Miskatonic Monday #374: Plus Ultra

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: Plus Ultra

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Michał Pietrzak

Setting: Hispaniola, 1665

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twelve page, 499.59 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Zombies of the Caribbean

Plot Hook: “This town (Town)

Is coming like a ghost town”

– ‘Ghost Town’, The Specials

Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, five NPCs, and some zombies

Production Values: Plain

Pros

# Unwinnable war against a warlock can turn into a time chase

# Decent pre-generated Investigators

# Kinemortophobia

# Necrophobia

# Chronophobia

Cons

# Unwinnable war against a warlock can turn into a time chase

Conclusion

# An experience in horror before the Investigators have the chance to put the knife in

# Can be the end of the world if the Investigators do not get the hint

Miskatonic Monday #249: The Pirate and the Bride

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 Pirate and the Bride

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Jazmin Ospa & Meghan Kuschner

Setting: Regency-era Bahamas

Product: Scenario for In Strange Seas: Horror in the Royal Navy for Regency Cthulhu and Regency Cthulhu: Dark Designs in Jane Austen’s England
What You Get: Seventeen page, 6.21 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Dagon’s ‘Red Wedding’

Plot Hook: A sudden society wedding threatens to reveal all manner of scandal
Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, eight NPCs, four handouts, and several hundred  (Mythos) monsters.

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# Strongly plotted combination of societal and nautical mystery

# Easy to run once past its issues

# Thalassophobia

# Decantophobia

# Kinemortophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit and further development

# Needs a clearer explanation

# No maps

Conclusion

# Solid scenario that needs a bit more work to make it run easily

# A ‘Red Wedding’ meets Pirates of the Caribbean is a perfectly good combination

Miskatonic Monday #184: The Depths of Bermuda

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 Depths of Bermuda

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Thomas S. Lawrence

Setting: 1920s Caribbean
Product: Scenario

What You Get: Forty-nine page, 10.85 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The dangers of the deep will colour this dive.

Plot Hook: The chance to strike it rich is undone when something else is struck.

Plot Support: Staging advice, nine pre-generated Investigators,

fifteen NPCs, four handouts, one map, four non-Mythos monsters, and two Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Thematically ambitious.

Pros

# Winner of a Miskatonic Playhouse Bronze Award

# Engaging set-up and staging for the adventure

# Physical, technical adventure rather than mental adventure

# Lots of pre-generated Investigators, but advice given for players to make their own

# Good scenario for a journalist or author

# Has a Jaws moment

# Aquaphobia

# Thalassophobia

# Claustrophobia

Cons

# Needs a strong edit

# Underwritten explanation for the Keeper upfront

# No deckplans

# Has a Jaws moment

Conclusion

# Action-packed one-shot which makes great use of its environment and staging for an enjoyably original encounter with a classic Mythos monster
# Scenario let down by underwhelming set-up and poor editing

Miskatonic Monday #106: Passenger Olympus

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.

—oOo—

Name: Passenger Olympus

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Mitchel Bonnema

Setting: Gulf of Mexico, 1921.

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-One page, 11.53 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Fear on a Freighter!

Plot Hook: When a ship goes adrift, could it have been cursed by the mermaid it pulled aboard?
Plot Support: Straightforward plot, six NPCs, five pre-generated Investigators, one deck plan, ten handouts, and two Mythos creatures.

Production Values: Decent.

Pros

# Sea-bound one-shot

# Scares amidst a stormed-tossed sea

# Escalating song of sanity!

# Strong sense of isolation

# Detailed steamer description

# Decent handouts

Cons

# Needs another edit

# Dense

# Uneven Sanity loses

# No portholes!

# A lot for the Investigators to explore

Conclusion

# Maritime madness as the Investigators confront a mermaid 

# Isolated horror aboard a vessel adrift at sea, not in space—and you can hear the siren's song!

Your First Miniatures Wargame II

Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City has proved to be both successful and popular, having sold many, many copies and worn awards, including an Ennie Award and the UK Games Expo award in 2016. The skirmish fantasy wargame from Osprey Publishing presented clearly written and presented rules with depth, but not complexity, an easy to understand  and develop set-up, and a relatively low level of investment by the hobby’s standards—just ten figures per warband plus the terrain and scenery. The end result was to make Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City a very accessible game, suitable as an introduction to the hobby as much as it is a lighter alternative to more formal and heavier battles.

Although a number of supplements have been published for Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City, now Osprey Games sets sail very far away from the frozen city to a tropical paradise of constantly shifting jungle covered islands, hidden ruins, strange reptilian races and sorcerous snake-men, monsters out of time, and exotic mysteries. This is the Ghost Archipelago, a vast island chain, covered in the ruins of ancient civilizations, which disappears for centuries only to appear again in the far reaches of the southern ocean. When the Ghost Archipelago appears, pirates, adventurers, wizards, and legendary heroes all sail to its many shores in search of lost treasures and powerful artefacts. The Ghost Archipelago has reappeared and some of the descendants of those legendary heroes are drawn to the islands by their very blood! Their forebears drank from the fabled Crystal Pool that lies at the heart of the Ghost Archipelago and so gained abilities far beyond those of normal men. Their descendants possess only the weakest versions of these powers, but perhaps if they find the Crystal Pool and drink of its waters, they can become equal to their legendary ancestors!

This is the setting and set-up for Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago – Fantasy Wargames in the Lost Isles, a separate campaign and expansion to the world of Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City. It is designed for use with 28 mm miniatures, ten per player, a twenty-sided die or two, and lots of jungle style terrain. As with Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City, Northstar Miniatures manufactures figures specifically designed for use with Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago – Fantasy Wargames in the Lost Isles.

Just as in Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City, players in Ghost Archipelago control bands, but here they are not lead by Wizards, but by Heritors. Their ancestors were the legendary heroes who drank from the Crystal Pool and each Heritor is capable of amazing feats of strength and agility and other powers by drawing upon the power of their blood. For example, Burning Eyes freezes a target preventing them from acting, Ironskin reduces damage taken, and Trickshot, which negates modifiers for cover and terrain. A Heritor begins play with five Heritor abilities and each has a utilisation number which is rolled over to use the ability. A Heritor is not limited in the number of times he can use his abilities in a turn, except that each time after the first, it gets progressively more difficult to use an ability and he suffers Blood Burn, losing Hit Points of damage each time an ability is used. So Heritors can be really powerful, but at some cost, and a player should be careful when choosing to push his Heritor’s abilities with Blood Burn.

In general, a Heritor gets better at using his abilities as learning new ones takes time. There is a greater sense of physicality to Heritor abilities rather than the arcane spellcasting powers of Wizards in Frostgrave. This is not to say that magic does not play a role in Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago as each Heritor is accompanied by a Warden who will help the Heritor navigate through the islands. Dismissed as hedge-wizards and animists by the Wizards of Frostgrave, these spellcasters specialise in elemental and primal forces—they are Beast Wardens, Earth wardens, Storm Wardens, Vine Wardens, and Wave Wardens. The rest of a band consists of standard crewmen and specialist crewmen. The former are simple soldiers, whilst the latter are specialists such as Archers, Pearl Divers, Tomb Robbers, Savages, and so on. Many of these are nicely thematic and support the exoticism of the setting.

Mechanically, Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago uses the same rules as Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City, the same stats, and the same play set-up. Anyone coming to Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago from Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City will certainly find much which is familiar. It uses the same twenty-sided die mechanic, with players needing to roll higher than a target number, adding the appropriate attribute and a successful roll also determining how damage is inflicted, for example. 

Just like in Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago, bands in Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago are primarily involved in exploration and scavenging. Where the terrain in the far off city of Felstead is frozen and littered with ruins of streets and squares, the terrain in the isles of the Ghost Archipelago consists of steamy jungles, liana covered ruins, and so on (the rules suggest using aquarium terrain, which is nice advice). Each band has a ship which allows it to reach the islands and which can be upgraded to provide in game benefits. These ships do not actually appear in the game, although the boats each band uses to reach the shores do and the rules allow for battling over them when they appear. For the most part, bands will be competing and confronting each other over treasure, but every band is really hunting Map Stones. Collect all ten of these and a Heritor will have the complete map to the Crystal Pool and essentially won the Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago campaign. Truly the Heritor will have inherited his ancester’s powers.

Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago comes with plenty of support in the form of treasure and strange artefacts, details of both Heritor abilities and Warden spells, eight scenarios, and a bestiary of animals, monsters, and strange races. The bestiary includes dinosaurs (Saurians) and sentient races like the Dricheans and Snake-men, and demons and aquatic species. Together, these both support the given scenarios and allow the creation of further scenarios. 

Physically, where Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City was swathed in blue and white reflecting its cold, cold setting, Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago – Fantasy Wargames in the Lost Isles is green and tan, representing the lush jungles and the sandstone blocks of the ruins. The book is clearly written, but does involve flipping back and forth a bit to create characters and playing the game. It is liberally illustrated with photographs of miniatures in action and full colour, painted illustrations. These are all really evocative, suggesting how the game is played and providing inspiration.

Beyond the confines of Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago – Fantasy Wargames in the Lost Isles there is scope for expansion aplenty. Perhaps guidelines for handling crossovers between Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City and Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago – Fantasy Wargames in the Lost Isles since the two take place in the same world, exploring what happens when the Heritors find the Crystal Pool, setting sail aboard ships for naval combat, and so on. Although the same mechanics and the same set-up are used in Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago – Fantasy Wargames in the Lost Isles as in Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City, this new set of rules and new setting feels very different. It is not as arcane or as chilly, drawing things such as Pirates of the Caribbean and the legend of the Fountain of Youth, to give a more verdant and exotic feel, with less of a sense of ruin, but much more of the unknown, and with the inclusion of Heritors, Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago – Fantasy Wargames in the Lost Isles has a more physical feel.

Caribbean Consternations

The attraction of the Caribbean lies in its promise of tropical paradise, under bright azure skies across hundreds of islands with different cultures and traditions, lying within easy reach of the American mainland. Cuba is within easy reach by boat trip, promising sun and in the Jazz Age of the 1920s, booze and dancing aplenty, presenting an enticingly exotic alternative to Prohibition America, but beyond there are islands still under colonial rule, offering a free and easy lifestyle. To some, such islands are a sleepy backwater of empire, but many are home to dark secrets and mysteries. Such secrets as those revealed in Tales of the Caribbean. This is the fourth tome from Golden Goblin Press, released following a successful Kickstarter campaign and following on from Island of Ignorance – The Third Cthulhu Companion, Tales of the Crescent City: Adventures in Jazz Era New Orleans, and De Horrore Cosmico: Six Scenarios for Cthulhu Invictus. Like the second and third of those releases, Tales of the Caribbean is an anthology of scenarios for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition.

The seven scenarios take the Investigators to the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad. Although each scenario provides some background on the isle upon each is set as well as a map of said isle and there is a broad overview of the region given at the start of the anthology, it is important to note that Tales of the Caribbean is not a sourcebook for the region. That said, the geographical proximity of the Caribbean to the USA means that the scenarios in the anthology are relatively easy to add to an ongoing campaign, especially if the Keeper is running a campaign based in New Orleans or Miami, so Tales of the Caribbean would work with Golden Goblin Press’ own Tales of the Crescent City anthology, The Mysteries of Mesoamerica supplement from Pagan Publishing, or SixtyStone Press’ Magic City campaign.

The anthology opens with ‘The Devil Cuts In’ by Phredd Groves, which is set on the island of Montserrat. The investigators might be tourists, anthropologists, or similar, who are perhaps visiting the island to speak to Doctor Oscar Lucknow, a noted local historian and occultist or to enjoy the Galbraith Masquerade, an annual and unique Christmas festival held at a village in the centre of the island where the good doctor lives. Welcomed as guests and then celebrants in the festival, its normal course of events do not go as planned and as a result unleash a surprisingly sorry Mythos entity upon the island. What ‘The Devil Cuts In’ explores is the Mythos not as a benign influence, but rather its application for a benign effect rather than a malign one. This is both a small affair and a race against the clock, nicely contained, quite underplayed, and an entertaining twist upon a setup that has been seen before in Call of Cthulhu which benefits from a unique Mythos entity.

It is no surprise that one of the scenarios in Tales of the Caribbean involves zombies and that one of the scenarios is set on the island of Haiti. That scenario is Jo Kreil’s ‘Toil in the Fields’ in which the investigators are asked by an old friend at Miskatonic University to collect the body of his late son, a missionary who died in a malaria outbreak. When they arrive, discover the island is not only dominated by U.S. interests, but also rife with corruption, disease, and fear. In this febrile atmosphere, they quickly learn that the body they came for is missing and nobody has any interest in another missing body—this is Haiti after all! Or perhaps somebody has a great deal of interest in the missing bodies, which leads the investigators deeper into the island. This is the first of the scenarios in the anthology to deal with the obvious sources of horror in the region—Haitian folklore, zombies, and Voodoo—and like the others, it does not draw or make any links with the Mythos. In fact, the practitioners of Voodoo stand opposed to the Mythos and if they do not stand against it openly, they can in many cases be called upon for help in thwarting the forces of the Mythos. The scenario also introduces a Pulp element that makes ‘Toil in the Fields’ suitable for use with Chaosium’s Pulp Cthulhu, so this is much more of a physical scenario than the others in the anthology. ‘Toil in the Fields’ is a solid affair which makes good use of traditional horror elements and nicely paints the atmosphere of a country under American occupation.

Jason Williams, the author of Secrets of Tibet, takes us to the Bahamas with ‘Crimson Eyes & Azure Pools’. The investigators are hired—perhaps by Miskatonic University, perhaps by the Bahamas government—to locate a missing retired Miskatonic University botanist and his three students after their boat turned up shipwrecked and empty. This is a relatively straightforward affair, involving a number of elements that occur again and again in other scenarios in the anthology, including island hopping from a major to minor and more rural island and warnings from the local inhabitants not to investigate any further. The clues reveal that Professor Dinsdale and his students were attempting to locate and confirm the existence of a strange bird-like creature on Andros Island. Unfortunately as they look into the disappearance of the Dinsdale expedition, the existence of these strange bird-like creatures is all but confirmed when they take an interest in the investigators which begins with a scary, out of nowhere encounter with them. It contains the Pulp tone of the previous scenario, this time with odd encounters with the natives, both benign and malign, culminating in a confrontation in a weird cave in the trees. The scenario introduces a local Mythos creature, one based on the myths and legends of  Andros Island and of course one twisted to darker ends.

‘Wrath of the Sulfurer’ is by Dave Sokolowski, the author of Sun Spots and is specifically set in 1922 on the island of St. Vincent. The infamous volcano, Soufrière or La Sulfere, is about to erupt again, so is of interest to scientists, reporters, and humanitarians. As the surprisingly angry inhabitants of St. Vincent flee the brooding eruption, the investigators learn that there is an evil influence at the heart of the volcano, which if not stopped, threatens the island and perhaps more… Getting to the island, finding further information, and perhaps further help is beset by nightmares and inhabitants of the island beset by their own nightmares. Much like the earlier ‘The Devil Cuts In’, this scenario has its own time limit, and like many of the scenarios in the anthology it has a definite climax and ending. Although the scenario does build to an effective climax—and a memorable one inside a volcano—it probably does involve one too many dice rolls to get to that climax.

If there has been a Pulp sensibility running throughout the various scenarios in Tales of the Caribbean, then Oscar Rios punches it up a notch or two with ‘Black as Pitch at Midnight’. Set on Trinidad, it involves two feuding cults, two opposing aspects of the same god, a large dose of colonial history, though not necessarily Caribbean history, and some Pulp staples as the bad guys. This has the potential to be a big pulpy mess of a scenario, but the author keeps everything focussed and well ordered, as well as including some very sticky encounters. One issue is that being more Pulpy in tone, the scenario is more physical and more combative in nature than the traditional Call of Cthulhu scenario and that may put more investigative characters at a disadvantage as there is a lot of fighting involved in the scenario. Again this builds to a set climax and again, the climax does involve more than a few dice rolls, but the climax is a memorable one. Arguably, this is more of an adventure than a scenario and it is one that fans of certain fedora-wearing, whip-cracking archaeologist will enjoy. This is fun and creepy in equal measure and is supported by some thoroughly nasty new spells and monsters.

Up to now, the scenarios in Tales of the Caribbean have been a little linear in structure, with relatively little investigation, but that changes with Jeffrey Moeller’s ‘Servant of God’. The investigators are quickly hired to come to Cuba and investigate a ‘locked room’ mystery. A Postulator for the Vatican, a Catholic official tasked with investigating a candidate for sainthood, has been found dead in his locked hotel room in Cuba, Havana. The candidate is a sixteenth century Spanish colonist and member of the Inquisition who founded a holy order popular on the island, fought against the colonial administration and was regarded as a sort of Robin Hood figure, and was reputed to have performed miracles before his death. Getting to the heart of this involves more investigation than the previous scenarios in the anthology and feels much more like a traditional Call of Cthulhu scenario. Their inquiries will take the investigators back into the island’s colonial past as several motifs occur again and again to taunt the investigators—weddings, the sound of bells ringing, the need to sign names over and over, and anti-colonial/American sentiment. Containing more of an urban element than the other scenarios in the anthology, there is a real mystery to be solved in ‘Servant of God’ and it is a richer, deeper scenario that long time players of Call of Cthulhu will enjoy getting their teeth into.

The last scenario in anthology takes the investigators to Puerto Rico. ‘Night Forms a Cover for Sinners’ is Oscar Rios’ second contribution to Tales of the Caribbean and like the earlier ‘Crimson Eyes and Azure Pools’ deals with the disappearance of a number of academics. Hired to find them, the investigators quickly learn that the missing men were interested in a regional legend, that of the Fountain of Youth, and if they are to locate them, they too will need to follow in their footsteps. Unfortunately this is not as entertaining a scenario as Rios’ earlier ‘Black as Pitch at Midnight’. From their initial inquiries, the scenario ambles along in too linear a fashion, playing out as a series of reveals and warnings for the investigators not to proceed any further. This is done via an NPC who appears under a different guise each time, but whose true nature remains a secret until revealed at the end of the scenario. Until then, the investigators have little chance to really learn much about this NPC despite said NPC being nicely described and her motives well presented in the scenario. Overall, ‘Night Forms a Cover for Sinners’ has some entertaining moments, but ultimately the players may not enjoy finding out that their investigators have more or less been manipulated at almost every turn.

One issue that runs from one scenario to the next, is how to get the investigators involved in each situation. The anthology also includes an NPC who can be used a means to bring the investigators into each scenario, as American colour for each scenario, and even as a source of replacement investigators. Named for the backer on Kickstarter who pledged at a certain level, Morgan Matthews is an American film Director from New Orleans—another potential link to Golden Goblin Press’ Tales of the Crescent City: Adventures in Jazz Era New Orleans—who tours the Caribbean looking to film scenery for stock footage and folklore to adapt into his next big movie. Several members of his staff are also included and they could easily be replaced by, or used to replace, the investigators. It would have been useful if the anthology had included reasons to include Matthews and his team in each of the scenarios, but the Keeper is left to devise such reasons himself.

Physically, Tales of the Caribbean is a decent looking book. It only needs an edit here and there and the artwork, all by Reuben Dodd, gives the anthology a consistent look throughout. It varies slightly in quality, but some of it is very good and some of it points to the Pulp sensibility that runs through the anthology's seven scenarios. Within the pages of the scenarios, the book’s maps and handouts are often too small and too dark to see and read clearly, but this is countered by their being included in the book’s appendix which gives much more space to both.

Tales of the Caribbean is not the best book to be released by Golden Goblin Press—that accolade still falls to Tales of the Crescent City—but it is certainly a close second. Many throw up refreshingly interesting situations and twists upon the Mythos, ‘The Devil Cuts In’ and ‘Black as Pitch at Midnight’ in particular, whilst all remain respectful of the setting and its culture. If ‘Night Forms a Cover for Sinners’ underwhelms, both ‘Black as Pitch at Midnight’ and ‘Servant of God’ are the collection’s standout affairs, one a fun adventure, the other a good investigation. Of course, the quality of both scenarios is to be expected from their respective experienced authors, and this certainly does not mean that any of the other scenarios are bad. Tales of the Caribbean is an excellent first tour around the region, showcasing some entertaining scenarios and adventures for Call of Cthulhu, and with some seven hundred or islands still left unvisited, hopefully laying the path of for Tales of the Caribbean II.