Miskatonic Monday #401: Attack of the Brain Bats!

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: Attack of the Brain Bats!

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Tod Miller

Setting: Vermont, 1920s

Product: One-shot
What You Get: Thirty-Three page, 16.98 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: For the Investigators it is going to be a ‘Picnic in Hell’!

Plot Hook: “Like a bat out of hell

Oh, like a bat out of hell

Oh, like a bat out of hell

Oh, like a bat out of hell (I’ll be gone when the morning comes)

Like a bat out of hell (I’ll be gone when the morning comes)

Like a bat out of hell (ooh, ooh)”

—Bat Out of Hell, Jim Steinman

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

Production Values: Good

Pros

# Open-ended invasion from space scenario

# Easy to adapt to other nations and time periods

# Has a fifties in the twenties feel
# Easy to prepare, but player-led with no set outcome

# Hylophobia

# Kinemortophobia

# Chiroptophobia

Cons

# Batty
# Has a fifties in the twenties feel

Conclusion

# Entertainingly batty tale of invasion and zombification

# “We’re going a space-bat hunt!”

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends

Miskatonic Monday #398: Up on the Rooftop

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: Up on the Rooftop

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: James Cross

Setting: Vermont, 2018

Product: One-shot
What You Get: Forty-eight page, 9.69 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: For every child, there is a Christmas when they lose their innocence

Plot Hook: Christmas holiday becomes Christmas horror, Christmas cheer become Christmas fear

Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, six NPCs, ten handouts, two maps, one Mythos tome, four Mythos spells, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# Nicely detailed cinematic horror scenario

# Includes advice for convention and campaign play

# Builds from creepy to whiteout worriment (and worse)
# Pleasingly unsettling cover

# Teraphobia

# Clausophobia

# Tarandophobia

Cons

# Can include the death of a child

Conclusion

# Well done, holiday horror that adds a new twist on an old staple

# Ruins Christmas for Floridians everywhere

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends