Miskatonic Monday #112: At One With Nature

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: At One With Nature

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Graham James

Setting: Jazz Age Scotland

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twent-six page, 5.01 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Horror comes home to the Highlands

Plot Hook: Holiday in the Highlands leads to horrifying revelations close to home
Plot Support: Staging advice, seven NPCs, six handouts, and three pre-generated Investigators.

Production Values: Vibrant.

Pros

# Scenario for Shadows Over Scotland: Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying in 1920s’ Scotland
# Strong roleplaying advice throughout

# Bucolic clash between morality and duty 

# Good mix of interaction and investigation

# Part of RPG Writer Workshop Summer 2021 Call of Cthulhu Vol. 1

Cons

# Horridly vibrant background

# Needs an edit

# No guidance on using scenario in a campaign
# No maps
# Undeveloped pre-generated Investigators pulls it back from being a fully rounded one-shot

Conclusion

# Scottish set scenario strong on roleplaying, interaction, and investigation against a macabre, grotesque clash between morality and duty

Miskatonic Monday #111: A Night at Darkbank

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: A Night at Darkbank

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Andy Miller

Setting: New Mexico, 1879

Product: Scenario for Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos in the Old West
What You Get: Twenty-four page, 14.72 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The hunt for an outlaw turns outlandish as the criminal turns up a curse!

Plot Hook: Classic posse hunts wanted man.
Plot Support: Staging advice, three maps, two NPCs, one monster, five NPC portraits, and one pre-generated Investigator.

Production Values: Adequate.

Pros

# Scenario for Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos
# Short one-player, one-session one-shot
# Solidly done background and context

# Easy to add to a campaign

# Creepy atmosphere

Cons

# Written for one investigator or multiple investigators?

# No advice for running with multiple investigators?

Conclusion

# Straightforward posse hunt turns strange in a serviceably scary scenario inspired by Adventures into the Unknown #13

Miskatonic Monday #110: Horror in the Highlands

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: Horror in the Highlands

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: David Wright

Setting: Jazz Age Scotland

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Forty-four page, 51.22 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Madness and murder beset the Mackintosh Clan on Moy

Plot Hook: Bottling of a new

whisky is disturbed by dark dreams made real

Plot Support: Staging advice, thirteen NPCs, ten handouts, elven maps, one illustration, one monster, six Mythos tomes and books, two spells, and six pre-generated Investigators.

Production Values: Decent.

Pros

# Scenario for Shadows Over Scotland: Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying in 1920s’ Scotland?
# Scottish Gaelic folkloric horror

# Decently done background

# Pleasingly ordinary pre-generated Investigators

# Solidly Scottish one-shot

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Some handouts have Mythos rules

# No guidance on using scenario in a campaign
# Classic ‘unstoppable monster unless you find the solution’ set-up

Conclusion

# Engagingly Scottish murder, mayhem, and monster one-shot showdown in the highlands

# Solidly written up background and support

Miskatonic Monday #109: Operation Foxglove

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: Operation Foxglove

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Chad Briggs

Setting: Norway, 1944

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-three page, 9.561 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Nightmare in Norway

Plot Hook: The mission or the monster?
Plot Support: Staging advice, eight pre-generated Investigators, 

two handouts, three maps, multiple NPCs, and a non-Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Adequate.

Pros

# World War (non) Cthulhu
# Solid bibliography

# Straightforward plot

# Potential convention scenario

# Folkloric foe

# Possible adaptation to Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos?

# Part of the RPG Writer Workshop Summer 2021 Call of Cthulhu Vol. 1

Cons

# World War (non) Cthulhu

# Underwritten pre-generated Investigators

# Action and combat orientated

# Faceless NPCs

# No real investigation

Conclusion

# Action and combat focused scenario with a simple plot: Trollhunter with Nazis versus SOE

Miskatonic Monday #108: The Hounds of Salem

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 Hounds of Salem

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Anthony L. Wolf

Setting: Jazz Age Lovecraft Country

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Fifty-Three page, 9.21 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: What drives the moral to act immorally?

Plot Hook: Missing Mythos missives
Plot Support: Staging advice, two Mythos tomes, one spell, one map, three floorplans, two handouts, two Mythos monsters, and four pre-generated Investigators.

Production Values: Reasonable.

Pros

# Miskatonic University scenario
# Easily adapted to other periods

# Straightforward, but decent  investigation

Cons

# Underwhelming and unsympathetic villain motivation

# Too much Cthulhu Mythos reward

# Salem description undeveloped

# Odd title versus new Mythos creature, why not a Hound of Tindalos?

Conclusion

# Potentially too deadly an encounter for straight students rather than a mix group of Investigators 

# Decent investigation clashes with underwhelming and unsympathetic villain

Miskatonic Monday #107: Nightmare in the Sanitarium

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: Nightmare in the Sanitarium

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Rudy Peverada

Setting: An asylum

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Elven page, 3.61 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: An Escape Room meets Murder in the Dark

Plot Hook: Can you escape the asylum?
Plot Support: Staging advice, two floorplans, some NPCs, and some Night-Gaunts.

Production Values: Adequate.

Pros

# Murder in the dark one-shot
# Nice cover

Cons

# Murder in the dark

# Sanitarium as a reverse dungeon

# No investigation
# No background

# No plot

# No pre-generated Player Characters

# Devoid of roleplaying potential as written

# The Player Characters have ‘special powers’

# Choice of ‘special powers’ limited to three

# Cuts the Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition rules down unnecessarily for brevity 

Conclusion

# Murder in the Dark combined with an Escape Room set in a sanitarium, reverse dungeon-style.

# Potentially mildly interesting set-up undone by a lack of plot, background, or pre-generated Player Characters, leaving the Keeper to develop the roleplaying possibilities they would provide.

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.

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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!