Miskatonic Monday #307: No Witness

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: No Witness: a 1940s Film Noir Mystery

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Brendan Lahey

Setting: Montreal, 1943

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Fifty-one page, 10.18 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Serial killer, murder Mythos mystery

Plot Hook: A suicide is murder by any other name... Unless it’s an actual murder

Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, twelve handouts, one map, eleven NPCs, two Mythos tomes, one Mythos spell, and six Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Good

Pros

# Clue rich, delightfully investigative scenario

# Suitably plotted like a Film Noir

# Good use of period photographs

# Could be the start of a series

# Hemophobia

# Wiccanophobia

# Foniasophobia

Cons

# A would be singer with no Sing skill?

# Needs a slight edit
# Many photographs could be handouts if organised better
# A floorplan or two would have been useful

Conclusion

# Enjoyably muscular investigative mystery

# “Down these Mythos streets, a man must go who is not himself Mythos, and who is neither insane nor afraid.” (with apologies to) – Raymond Chandler

[Free RPG Day 2024] Red Tundra

Now in its seventeenth year, Free RPG Day for 2024 took place on Saturday, June 22nd. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

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Red Tundra is a homecoming scenario for Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition, the roleplaying game of lycanthropic rage and action against the ecological damage inflicted upon Gaia by the Wyrm and its human agents. Published by Renegade Game Studios, it is the publisher’s second contribution to Free RPG Day 2024, the other being the scenario, Unnatural Disaster. It can be played in a single session or two, comes complete with six pre-generated characters, and requires the Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition core rules to play. There is mention of the roleplaying game’s dice pool system—familiar from either the Storyteller or Storypath systems—but it is very basic. This is preceded by a more detailed overview of Werewolf: The Apocalypse, of who and what the Garou, or werewolves are, and how they see it as their sacred duty to protect the Earth.

The setting for the scenario is the town of Winter Creek in the Canadian Northwest Territories. This is where the Player Characters grew up and went to school, underwent their First Change and became werewolves, joined the local werewolf pack called the Lunabombers, and ultimately left. In the mundane world, they left because the employment opportunities were better in the nearest big city, but in the world of the garou, they left because they disagreed with the tactics and actions of the Lunabomber pack leader, Marcus Oakheart. Now, after several years away, they have returned home. Or at least most of them have. One of the Player Characters remained in Winter Creek. Having decided to return, they have all decided to meet back up with the one person who was a stable, listening presence in their lives growing up, their high school coach, Gordie Mackenzie. Or least he was for most of them. One of the Player Characters is a Wolf when he went through the First Change and so never had that experience. The problem with these inconsistencies is not that they are present in Red Tundra, but rather that Red Tundra never addresses them. Why was Coach Mackenzie important to the Player Characters? Why does the Player Character who remained behind not know what is going on in Winter Creek? Above all, why have the Player Characters returned to Winter Creek at all? There is some fleshing out of personal details and motivations lacking here that really would have made the playing of Red Tundra much, much easier.

The six pre-generated characters consist of Shelley ‘Moonshadow’ Le Borgne, human-born Shadow Lord Galliard, a local ice hockey player who spends time with the werewolves of the city; Darius Van Detta, wolf-born Black Fury Theurge who studies the spirits; Ida ‘Ratbrain’ Fong, human-born Bone Gnawer Ragabash, a journalist with an addiction problem; Ashley ‘Fernfur’ Greeneyes, wolf-born Hart Warden Ahroun, a gardener who stayed behind in Winter Creek; Jonas ‘Sparks’ Beaulieu, human-born Glass Walkers Philodox who is fascinated by machines and after studying the laws of Canada and the Garou has become an arbitrator; and Jared Tierney, human-born Galestalkers Ahroun, who killed his family upon his First Change and bears a constant guilt. There are descriptions of all six in Red Tundra as well as full character sheets.

The scenario opens with the Player Characters on their way to meet Coach Mackenzie at a local bar, the Silver Saloon. They are waylaid by an encounter with their former pack leader, Marcus Oakheart, now lost to the ‘Hauglosk’ and highly aggressive. When he attacks them, they are forced to defend themselves, but before long, Jana Oakheart, another member of the Lunabombers pack arrives to calm him down. This is the scene to showcase the mechanics of Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition and foreshadow some of the difficulties that the Player Characters will face when dealing with the scenario’s real problem. This, as they learn from Jana Oakheart, is that a new company, called FOMO Hunting Company, has moved into the area and is running hunting trips for rich tourists, shooting wolves from helicopters. Jana Oakheart will also ask if the Player Characters have come back to help, and being werewolves, they should very much want to do so. However, they also quickly discover a complication. When they reunite with Coach Mackenzie at the Silver Saloon, he tells them that his is no longer a high school coach. Due to cuts in funding, he was made redundant and had to look for another job. Recently he found one—with FOMO Hunting Company.

The rest of Red Tundra is all about what the Player Characters decide to do about FOMO Hunting Company and how they do it. The most obvious one is to investigate the offices FOMO Hunting Company, but the Player Characters may want to contact the wolf pack that is going to be the target of the company’s next hunting trip. Lots of options are covered in terms of how the Player Characters go about investigating the local offices of FOMO Hunting Company—sneaking in, overpowering the guards, sabotaging the helicopters to be used for the hunting trip, and so on. Once inside, the Player Characters have the opportunity to find out more about the company. There are even notes on what happens if the Player Characters call the police, though in terms of game play, this is the least interesting option. There is even guidance on what happens if things go wrong and the Player characters get captured. The encounter with the target wolfpack is more straightforward, although the Player Characters may make contact with a wolf about to undergo her First Change.

The outcome of the climax is very much dependent on what the Player Characters did previously. If they did nothing, there is a complete timeline of what Marcus Oakheart and the Lunabombers do. This will result in a lot of bloodshed and the deaths of both Coach Mackenzie and many members of the wolfpack that the FOMO Hunting Company is planning to attack. Hopefully, much or at least some of this can be avoided, and the scenario lists numerous possible options and outcomes depending upon the actions of the Player Characters in the previous scenes. For example, if the Player Characters if have dealt with the head of FOMO Hunting Company, she is replaced by an assistant; if the helicopters have been sabotaged, then Coach Mackenzie might be killed or injured; and so on. Ultimately, the aim of the Player Characters is to stop FOMO Hunting Company, but ideally without Coach Mackenzie getting hurt or killed—though lack of a job will be a problem for him, without getting into too much conflict with Marcus Oakheart, and of course, without breaking the Veil and the Player Characters revealing their true nature to the mundane world. There are options, fairly open-ended, discussed as to what might happen next if the Game Master and her players want to continue the story or the Game Master has adapted the scenario to fit her campaign.

Physically, Red Tundra is decently presented. The artwork is excellent, but it does need a slight edit.

Red Tundra is a fair scenario, providing a good mix of investigation, interaction, and action, as well as, more importantly, presenting some moral decisions for the players and their characters to address. It is not a quick-start though, and a gaming group will need access to a copy of the rules to play. So, whilst it introduces the setting, it is not a good introduction to the rules. The most disappointing aspect to the scenario is the lack of Player Character motivations. These would have helped drive the Player Character action and given reasons for their involvement from the start. Although she should not have had to, if the Game Master takes the time to add these, Red Tundra becomes a decent scenario.

Miskatonic Monday #272: The Mask of the Black Sun

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.

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Name: The Mask of the Black Sun

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Alexander Nachaj

Setting: Jazz Age Canada

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twelve page, 2.11 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A stolen case leads to stolen mask

Plot Hook: When a monster crosses your path...
Plot Support: Staging advice, ten handouts, four NPCs, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Tidy.

Pros

# Very straightforward investigation
# Easy to slot into an existing campaign
# Easy to adjust to other times and places

# Easy to run as a convention scenario

# Plays to the Private Detective tropes

# Masklophobia

# Kinemortophobia

# Foniasophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Very straightforward investigation

# Uninteresting villains and motivations
# No maps

# No floorplans

# Plays to the Private Detective clichés

# Handouts are text handouts, even for the photographs

Conclusion

# Unsophisticated, very straightforward investigation

# Plays to the tropes and clichés of the Private Detective genre and is easy to adapt

Miskatonic Monday #119: Cold Hunger

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.

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Name: Cold Hunger

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Paul Dimitrievich

Setting: Jazz Age Canada

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Seventeen page, 1.40 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A missing persons case leads to madness on the tracks.

Plot Hook: Has a missing reporter on a magazine of the unexplained gone missing because of his current case? 
Plot Support: Staging advice, four handouts, two floorplans, seven NPCs, two monsters and Mythos creatures, and four pre-generated Investigators.

Production Values: Serviceable.

Pros

# Canada and no sasquatches!

# Straightforward plot

# Easily adapted to other time periods with trains

# Easily adapted to other northern climes

# Solid pre-generated Investigators

# Wolves in winter inspired by ‘Pickman’s Model’

# Potential for Investigator versus Investigator action

Cons

# Plain handouts and floorplans

# No explanation of what the ‘CPR’ is

# Potential for Investigator versus Investigator action

Conclusion

# Serviceable plot ends in blood and desperate fashion which does not work as well if the Investigators are armed for bear

# Blood, madness, and dinner on the tracks in a straightforward plot at the horrifying height of winter 

Miskatonic Monday #80: Without Warning

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 a 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.

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Name: Without Warning

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: William Adcock

Setting: 1950s Arctic Canada

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-seven page, 18.30 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Mini-King Kong on ice (with added Mythos)!

Plot Hook: An evacuation flight leaves an aeroplane and its stranded, but not alone...

Plot Support: Detailed plot, one good handout, a single floor plan, one Mythos monster, and six pre-generated Investigators.

Production Values: Excellent.

Pros
# Suitable as a one-shot or convention scenario

# Good use of the historical background

# Straightforward Mythos monster movie plot

# Could be run using Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos

# Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, ‘Polaris’  

# Inspired by Howard Hawk’s The Thing From Another World 

# Could be adapted to a pulp Sci-Fi setting for ‘The Thing On Another World’ 

Cons
# A map or two would have helped

# No female pre-generated Investigators
# May require access to Malleus Monstrorum

# Primary inspiration makes the plot obvious

Conclusion

# Short of the flaming carrot, the scenario’s inspiration crashes you onto the ice, then the Mythos socks you on the jaw.

# ‘B’ movie horror one-shot

# Whither Blood Brothers III?

Alone with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition II

Until the publication of Alone Against the Flames in 2016, it was long forgotten that Chaosium, Inc. had published solo adventures for Call of Cthulhu. The two books in question—Alone Against the Wendigo and Alone Against the Dark—were both published in 1985 and although both Pagan Publishing with Alone on Halloween and Triad Entertainments with Grimrock Isle would add to the genre, all were destined to become collectors pieces. However, with the publication of Alone Against the Flames, Chaosium has not only looked at its two solo adventures anew, but updated and republished them for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition. Both scenarios are lengthy affairs which will take several hours to play through and both make use of the full rules for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition. However, a player can play through using either the Call of Cthulhu: Keeper Rulebook or the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set.

The first of the two scenarios originally published in 1985 and now republished, is not Alone Against the Wendigo, but Alone Against the Frost: Solitaire Adventure in Canada’s Wilds. It is the same scenario in essence, but completely updated and revised to avoid cultural misuse and to better reflect the gender balance within the scenario. Now the original version provided the means for the player to roleplay a male or female investigator, but in addition to still providing this, Alone Against the Frost goes a step further by making one of the NPCs who accompanies the Investigator also female. In fact, this is Charlie Foxtail, the Tsuut’ina professional wilderness guide, who is hired to lead the expedition safely into the wilderness. Together with the three other NPCs accompanying the Investigator, this provides a balance in terms of gender for the members of the expedition.

In addition, the format of the solo investigation, so familiar from things like the Fighting Fantasy books and the Tunnels & Trolls adventures, has been adjusted to make the play through of the scenario. Thus in Alone Against the Frost, the player is still reading one paragraph, making choices and making skill and other checks before moving to another paragraph, and then doing it again and again. With most solo adventures, this involves a high degree of page flipping, often from one end of the book to the other—and back again. In the updated version of Alone Against the Frost, connected entries have been moved closer together, often on the same page, to ease the flow of play. Even if the player is given choices which lead to other pages, those choices are placed on the same page for ease of access. At the end of every entry, in addition to the numbers indicating the paragraphs the player can choose from and go to continue the story, is a number in parentheses. This indicates the previous paragraph which directed the player to the current one, enabling the player to backtrack if necessary. Alone Against the Frost is a tough, challenging, often deadly adventure, and a player will find not infrequently find himself backtracking back to a paragraph in the investigation to seek one or more other choices that do not ultimately lead to a result of ‘THE END’ and the demise of the scdenario’s protagonist. Lastly, one element which has been removed in the update is that of the Hanninah Mythos, the measure of knowledge gained in exploring the Big Woods region. It has simply been replaced by the standard Cthulhu Mythos skill.

In Alone Against the Frost, the player takes the role of Doctor L. C. Nadelmann, an anthropologist from the renowned Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts who is a rising star in the field of cultural anthropology and who has long held a fascination for early North American prehistory, myths, and legends, particularly in the Big Woods region of Canada’s Northwest Territories. At last, Doctor Nadelmann has obtained sufficient funding to mount an expedition into the fabled valley of the North Hanninah in search of the anthropological discoveries and revelations that hopefully, will make the Doctor’s good name. Accompanying Doctor Nadelmann are three gifted and practical graduate students, Bernard Ebstein, Sylvia Davidson, and Norman Falkner. They have also employed Charlie Fox to guide the expedition into the wilderness. All four of these NPCs have their own Investigator sheets and are fully detailed, whereas Doctor Nadelmann requires some customisation prior to play, the player being given two pools of points, one to assign to Occupation skills and one to assign to Personal Interest skills. During play, if the other members of the expedition are awake—or even alive, the player has the option of rolling against their skills rather than those of Doctor Nadelmann if the skill is appropriate.

Alone Against the Frost begins with the Nadelmann expedition arriving at Fort McDonald, preparing to head into North Hanninah, ‘Hanninah’ meaning ‘the river of magical power’. The expedition is warned that the local people avoid the region, including the local guides, and that further, the few white men to have entered it have never returned. Nevertheless, the expedition secures the services of a guide and sets out into the valley of the North Hanninah. Almost immediately, the Nadelmann expedition finds itself in difficult circumstances and constantly being challenged—by the environment, by the local wildlife, and of course, by the unknown. The local guide, Charlie Fox, needs near constant persuasion to remain with the expedition and as more and more dark discoveries are made and disturbing events occur, will urge the expedition to leave North Hanninah. In all likelihood, Charlie Fox will abandon Doctor Nadelmann and what surviving expedition members there are, and flee back to the safety of civilisation.

From the outset, the player will find himself and the expedition in constant danger. For example, within a few paragraphs, the choppy waters of the Hanninah cause Doctor Nadelmann to be thrown into the water and drowned. Returning to an earlier paragraph, Doctor Nadelmann successfully led the expedition into North Hanninah and set up the first night’s camp. Then the weirdness began and… Playing Alone Against the Frost—or at least playing Alone Against the Frost with any degree of success—is simply difficult. Losing Charlie Fox feels like a setback, but as Doctor Nadelmann works his way deeper into the forests of North Hanninah, he will also lose expedition member after expedition member. The effect of this is twofold. First, it takes away the player’s access to their skills, but second, their mostly horrible deaths will necessitate a Sanity loss. The latter reflects not just the terrible nature of their deaths, but also the fact that Doctor Nadelmann, and thus the player, was responsible for their care—and ultimately, their deaths.

There are a great many secrets to be discovered in North Hanninah and a large amount of Mythos lore to be learned in the process. Getting to it and the revelations to be learned will involve multiple attempts upon the part of the player as he attempts to guide Doctor Nadelmann ever deeper into danger through the maze of options and paths. Throughout, the player will also discover particular keywords, such as ‘BAREFOOT’ or ‘BACKWATER’, knowledge of which will grant Doctor Nadelmann access to particular paragraphs that would not have been available otherwise. They are also used as a measure of Doctor Nadelmann’s success, that is, if he and the remaining members of his expedition can actually make their way back to civilisation. And even though this is challenging enough, the difficulties do not stop there. Once Doctor Nadelmann has returned to civilisation, he may face questioning by the authorities, have his discoveries called into question, and more. He may even make a name for himself from those discoveries, but that is a rare outcome indeed.

In some ways, Alone Against the Frost is too challenging. A player coming to it after playing and enjoying Alone Against the Flames, will find Alone Against the Frost a daunting prospect and a grueling experience in play in comparison to the shorter, more straightforward Alone Against the Flames. If the player is prepared for that, then fine, but be in doubt, when playing Alone Against the Frost, the equivalent of the Call of Cthulhu training wheels have definitely come off. If not, then perhaps the shorter Alone Against the Tide might be a better next option after Alone Against the Flames in order to play using the full Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition rules.

Physically, Alone Against the Frost is as cleanly presented as you would expect for a title from Chaosium, Inc. Like the other solo adventure books—Alone Against the Flames, Alone Against the Dark, and the more recent Alone Against the Tide—it is done in black and white. Fortunately, this does not detract from the impact of the adventure’s often monstrous and creepy artwork, although it feels a little odd after the glorious colour and production values of other titles for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition.

Alone Against the Frost: Solitaire Adventure in Canada’s Wilds is different to other scenarios for Call of Cthulhu. Not just because it is a solo adventure, but because it places the onus for the success or failure of the Nadelmann expedition entirely upon the player (and his dice) and it makes the player responsible for the lives—and very likely, the deaths—of four other people. It also enables the player to experience a scientific expedition in true Lovecraftain fashion from beginning to end, its decisions, its discoveries, and more. Ultimately, Alone Against the Frost: Solitaire Adventure in Canada’s Wilds is an incredibly challenging solo adventure which reveals both the dread secrets of the Big Woods and the hubris of scientific inquiry in the face of Cosmic Horror.

Guess who’s coming to dinner?

Cabin Risotto Fever is an investigative horror scenario set in the depths of winter in Canada, involving a missing academic or two, an Italian antiquary, and a bone warming dinner. If the scenario is run as written, then the Game Master will have prepared said dinner and actually dish up during play! As with other scenarios from Games Omnivorous, Cabin Risotto Fever is a system agnostic scenario, but unlike previous scenarios—The Feast on Titanhead and The Seed before it, it takes place in the modern world rather than a fantasy one. Specifically, northern Canada in 1949. However, just like The Feast on Titanhead and The Seed before it, Cabin Risotto Fever adheres to the Manifestus Omnivorous, the ten points of which are:

1. All books are adventures.
2. The adventures must be system agnostic.
3. The adventures must take place on Earth.
4. The adventures can only have one location.
5. The adventures can only have one monster.
6. The adventures must include saprophagy or osteophagy.
7. The adventures must include a voracious eater.
8. The adventures must have less than 6,666 words.
9. The adventures can only be in two colours.
10. The adventures cannot have good taste. (This is the lost rule.)

As we have come to expect for scenarios from Games Omnivorous, Cabin Risotto Fever adheres to all ten rules. It is an adventure, it is system agnostic, it takes place on Earth, it has one location, it has the one monster (though like the older scenarios, those others that appear are extensions of it), it includes Osteophagy—the practice of animals, usually herbivores, consuming bones, it involves a voracious eater, the word count is not high—the scenario only runs to twenty-eight pages, and it is presented in two colours—in this case, tangerine and black. Lastly, Cabin Risotto Fever does lack good taste—though that will either be ameliorated or exaggerated by the quality of the scenario’s singular handout and how the players and their characters react to it.

It is 1949, and Professor Martin D. Ernst from the Department of Anthropology at Schuylkill University has led an expedition into the wilds of northern Labrador in order to locate and explore an ancient Algonquian ritual site. The expedition is funded by Italian antiquarian, Rubicondo Bronzetti, who also accompanies the expedition, as does Professor Ernst’s researcher, Solomon Silverberg. It is three weeks since the expedition has been heard from, and a team of rescuers is being sent to check on them. The scenario suggests a Forest Ranger and his apprentice, another professor of anthropology, and a native shaman. It outlines the basics of the four Player Characters, all of whom should be easy to create using the roleplaying game of the Game Master’s choice. In fact, Cabin Risotto Fever could be run straight from these descriptions should a playing group want a very light game in terms of its mechanics.

What Cabin Risotto Fever does include mechanically, is rules for handling Sanity. These require four tokens per Player Character. When a Player Character sees, hears, or experiences something weird or unsettling, the Player Character’s player rolls a six-sided die. If the result is less than the number of tokens the Player Character has, the Player Character suffers a minor panic attack and looses a token. The Player Character may also learn a piece of random information pertinent to the situation in Cabin Risotto Fever. At two tokens, and then at one token, the Player Character suffers a worse panic attack and another effect, determined by the roll of an eight-sided die on the included table. These effects range from attacking a fellow Player Character to a case of unfortunate micturition. Of course, should a Player Character lose all of his tokens, then he becomes an NPC.

Cabin Risotto Fever requires some set-up, some of it traditional, some of it less so. It is suggested that the playing space be lit with candles for atmosphere and that a fast and light roleplaying game be used to prevent any impediment to roleplaying. That is the traditional. The non-traditional is the preparation of the risotto that is the scenario’s singular handout—or is that dishout?—or prop, that should be served during the play of the scenario. The recipe for the risotto al midollo in full is included in the scenario.

The focus for Cabin Risotto Fever is the cabin—as much as it is the risotto. Here the Player Characters will encounter the expedition, its members surprised to see them, but welcoming all the same and happy to invite them to dinner. Events will play out as the Player Characters poke around the cabin and interact with their hosts, some of them random, and of course, the horror of the situation slowly dawning upon them. The likelihood of course, is that the players will realise what has happened, but not their characters—and it is their realisation the players are roleplaying and reacting in horror to.

Physically, like The Feast on Titanhead and The Seed before it, Cabin Risotto Fever is well presented. It is darker and gloomier in tone given its choice of colours. The single location of the cabin is mapped out inside the separate cover. The map is detailed, but suffers a little from forced perspective. Some of the chosen fonts are a little difficult to read, but overall, Cabin Risotto Fever is easy to read. The illustrations have a heavy oppressive feel and many can easily be shown to the players during play. It needs a slight edit in places, but is overall quite a sturdy product, being done on heavy paper and card stock.

As with other scenarios which adhere to the Manifestus Omnivorous manifesto, Cabin Risotto Fever is nasty, brutal, and short, it being possible to play through the scenario and even survive in a single session. It is also easy to run using a wide variety of roleplaying games. The most obvious one is Lamentations of the Flame Weird Fantasy Roleplay, another is the publisher’s own 17th Century Minimalist: A Historical Low-Fantasy OSR Rulebook, but with some adjustment it would work with Cthulhu by Gaslight or a darker toned version of Leagues of Gothic Horror for use with Leagues of Adventure: A Rip-Roaring Setting of Exploration and Derring Do in the Late Victorian Age!. Take it away from its European setting and Cabin Risotto Fever would work well with Mörk Borg as they share a similar tone and sensibility.

Whether used as a one-shot, or added to a campaign, Cabin Risotto Fever is easy to prepare and set-up for a night’s single session of juicy, meaty horror. Indeed, the only thing difficult to set up is the risotto itself. 

Miskatonic Monday #46: The Pipeline: A Call of Cthulhu Scenario for the 1980s

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 a 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.

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Name: The Pipeline: A Call of Cthulhu Scenario for the 1980s

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Alex Guillotte

Setting: 1980s British Columbia, Canada

Product: Scenario
What You Get: seventy-two page, full colour softback book.
Elevator Pitch: The oil must flow, the pipeline must be kept open.
Plot Hook: Contact has been lost with Exxon Pumping Station #31 in British Columbia. Mechanical fault or radical environmentalists, you are assigned to find out.
Plot Support: Seven arctic hazards, eleven handouts, fifty-six NPCs (alive, deceased, and/or insignificant), eight pregenerated investigators, a new Mythos creature, the Arctic Guide Occupation, and new equipment and archaic weapons.
Production Values: Needs another edit, but clean layout, excellent artwork, and nice handouts..

Pros
# Grueling mechanically and narratively
# Grueling mentally and physically
# A wealth of detail
# Fantastic handouts
# Marginalia!
# Potential Delta Green flashback?
# Survival horror

Cons
# Grueling mechanically and narratively
# Grueling mentally and physically
# A wealth of detail
# New Mythos monster when the Yeti would have done?
# Linear plot—as in a ‘Pipeline’

Conclusion
# Potential Delta Green flashback?
# Grueling and linear
# Superbly presented

Mother's Embrace

Published by Just Crunch Games, Mother’s Love is an anthology of three scenarios for The Cthulhu Hack. As its title suggests, the three involve investigations at the root of which stands Shub-Niggurath, ‘The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young’, ready to ensnare the unwary in her fecund embrace, wrap her woody branches around them, and perhaps, grant them rebirth. All are modern, but one is set in 1950s Canada, whilst the other two take place in the Mediterranean in the relative here and now. All three are essentially one-shots and whilst they do require preparation upon the part of the Keeper just as any other scenario, the rules for investigator generation in The Cthulhu Hack make it easy for the players to create their investigators and get playing. All three are also fairly light on mechanics, making their plots and set-ups easy to adapt to the roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror of the Keeper’s choice.

The trilogy opens with ‘Deep Roots’ which sees the player characters investigate a double murder and apparent abduction of a child in 1950s Canada. Written by Chloé Germaine Buckley and Jonathan Buckley, it casts the investigators as members of law enforcement or Child and Family Services, the first because of the murdered couple, the second because the abducted child had recently been adopted by the murdered couple. The child was adopted from The Rainy River Home for Foundlings and Orphans, located in an isolated town in northwestern Ontario, and the investigators will quickly learn that another child adopted from the orphanage—which has recently been shut down—was also involved in a violent incident. So the question is, are the cases involved? Further, just what might have been going on at the ramshackle and rarely inspected home for children?

Answers of course lie at the orphanage, although there is much information to be found in the nearby town of Lake of the Woods by talking to the inhabitants or checking local records. The orphanage, naturally—or is that unnaturally?—stands on the edge of a dense forest that the locals, including members of the nearby First Nation reserve, avoid. There is definitely a sense of the gothic to both forest and orphanage, of the forest as a force beyond nature, and of protecting its own. What it is protecting should be fairly obvious, but why is left up to the Keeper to choose one of three options given. Once chosen, the Keeper only need use the elements for the selected option given in the rest of the scenario. This gives the Keeper some flexibility in how she runs the scenario and some of the options could actually work together as well as stand on their own.

If there is an element in ‘Deep Roots’ which could have been better handled, it is the link from the murder (and the other violent incident) to the orphanage. It feels slightly too tenuous for the investigators to want to go there based on the information they have at that point. Some players, having learned of the link, may simply decide to follow it up anyway, but others may need more of a reason and the Keeper should probably be prepared for that just in case. Overall, ‘Deep Roots’ does a solid job of presenting Shub-Niggurath as a maternally protective presence and there is a nicely creepy atmosphere to the scenario, one that plays upon our fear of children as malicious beings and our fear of the woods.

The second scenario takes place at a specific time and location—Malta and 2016, the four hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. In Keris McDonald’s ‘Ġgantija’, a local expat thespian has decided to stage a special performance of The Tempest held in the Neolithic Temples at Xaghra. Unfortunately, the rehearsals take a turn for the worse when one of their number is found dead and after going to the police, the player characters, or actors, find themselves chased by something beyond their imagination, from island to island. The set-up for this scenario is absolutely fabulous, any roleplayer should relish the opportunity to play a cast of plummy-voiced, luvvies and the like, overdoing the acting before confronted by murder, a weird cult, and a curse. Designed ideally for four or so players, it is a pity that Ġgantija did not come with a list of actor archetypes for the players to create and really ham it up with before it becomes bloody and undulating.

From this somewhat BBC Sunday night drama-style beginnings ‘Ġgantija’ quickly turns up the weirdness before adding in a dash or two of conspiratorial elements. These manage to feel both unexpected and unsurprising at the same time, being a radical plot twist on the only island it could take place on. Overall, this is a fun adventure, one that portrays Shub-Niggurath as a primordial, vengeful mother figure.

The third and final scenario in Mother’s Love is ‘Gifts of the Flesh’ by Kathryn Jenkins. This casts the investigators as members of Protectors of Mistreated Animals (PMA) setting out to break into an abattoir on a tiny Greek island, which is the source of a highly successful ‘luxury’ organic boar meat business. As animal rights activists they want to confirm their suspicions that ‘Kronos Meats’ are using chemical enhancements to produce such good quality meat. The investigators will need to sail to the tiny island where the company is based, make their way past its one town, and from there break into the abattoir. 

Unfortunately, ‘Gifts of the Flesh’ is linear in structure and more obviously so, and whilst there are clues to found, it never really feels as if the investigators can do very much, except push on. For the players to want to have their investigators to push towards the climax of the scenario, a strong sense of motivation will be needed. More than any of the three, ‘Gifts of the Flesh’ would probably have benefited from pre-generated investigators. There is a thick, oppressive atmosphere to the scenario, which transforms Greek myth into the Mythos and casts Shub-Niggurath as a transformative figure—there being a lot of change in the scenario—capable of giving rebirth. There is also a lot of background to the scenario and anyone with a keen interest in Greek myth may make the connection between myth and Mythos fairly quickly. Again, there are notes on how to obfuscate the links.

Physically, the three scenarios and Mother’s Love as a whole is well presented. The hardback has a decent full colour cover and the internal artwork is decent too. The three scenarios are generally written with a reasonable amount of advice for the Keeper to help in their staging. Some of the maps could have been more sharply produced though.

Mother’s Love is a solid collection of scenarios, each easy to run, each easily adapted to the mechanics of the Keeper’s choice, and each entry exploring a different aspect of Shub-Niggurath. None of the three is unplayable, but ‘Ġgantija’ is the standout, presenting opportunity aplenty for some great roleplaying, almost like actors being offered juicy roles. 

Constant Cravings

Three Faces of the Wendigo—although you would not know that this was the title because it does not appear on the cover of the book, front or back—is an anthology of scenarios for use with The Cthulhu Hack, the light ruleset with player facing mechanics based on The Black Hack for handling quick and easy games of Lovecraftian investigative horror. Putting this oddity aside, the anthology presents three standalone encounters in the snowy, icebound climes of North America with the fearsome spirit of Algonquin legend—the Wendigo and the desperate anthropophagical cravings they engender. Each of the trilogy is a stark white, wilderness bound confrontation with the ultimate in cultural taboos. Long pig anyone?

Published by Just Crunch Games, the trilogy opens in media res with ‘Wolves in the Mountain’ by Richard August. The player characters—trappers, hunters, merchants, and residents of the town of Newcome, long left behind by the frontier—are heading into the mountains. Only a day before, a ragged, desperate stranger staggered into town, recounting a tale of treasure, an expedition into the mountains, and betrayal and bloody murder by the expedition leader, Marlowe. Now, the posse of player characters is heading back up the stranger’s path in order to bring Marlowe to justice (and if they find the treasure in the meantime, that is a bonus, right?). Having ascended up the side of the range, the player characters come upon a cave mouth, beyond which lies a set of charnel caverns, full of blood, decay, madness, and something else… Set some time in the nineteenth century—the exact period is never made clear—‘Wolves in the Mountain’ nicely builds a sense of raw horror, almost brazen in its sinewy muscularity. There is a sense also of something ‘Old School’ here in the vaguely dungeon-like caves which echos back to the very earliest of days of Call of Cthulhu when scenario writers had nothing but Dungeons & Dragons upon which to model their adventures. 

The cloying sanguine atmosphere of the first half is nicely contrasted by the scenario’s second half, a desperate pelt down the down the cold, white mountain, back to Newcombe. Only something has beaten them to it and this where the pacing of ‘Wolves in the Mountain’ becomes flaccid… There is no set ending to the scenario, the Game Master being provided with five potential endings, all of them suitably bleak. It also means that there are five unsupported endings, one of which the Game Master will need to choose and then develop himself if he is to keep up the energy and pacing of the scenario’s first half. He will also need to really provide the players and their characters with some kind of motivation at that point too, because the likelihood is that in comparison to the first half, they are likely to be left floundering, wondering what they should be doing.

The middle scenario switches to the Jazz Age of the 1920s and somewhere along the Saskatchewan River. In ‘Lonely, Dark, and Deep’ by John Almack, the Houghton party of Americans, is on a hunting trip. The scenario includes the members of the party as pre-generated characters—Judge Houghton, his wife, Ida, their friend, Doctor Sawyer, a dentist, Ian Corey, a cook, and Motega, a local guide. Echoing Alone Against the Wendigo—the solo scenario for Call of Cthulhu published in 1985—the party finds that at first, nature seems to be striking back at them, but then it does does seem so natural anymore, but rather more unnatural until… This is the simplest of the three scenarios in Three Faces of the Wendigo, being a wilderness set adventure of survival horror consisting of little more than a few scripted scenes. It is short, sharp, and easy to prepare for a one-shot or demonstration game.

The end scenario is ‘Tainted Meat’, written by the designer of The Cthulhu Hack, Paul Baldowski. It moves the trilogy into the modern day and back to Newcome—or at least a Newcome—where time and life seems to have passed the tiny town by. The player characters are travelling nearby when an accident renders their car in need of repair and in the coldness of midwinter, the nearest town is Newcome. The inhabitants seem odd, ill prepared for visitors, but seem to want to help even if their behaviour is a bit remote. The title of the scenario might suggest what is going on in Newcome, but the player characters will need to put no little effort into finding out what is really going on. This is because in the main, the scenario is set up to be reactive in its response to the actions of the player characters. They will be primarily exploring the town in an effort to discover what is going on in Newcome, essentially rendering the town as a ‘mini-sandbox’. 

In comparison to the first two scenarios, Tainted Meat’ is very different. Mechanically, it involves a lot more NPCs for the Game Master to keep track of and roleplay, but in terms of atmosphere, its horror is primarily creepy and odd, though there are plenty of scares too. Its pace is much slower, which lends itself to being played over more than the single session. Overall, this scenario is the most sophisticated in the book and brings it to a solid conclusion.

Physically, Three Faces of the Wendigo is a neat little book. The front cover is very nice and the internal illustrations are decent enough. The writing needs another editing here and there, and perhaps a little more development in terms of the endings. What the book could have done with, is maps. Now both the cave of ‘Wolves in the Mountain’ and the Newcombe of ‘Tainted Meat’ are described in some detail, but really a map of each should have been included for easy reference by the Game Master.

None of the ideas at the heart of the scenarios in Three Faces of the Wendigo are original, but they do not have to be in well designed and well executed scenarios. Which is, for the most part, what the scenarios are in this trilogy for The Cthulhu Hack. That other part—the not the ‘most part’—really comes down to the undeveloped ending(s) of ‘Wolves in the Mountain’, which otherwise starts strong. Of its companions, ‘Lonely, Dark, and Deep’ is a solid, straightforward piece of survival horror, whilst ‘Tainted Meat’ is as creepy and as dark as you would want a taboo busting scenario to be. Overall, Three Faces of the Wendigo is a decent trilogy of one-shot or demonstration scenarios.