

# Probably can be played quicker than the suggested running time

# Easy to adapt to other cities and Little Italys

# Deipnophobia

# Scoleciphobia

# Cibophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

Conclusion

# Trattoria on trattoria action!

# Well presented investigation suitable for one-on-one play

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends 

Miskatonic Monday #424: The Innsmouth Terror

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.

—oOo—

Name: The Innsmouth Terror

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: John Hedge & Miskatonic Playhouse

Setting: 1923 Lovecraft Country

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Forty-six-page, 68.09 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Hollywood horror comes to Innsmouth

Plot Hook: A stolen artefact leads from the Miskatonic University to a Technicolour film set on the edge of madness

Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, thirteen NPCs, three handouts, and a town full of Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Excellent

Pros

# Potential sequel to Stage Fright at the Playhouse

# Straightforward investigation

# Great double finale

# Fine addition to any Miskatonic University-based campaign

# Addition to The Society for the Exploration of the

Unexplained-based campaign from the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set

# Camerophobia

# Batrachophobia

# Chapodiphobia

Cons

# Works best as a sequel to Stage Fright at the Playhouse

# Straightforward investigation

# No maps

Conclusion

# Innsmouth investigation leads to Train to Busan Innsmouth-style
# ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’ writ large, but in an entertaining fashion

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends

Cthulhoid Choices: 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026

Call of Cthulhu is the preeminent roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror and has been for over four decades now. The roleplaying game gives the chance for the players and their Investigators to explore a world in which the latter are exposed, initially often indirectly, but as the story or investigation progresses, increasingly directly, to alien forces beyond their comprehension. So, beyond that what they encounter is often interpreted as indescribable, yet supernatural monsters or gods wielding magic, but in reality is something more, a confrontation with the true nature of the universe and the realisation as to the terrible insignificance of mankind with it and an understanding that despite, there are those that would embrace and worship the powers that be for their own ends. Such a realisation and such an understanding often leave those so foolish as to investigate the unknown clutching at, or even, losing their sanity, and condemned to a life knowing truths to which they wish they were never exposed. This blueprint has set the way in which other games—roleplaying games, board games, card games, and more—have presented Lovecraftian investigative horror, but as many as there that do follow that blueprint, there are others have explored the Mythos in different ways.

Cthulhoid Choices is a strand of reviews that examine other roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror and of Cosmic, but not necessarily Horror. Previous reviews which can be considered part of this strand include Cthulhu Hack, Realms of Crawling Chaos, and the Apocthulhu Roleplaying Game.

—oOo—

A calendar is useful, if boring. Start of the month, check for appointments and things you are planning to do. Cross off the days as they pass, and when you get to the end of the month, flip over the page and start on the next. Either that or you are ripping off one page, day-by-day, month-by-month, all the way to the end of the year when you will start all over again with a fabulous new calendar. Of course, a calendar can be themed or display pictures from your favourite series of books or television series, or whatever you like, as there is probably calendar for it. What though if you wanted to investigate secrets and reveal a conspiracy, tramp the foreboding streets of Arkham, uncover rumours of monsters human and inhuman, and ultimately confront things that no man was meant to know? Well, of course, the obvious option would be to play Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition with your friends and set it in Arkham. That though would only be at the weekend or of an evening, but what if you could do it every day? What if you sit at your desk every day and, just for two minutes, roll some dice and fight the Mythos? And as you play from week to week, facing ever greater threats, you imperil your Sanity, but gain greater rewards and abilities from one month to the next as you delve deeper into the the secrets of Arkham. As private investigator John Miller in 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 1926, this is what you are going to be doing for the whole of 2026!

365 Adventures – Cthulhu 1926 is the desk calendar that you want. Published by the amusingly named Sorry We Are French, the 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025 is a desk calendar that you can play once a day for two minutes and fight the Mythos for the whole of the year. The first desk calendar from the publisher was a fantasy version, 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025, and Sorry We Are French has followed this up with 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2026 as well as 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026. The aim of the game is to defeat the monsters of the Mythos throughout the week before a weekly showdown with a bigger threat on Sunday. The more Mythos monsters that John Miller can defeat during the week, the easier it is for him to defeat the creature on Sunday. At the end of the month the player can then compare his core with others on the publisher’s website. Once a month is done, the player flips it over to reveal both the next month and the story of his and Jon Miller’s progress and discoveries as well as a bonus that will help them both in the subsequent months. Over the course of the month, John Miller will want to avoid accumulating Madness as this will reduce his score. This goes all the way down to the final confrontation in December.

365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026 consists of the flip calendar with a rules leaflet, five six-sided dice, and an Investigator magnet. The flip calendar is marked with days illustrated with various threats—the authorities, cultists, twisted animals, tentacled monsters, and more. Each is numbered and marked with a symbol, either a flashlight, magnifying glass, or a revolver. The five dice come in two types. The two green dice are marked the same symbols as the calendar, whilst the three black dice are numbered from one to five and have the Cthulhu symbol on the ‘six’ face. Lastly, the Investigator magnet represents John Miller. It is a huge step up in useability compared to 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025, consisting of a ring with a separate back. The ring is placed on the front of the flip calendar so that the current location can be seen through and the base is slid on the back of the location on the flip calendar. This holds John Miller firmly in place.

Each day, bar Sunday, John Miller faces down one encounter in the rest of the week. To do that, his player moves him to the day of the week where the encounter is and then rolls the dice. The aim is to roll equal to, or greater than, than the value of the encounter, and also roll the symbol on the green dice that matches the symbol attached to the encounter. The player gets to roll three times against the encounter to defeat it, deciding which dice to keep each time. The Sunday, end-of-the-week encounter works in the same way, but is much more of a challenge. For encounter defeated during the previous six days, the challenge is reduced by one. For overcoming a Sunday encounter, the player earns five points. However, if at the end of any encounter, any of the three black dice show the ‘Cthulhu’ symbol, John Miller gains a point of Madness. Fill up the Madness Meter for the month, and the player loses five points. At the very worst, this can mean that a score for the month drops into the negative. Fortunately, the Madness Meter resets at the end of the month.

Come the end of the month and the player flips over the month and reveals the next one. He also gets to read a little fiction charting John Miller’s progress and John Miller gains certain abilities having been affected by his encounters with the Mythos. For example, from February, encounters become more difficult if John has not accumulated at least one point of Madness, whilst from March, he can use a grimoire to help him against encounters, but this always incurs further Madness. Later on, agents of the Mythos lay traps to prevent him investigating any further and John Miller must find certain artefacts to help him defeat the horrors that he will face come the end of the year. These extra elements add player choice, greater complexity—if only a little, and increased challenge incrementally, adding too, to the play time needed each day—again, if only a little.

365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026 is a day-by-day monster beat ’em, but one with familiar and accessible theme which it applies in a simple, if Pulp fashion. Like any commitment for a year, a player is going to start out strong, playing it and rolling dice day-by-day, but whether he can stick it out for a year is a matter of his willpower. Likely he will lapse occasionally and race to catch up. Beyond tracking the passing of the days, as with other entries in the series, 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 1926 is not much use as a calendar as the boxes for each day is occupied by a monster or trap, but it is not designed as such, being more game than calendar. The game play is not particularly detailed or deep, and so not particularly challenging either.

Physically, the 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026 is nicely presented, full of colour and detail that make you wish some of the creatures were available as card standees for your proper roleplaying game. The art style is cartoonish, but not funny or cute as 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025 was in places. The rules themselves are simple and easy to grasp, helped by an extended example of play, whilst the monthly updates are enjoyable if short and the rules additions clear and easy to understand also.

365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026 is a simple, silly product, thematic in a Pulp style, but probably too simplistic and too silly for some. Nevertheless, it is well executed and applies its theme in a clever fashion. For the devotee of Lovecraft and the fan of the Cthulhu Mythos, 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026 offers the player to fight the unknowable and save humanity with a little dice rolling and potentially save the good people Arkham—for the whole of 2026.

Miskatonic Monday #399: Strange Carol

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.

—oOo—

Name: Strange Carol

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Konstantinos Kotsaridis

Setting: Arkham, 1926

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Forty-one page, 12.35 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The circus is evil, because circuses are evil…

Plot Hook: What are a mistrusted academic’s ties to the circus?

Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Investigators, twenty-two NPCs, five handouts, one map, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# Can be tied with a Miskatonic University campaign

# Easy to adapt to other university cities and time frames

# Twists the classic circus as you would expect
# Cacophobia

# Algophobia

# Anomalophobia

Cons

# Muddled background & set-up
# Needs a slight edit

Conclusion

# The circus is a show, the scenario is a show

# Leads the Investigators on a clue trail without much agency

Miskatonic Monday #391: Where Dreams Take Root

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.

—oOo—

Name: Where Dreams Take Root: A 1930s Call of Cthulhu Scenario

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Matt ‘Doc’ Tracey & Keeper Doc

Setting: 1930s Miskatonic University

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Fifty-two page, 91.36 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Little Shop of Horrors

Plot Hook: An ‘unofficial academic assignment’ turns into a nightmare

Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, seven NPCs, ten handouts, five maps, two Mythos tomes, and four Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Excellent

Pros

# Sweaty sense of unreality amidst academic ambition

# Excellent addition to any Miskatonic University-based campaign

# The Dreamlands as a threat, not a destination

# Almost psychedelic thirty years early

# Can be run as part of A Time to Harvest: Death and Discovery in the Vermont Hills – A 1930s Era Campaign Across New England and Beyond

# Oneirophobia

# Anthonophobia

# Botanophobia

Cons

# Needs a slight edit

# No bungalow map

Conclusion

# Paranoid puzzler turns into hothouse horror
# Unreal treatment of the ‘plant as invasive force’ theme
# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends

Miskatonic Monday #386: For King and Country

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.

—oOo—

Name: For King and Country

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Michał Pietrzak

Setting: The Dreamlands, 2025

Product: Scenario for H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands – Beyond the Wall of Sleep
What You Get: Twenty page, 1.49 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: When your dreams of roleplaying turn against you

Plot Hook: Rescue the princess, save the Game Master!

Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Adventurers, five NPCs, one map, and one monster.

Production Values: Plain

Pros

# Winner of the Stars Are Right Scenario Outline Writing Contest

# Involves trauma as a roleplaying mechanism

# Straightforward, classic fantasy set-up

# Oneirophobia

# Rhabdophobia

# Pantophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# The Game Master as deus ex machina

# Involves trauma as a roleplaying mechanism

# Investigators do not have the ‘basics’ of fantasy skills for The Dreamlands

# Should the climber have the climb skill?

Conclusion

# Deus ex machina versus deus ex machina

# Interesting concept with underwritten player agency

Miskatonic Monday #379: Arkham Fire

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.

—oOo—

Name: Arkham Fire: A Modern Era Scenario for Call of Cthulhu

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Steve Anderson

Setting: Arkham, 2025

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Forty-six page, 12.86 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Conflagration Groundhog Day style!

Plot Hook: Rescue the girl! Rescue the mother! Get lost in time!

Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Fire Fighters, six NPCs, twelve handouts, two maps, one Mythos artefact, three Mythos spells, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Singed

Pros

# Action-packed mystery in time

# Good one-shot for a convention game

# Disjointed by intention, but well handled

# Good set-up

# Upgrade to a Hound of Tindalos?

# Chronophobia

# Capnophobia

# Pyrophobia

Cons

# Requires careful handling of intentionally disjointed nature

Conclusion

# The house is already burning. Setting it on fire is not an option.

# Time-fractured mystery with a conflagration looming in the here and now

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends

Miskatonic Monday #378: Walking the Streets of Arkham

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.

—oOo—

Name: Walking the Streets of Arkham

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Keith Craig

Setting: Arkham, 2025

Product: Scenario for Call of Cthulhu: Arkham
What You Get: Twenty-eight page, 2.06 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The witch house that is the Arkham Women’s Shelter

Plot Hook: The pimp is dead; the prostitutes fight crime!

Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, two NPCs, six handouts, one Mythos tome, and two Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Plain

Pros

# Definitely falls under ‘Your Call of Cthulhu May Vary’

# Makes use of the Prostitute Occupation in the Call of Cthulhu Investigator Handbook

# Can be run with Investigators who are not prostitutes.

# Does not involve the Investigators engaging in prostitution

# Straightforward investigation

# Hemophobia

# Musophobia

# Necrophobia

Cons

# Definitely falls under ‘Your Call of Cthulhu May Vary’

# Controversial set-up

# Makes use of the Prostitute Occupation in the Call of Cthulhu Investigator’s Handbook

# Scenario is set in 2025, the cover and suggested sourcebook are not

# Pre-generated Investigator backgrounds underwritten

# Treatment of the Investigators’ world and prostitution is superficial

# Needs an edit

# Talanda Hughes’ disappearance is the scenario hook, but the Investigators do not find out what happened to her

# No clear solution
# No Sanity rewards

Conclusion

# Serviceable investigation let down by poor Investigator backgrounds and development of their world

# Controversial scenario whose ending and consequences could have been better developed

Dangerous Diaspora

When Malcolm Donnaughy, an aspiring Boston politician with links to Irish nationalism is found decapitated in his back yard, followed by Michael Cyr, a New York journalist who wrote about the Irish War for Independence, hoping for a peaceful resolution, and then, Corinna Franz, a German immigrant in Boston, questions are asked. In the fractious and often hot tempered debate has ardent nationalism turned into a bloody vendetta for one faction against all others? Or is there something else going on. It is set in late 1920 in Boston and New York, and points between, as the USA stands on the brink of tremendous change in the aftermath of the Great War. As a result of their contributions to the war effort, women have already received the vote following the passing of the 19th Amendment, but many other groups campaign, raise funds, and foment for radical change. None more so than amongst the Irish diaspora in North America. As the Irish War of Independence rages on the other side of the Atlantic, the disparate groups amongst the Irish nationalists cannot agree on what they want exactly, even though they may share a common cause.

This is the set-up for The Wild Hunt: A Race Across the North-Eastern U.S. to Confound an Ancient Imported Evil, a scenario for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, published by Stygian Fox Publishing. It is set against a backdrop of radical change and often radical activism that the scenario takes the time to explain, not just for the benefit of the Keeper, but also for the player as several of the pre-generated Investigators are activists—radical and otherwise. Further, these activist roles are represented by some of the new Occupations included in The Wild Hunt, whilst others, no less political, represent the establishment. The political Occupations include the Activist, the Political Animal, and the Political Machine Lieutenant. The more mundane Occupations consist of the Bootlegger, the Knocker-Upper, literally someone who goes round the city waking people up by knocking on their windows, the Messenger/Runner, the Performer, the Pinkerton Agent, Prohibition Agent, and Travelling Salesman. The only outré Occupation is the Occultist. Some of these are new, others are variations upon those found in Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition.

Setting up the scenario in terms of the Investigators requires some decisions to be made by the Keeper. Some of the pre-generated Investigators are members of law enforcement, some are activists or political operators, others are journalists or connected to the book trade. Each is connected to the investigation in some way and the ten are equally divided between Boston and New York. Some care is required to get them involved and working together, especially if they come from different cities.

Once set up, the scenario proper begins with the discovery of Corrine Franz’s dead body, perhaps even by one of the Investigators. After this, the investigation begins to clip-clop along in a timely fashion, Corrine’s ex-student, turned book thief, toy boy boyfriend (and likely thief from the bookshop owned by one of the pre-generated Investigators) providing the first clues, leading to the dirtiest speakeasy ever (really, it is under a coke plant) and onto New York’s Book Row. Key to continuing the investigation is learning the names of one or more activists connected to what turns out to be an extreme wing of the Clan na Gael, a fundraising organisation dedicated to the establishment of an Irish free state. Once the names are known, the investigation can swing into high gear and multiple lines of inquiry open up. This includes tracking their activities before and after the Great War, its members having been very busy in the last two years. The Investigators may even have the aid of other Irish nationalists embarrassed at quite what these extremists are doing in the name of the cause.

Ultimately, the Investigators will have enough information to have some idea of what the Irish nationalists-turned-cultists have been trying to do and what they might have unleashed. It is possible for the Investigators to stumble into the final scenes, which will involve a confrontation with the cultists and then what they have summoned, but hopefully by the time they do so in the back woods of Massachusetts, they will have at least learned enough information to have a good idea what is going on. And what is going on, as the title of the scenario suggests, is that the cultists are attempting to summon and harness something out of Celtic myth as a means to aid the Irish nationalist. Of course, this being a Call of Cthulhu scenario, this has not gone well and now, the cultists are suffering the consequences, scared, almost mad, but coherent. Facing the summoned threat is challenging, again, dedicated research should be enough to forewarn and perhaps, even forearm the Investigators.

The scenario is very well supported. The clues and links are made clear, the NPCs are nicely detailed, and there are lengthy sections devoted to library research in both Boston and New York, and there are detailed write-ups of the Mythos tomes that appear in the scenario. There is also a handful of new Mythos spells too. The various handouts are very well done and do include a puzzle that the players may have to work out.

The Wild Hunt is not a Mythos scenario per se, but rather that its monstrous antagonists are a Mythos interpretation of Celtic myth, one that the scenario’s human antagonists believe too much in and fall foul of. This is then layered out over the American north-east of New York and New England, taking in a little of Lovecraft Country along the way, from the heights of academia to the lows of the dirtiest dives imaginable, and then out into the swamps. Around this is built a rich, meaty investigation that will be really enjoyable to conduct with numerous interesting NPCs for the Keeper to portray—even the minor ones. The jazz trio of Black American NPC investigators deserve not just a mention, but scenarios of their own, suggesting a link to Harlem Unbound, whilst there are links to Masks of Nyarlathotep in the scenario, and thematically at least to Cthulhu Ireland. The scenario is not dissimilar to The Order of the Stone: A Horror Mystery in Three Parts, which could even be run as a thematic sequel to The Wild Hunt.

Physically, The Wild Hunt is pleasantly presented. The layout is clean and attractive, though it could be tighter in places, and the maps are well done. What stands out is much of the artwork, done in pastels that gives it a distinctive look reminiscent of Edward Hopper.

The Wild Hunt: A Race Across the North-Eastern U.S. to Confound an Ancient Imported Evil explores a side of its default period rarely explored in Call of Cthulhu. Its presentation of activism and especially Irish nationalism is maturely handled, though warrants the ‘For Mature Gamers’ label on the cover. This is a mature scenario, with a strong emphasis on the investigation before the horror is confronted, mixed with an enjoyably unhealthy dose of politics.

Friday Fiction: Welcome to Arkham

Welcome to Arkham: An Illustrated Guide for Visitors to the Town of ARKHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, and Environs Including DUNWICH, INNSMOUTH, and KINGSPORT is just that little bit more than a simple guide to the city at the heart of the H.P. Lovecraft’s stories and the Cthulhu Mythos. In one way it is a simple exploration of the city and its strange history and places as presented in the Arkham Horror family of games published by Fantasy Flight Games, including of course, the Arkham Horror board game and Arkham Horror: The Card Game, and more recently, the roleplaying game Arkham Horror, and in another, it showcases the great artwork from the games. Seriously, the artwork is very, very good. Then in another way, it presents the city and its environs, including the towns and villages of Dunwich, Innsmouth, and Kingsport, in a way that could be used with any horror roleplaying game. Which means that it could works as a companion to the recently released Call of Cthulhu: Arkham for Call of Cthulhu.

What it actually is though, is a reprint of the Arkham gazetteer that was originally in the Arkham Horror Deluxe Rulebook, published separate to the board game, along with expanded details of Lovecraft Country. Yet it is also more that than that. It is a copy of Welcome to Arkham, the introduction to the city published by the Arkham Historical Society after having been updated, revised, and expanded by the society’s curator, Reginald Peabody. Further, it is his personal copy, complete with notes that he compiled in order to update it, and then, now in hands of his niece, Myrna Todd, it has been annotated with her notes and correspondence with a friend in New York, after she begins investigating Arkham and beyond following her uncle’s disappearance. What this means is that there are multiple layers to this book, on one level a simple guide or artbook, on another a story and mystery. Which means that it can be enjoyed on multiple levels…

Published by Aconyte Books, also responsible for a series of novels set in the world of Arkham Horror, this outwardly guide to Arkham and inwardly the mystery of the disappearance of the guide’s author, begins with a letter to young Myrna Todd from the Miskatonic Valley sheriff, informing her of her uncle’s disappearance, and a letter to her friend in New York, before welcoming the reader to Arkham proper. Starting with downtown, the volume takes the reader from one district of the city to another, visiting in turn, its highs and its lows, its weird and its wondrous. The highs include Independence Square with its balmy tranquillity that contrasts sharply with the Gothic grandeur and tenebrosity of Arkham Sanatorium, with its patients receiving the very best care, but so many lost to a stranger madness. Similarly, the newly opened restaurant, La Bella Luna, offers the wonders of Italian cuisine brought to small town New England, but hides an entrance to the Clover Club, the city’s premier speakeasy, whilst the Palace Movie Theatre brings the best of Hollywood to its big screen on which some moviegoers have begun to see odd shadows at moments when the big feature is not show. The description of the Palace Movie Theatre is accompanied by a fantastic film that never was, Mask of Silver. Meanwhile, the Ward Theatre is going to stage a much-anticipated performance of The King in Yellow, following its premiere in Paris! In rougher Eastown, Hibb’s Roadhouse might claim to be ‘dry’, but it is where the city’s less than reputable citizens go to get a shot of booze, whilst Velma’s Diner, a classic railcar diner, might serve good food, but it where the patrons of Hibb’s Roadhouse go after it shuts for the night.

French Hill is home to the even stranger parts of Arkham. There is Silver Twilight Lodge, the meeting place of the Order of the Silver Twilight, headed by one Carl Sanford, known for its generous charity work, but suspected by some for conducting very dark rituals behind its closed doors. This is, of course, a pleasing nod, to ‘The Hermetic Order of the Silver Twilight’ from Shadows of Yog-Sothoth. (These are not the only nods to the source material beyond that of H.P. Lovecraft, as Welcome to Arkham also draws from the pages of the various novels in the ‘Arkham Horror’ range.) Then there is the infamous ‘Witch House’, once home to the reviled witch, Keziah Mason, but now a series of poky apartments let to students at Miskatonic University who complain of a strange rodent that stalks the building with its weirdly human face and hands. These are only the start of the strange locations to be found in Arkham, others including ‘The Unnamable’, a collapsed mansion in the Merchant District that Arkhamites strive to avoid, the Black Cave in Rivertown with its odd geology and fungi and the spelunkers often lost within its depths, and Ye Olde Magick Shoppe in Uptown, a cramped premises stuffed with mouldering books, maps, and artefacts linked to places that geographers have no knowledge of.

Of course, Miskatonic University gets a section of its own, including the Miskatonic Museum and the Orne Library, and as a bonus, a working draft of ‘Book of Living Myths’. This is almost a Mythos tome of its very own, penned by Miskatonic University scholar Kōhaku Narukami, which explores the parallels between classic folklore and the Mythos. Beyond this, Welcome to Arkham draws both the reader and Myrna Todd up and down the Miskatonic Valley, visiting in turn Dunwich, Innsmouth, and Kingsport, for similar treatments as that accorded to Arkham. Throughout, the locations are given both a fantastic illustration and a description, but this is not the only artwork in the pages of Welcome to Arkham. There are newspaper front pages reporting on important events such as the widespread, horrific destruction that beset Dunwich and the raid by Federal authorities on Innsmouth. There are also photographs, official reports, tickets, business cards, and plain postcards, the latter penned by Myrna charting the course of her investigation in the disappearance of her uncle, destined for New York, but not yet sent. Some are illustrated as if to appear attached to the pages by a paperclip, but others intrude into the pages, cut off by the neatness of the pages of Welcome to Arkham: An Illustrated Guide for Visitors to the Town of ARKHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, and Environs Including DUNWICH, INNSMOUTH, and KINGSPORT. Their creation is so good though, that you wish they were real and that every one of them would stick out between the pages and make the book bulge with the many things, artefacts, and documents stuffed between those pages.

If perhaps, there is anything missing from the pages of Welcome to Arkham, it is a map. Arguably, a book which is ostensibly designed as a guidebook, warrants a map. Perhaps the modular nature of the book’s source material, the Arkham Horror board game, and more specifically, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, means that like the source material, the book needs no map. However, if not coming to Welcome to Arkham via either of those games, the conceit of it begs for a map.

Welcome to Arkham: An Illustrated Guide for Visitors to the Town of ARKHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, and Environs Including DUNWICH, INNSMOUTH, and KINGSPORT is the chance to explore the familiar, but from a different angle, that of source material from a board game and a card game of Lovecraftian investigative horror, rather than a roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror. Though all draw from the same sources, there is sufficient divergence perhaps that Welcome to Arkham is ever so slightly odd, slightly less familiar. That said, fans of the Arkham Horror board game, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, and the ‘Arkham Horror’ series of novels, will much that they will recognise and enjoy, as will the devotees of the writings of Lovecraft and of Lovecraftian investigative horror roleplaying. Welcome to Arkham: An Illustrated Guide for Visitors to the Town of ARKHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, and Environs Including DUNWICH, INNSMOUTH, and KINGSPORT is an engaging combination of enticing artwork and literary conceit that constantly hints at the dangers to be found in poking around in places and the doings of people that are best left secret.

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.

—oOo—

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