On the tail of Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another Dungeon Master and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry.
The Grognard Files is a fanzine born of The Grognard Files, a North of England podcast dedicated to the games of the late seventies and early eighties, in particular, RuneQuest. It is available only to patrons of the podcast—or alternatively to attendees of Grogmeet a one-day convention in Manchester, again in the North of England. It is also put out just once a year. Published by The Armchair Adventurers, the The first issue, The Grognard Files – Annual 2017, is available as a ‘Pay What You Want’ PDF available to download with the proceeds of the sale of the fanzine will donated to continue the running of Yog-sothoth.com, the best site dedicated to Lovecraft and Lovecraftian investigative horror. More recent issues, The Grognard Files – Annual 2018 and The Grognard Files – Annual 2019 have sadly not followed suit, but for members of the ‘Grog Squad’ and attendees of Grogmeet, both issues continue to serve up thick, syrupy wodges of nostalgia and gaming inspired by their youths in the nineteen eighties.
It would seem remiss to be reviewing The Grognard Files – Annual 2019 in the summer of 2021 rather than more recent issue, but in truth, circumstances mean that there was no Grog Meet in 2020 and no The Grognard Files – Annual 2020 either. So The Grognard Files – Annual 2019 it is then. Previous issues have taken their design cue from gaming magazines of the nineteen eighties, White Dwarf being the most obvious. With The Grognard Files – Annual 2019, the design cue is taken from DragonLords, the British role-playing game fanzine published between 1980 and 1983. It thus moves The Grognard Files – Annual 2019 to a digest format rather than the magazine size of White Dwarf or Imagine and it comes crammed full of the type of content that middle-aged men that will shut themselves away with a cup of tea and wallow in the gaming years of their yesteryear before being asked to put the bins out/do the washing up/take one of their offspring to football, music lessons, and the like.
Opening with an editorial which highlights the role of fanzines in providing a community for gamers—they were the Internet before the Internet—The Grognard Files – Annual 2019 gets down to gaming goodness. It opens Neil Benson’s ‘OSR this, OSR that, but what is it?’, which provides an explanation of what the Old School Renaissance is and what it sets out to do. It points to the source for the Old School Renaissance, that is, early Dungeons & Dragons, and explains the key points of creating and playing in the movement. So simple, quick Player Character generation; freedom of play in terms of hexcrawls and sandcrawls, and the like; emphasises player agency in solving problems rather than relying on skill rolls, and so on. There are eight of these points, but Benson does not simply list them, but sets them out as a quest undertaken by an adventuring party to learn what the OSR. This makes the piece much more entertaining than a simple explanation of what the Old School Renaissance would otherwise have been. It includes a short list of sample retroclones and is accompanied by a thumbnail review of Chris Gonnerman’s Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, written by Shannon Ferguson.
A similar convention is used to explain what one of the oldest roleplaying games is. ‘A Bluffer’s Guide to Tékumel’ is actually written by me (and in truth, I had forgotten I had written the piece) and is presented as an in-game monologue delivered by a minor bureaucrat to a barbarian who knows nothing of the setting for Professor M.A.R. Barker’s Tékumel: Empire of the Petal Throne. It is all a bit knowing and po-faced, but provides a simple enough introduction.
The nostalgia in The Grognard Files – Annual 2019 begins in earnest with Cris Watkins’ ‘Games Master Immortality’. It is about bad, but funny memories of Player Character deaths brought about by the Game Master simply getting it wrong. Part-Game Master advice, part-hoary old war stories, such as over the course of a campaign driving the Player Characters so paranoid that when a new player turns up with a new character, their first reaction is to not trust the character and then turn on him when his player seems to confirm their suspicions. Yes, it is cruel, but at the same time funny, though ultimately best not necessarily implemented in a Game Master’s campaign as not every player may see the funny side.
The nostalgia continues with both Nick Edwards and Alan Gairey taking a look back at Judges Guild. First with Nick Edwards’ ‘The Guilded Age – Thoughts on Judges Guild’ which examines the delights of City State of the Invincible Overlord which forced him to create his own content, in the main a thief and crime-based campaign much like the Lankhmar setting of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser novels. Although the author would make further purchases of Judges Guild titles, and praises those that he likes, he has since returned to the City State of the Invincible Overlord for other campaigns and City State of the Invincible Overlord would also influence his preference in gaming for cities rather than dungeons! Alan Gairey also focuses on the one title from Judges Guild with ‘An Ode to Inferno: Abandon hope all ye that enter…’, which is the 1980 module, Inferno. This presented the first four circles of Hell as a challenging dungeon and the author ran it several times, each time nearly ending in the death of the whole party. The article comes to rather droll end, but is accompanied by a list of some of the other better titles published by the prolific Judges Guild, all of which in their way, would be worthy of articles such as these two. 
The feature piece in The Grognard Files – Annual 2019 is ‘Steel Hearts & Straight Razors’. Written by Roger Coe, this is a scenario for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, but not the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay of the nineteen eighties. Rather it is for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment. Almost thirty pages in length and thus almost half of the fanzine, ‘Steel Hearts & Straight Razors’ is a convoluted murder mystery and conspiracy thriller, involving guild rivalries, hair stylists, cultists, and ecumenical matters, all specifically designed to be set in the city or large town of the Game Master’s choice. It opens with a dangerous encounter chanced upon by the Player Characters between a blue glowing demon-man-thing and a poorly victim. The scene ends with both demon and victim dead, which leaves the Player Characters with a problem or two. The demon was once a man, so who was he? Who was the victim and what was the meaning of his dying words? Investigation will reveal more and more, perhaps initially with the Player Characters attempting to avoid the City Watch—especially if they happen to be carrying either of the corpses with them, then finding employment from a surprising quarter, and more. There is a fair bit going on in this scenario and the Player Characters will really need to dig deep to discover some the city’s secrets, but in true Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, their investigation will take them from lows of society to the heights and back again, revealing perfidious goings on. Although it does feel a bit crammed in, ‘Steel Hearts & Straight Razors’ is a gem of a scenario, offering lots of opportunity for combat, investigation, and roleplaying, adeptly hitting all of the signature notes you would want in a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay scenario, but without being location specific.
Sean Hillman gets systems specific with ‘A Short History of the Long Dice – The story of percentage based games’. It is more of an overview than anything else, too brief to provide any real insight. A better article might have explored more of the nuances between the various roleplaying games to have used percentile dice. Newt Newport details the history of his own company with ’10 Years of D101 Games’, the article sadly missing some text in true fanzine fashion, but nevertheless an enjoyable and informative piece. Perhaps it could have done with a bibliography, though that would have made it less personal.
The nostalgia continues with the memories of Niall Hunt and others of their gaming youth with ‘Gaming in the Shire’ and the founding and running of Evesham Roleplaying Association. There is a certain pleasure to be had here in reading reminiscences similar to your own—and of course those of The Grognard Files podcast files hosts—and of course, having them in print. Back in The Grognard Files – Annual 2018, ‘Keharr’ presented ‘Pendragon: City of Legions’, a fascinating exploration of his Pendragon PBEM set in the northwest of England. For this issue he provides not so much an update, but a sort of guide to running such a thing with ‘How to Fry your Fish-Fingers – Lessons learnt from running a Cheshire Pendragon Play By Email’. The advice is both applicable to Pendragon PBEM games and non- Pendragon PBEM games, such as taking disagreements offline, be clear about the rules, listen to your players, and much more. There are still some personal touches and it is clear from the article that the author and his players continue to enjoy running and playing the PBEM.
Lastly, ‘All That Glitters…’ by Jerry Nuckolls, compares and contrasts the two versions of the classic superhero roleplaying game, Golden Heroes, by Simon Burley and Peter Haines. One is their self-published version from 1982, the other the Games Workshop version from 1984. The review as such, does lack illustrations, barring a suitably fanzine-ish cartoon that has a sly dig at Games Workshop, but is a fascinating read because it is often forgotten that there even was a self-published version. What the article highlights is that the differences between the two are relatively minor. Which only goes to show how good the self-published version was that the authors and Games Workshop did not have to do a great deal to bring the version we know to print.
Physically, The Grognard Files – Annual 2019 has a rough quality to it, by design as much as by accident. It needs an edit here and there and feels alternatively cramped and overly spacious in places. It is lightly illustrated, but they are generally well handled, and the cartography for the scenario, ‘Steel Hearts & Straight Razors’, is excellent. Similarly, the wraparound cover from Russ Nicholson is superb.
As with previous issues, The Grognard Files – Annual 2019 delivers a good mix of nostalgia, opinion, and a little bit of gaming content. Indeed, pride of place goes to that gaming content, the scenario, ‘Steel Hearts & Straight Razors’, which is worth the price of the fanzine alone. It is a formula which The Armchair Adventurers have followed before—and it works. It would be fantastic to see this issue made available to the wider gaming hobby, perhaps for a decent cause much like The Grognard Files – Annual 2017, but in the meantime, The Grognard Files – Annual 2019 and further issues are bonus for supporting The Grognard Files podcast.

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. Another choice is the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.

Published by Straycouches Press, Crawl! is one such fanzine dedicated to the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Since Crawl! No. 1 was published in March, 2012 has not only provided ongoing support for the roleplaying game, but also been kept in print by Goodman Games. Now because of online printing sources like Lulu.com, it is no longer as difficult to keep fanzines from going out of print, so it is not that much of a surprise that issues of Crawl! remain in print. It is though, pleasing to see a publisher like Goodman Games support fan efforts like this fanzine by keeping them in print and selling them directly.

Where Crawl! No. 1 was something of a mixed bag, Crawl! #2 was a surprisingly focused, exploring the role of loot in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and describing various pieces of treasure and items of equipment that the Player Characters might find and use. Similarly, Crawl! #3 was just as focused, but the subject of its focus was magic rather than treasure. Unfortunately, the fact that a later printing of Crawl! No. 1 reprinted content from Crawl! #3 somewhat undermined the content and usefulness of Crawl! #3. Fortunately, Crawl! Issue Number Four was devoted to Yves Larochelle’s ‘The Tainted Forest Thorum’, a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game for characters of Fifth Level. Crawl! Issue V continued the run of themed issues, focusing on monsters, but ultimately to not always impressive effect, whilst Crawl! No. 6: Classic Class Collection presented some interesting versions of classic Dungeons & Dragons-style Classes for Dungeon Crawl Classics, though not enough of them. Crawl! Issue No. 7: Tips! Tricks! Traps! was a bit of bit of a medley issue, addressing a number of different aspects of dungeoneering and fantasy roleplaying, whilst Crawl! No. 8: Firearms! did a fine job of giving rules for guns and exploring how to use in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Crawl! No. 9: The Arwich Grinder provided a complete classic Character Funnel in Lovecraftian mode.
Published in August, 2014, Crawl! Number 10: New Class Options returns to the theme of the earlier Crawl! No. 6: Classic Class Collection, that of Class in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. One of the design cues for Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game is Basic Dungeons & Dragons in that it employs the ‘Race as Class’ option for its choice of character Classes, that the Dwarf, the Elf, and the Halfling are all Classes in their own right. This as opposed to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and later iterations of the world’s most popular roleplaying game which separated the two and allowed a player to combine the Race and Class of his choice. Such options are not present in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game though, and further, the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game is not a game which has presented such options. So there is no equivalent of the Player’s Handbook 2 or the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. The space left by such an omission—if omission it is—is exactly that into which fanzines and similar publications like Crawl! and in this case, Crawl! Number 10: New Class Options, can step.
In particular, Crawl! Number 10: New Class Options focuses on the Demi-Human Classes—the Dwarf, the Elf, and the Halfling. It provides new options to play each of these Races, but through a new Class. For the Dwarf, this is the Dwarven Priest by Jeffrey Tadlock. Primarily Lawful—though Chaotic and Neutral ones exist—this Class combines the abilities of the Dwarf, the Cleric, and the Warrior. The Class gains a deed die from Third Level and can perform a Mighty Deed of Arms, but also gains several spells known per Level. The other three new Classes are by Rev. Dak J. Ultimak. These start with the Elven Rogue which combines the magic of the Elf Class with the thiefing skills of the Thief, which are necessarily beholden to a Patron as the Elf normally is. Just like the Thief, the skill bonuses the Elven Rogue is determined by his Alignment—Lawful, Chaotic, or Neutral. The Halfling Burglar is given a similar set of tables as it moves the traditional Halfling of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game away from his martial bent and towards what is seen as the traditional role for the Halfling—or at least its traditional role for its inspiration. So the Halfling Burglar is thus more like the supposed role of Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit. Guidance is included in the descriptions of the Elven Rogue and the Halfling Burglar with the ‘My Thief, My Way’ from Crawl! No. 6: Classic Class Collection should a player want to modify which skills he wants his Rogue—Elf or Halfling—to have. The last Class in the fanzine is another Halfling Class which where the Halfling Burglar makes the Halfling be a Thief, makes the Halfling a Warrior! The Halfling Champion combines the Mighty Deed of Arms of the Warrior with Luck of the Halfling and adds to it the ability to wield the longsword, the Warhammer, and the heavy axe not in the one hand as per other Races because Halflings are tiny, but two-handed! This comes at a penalty to the Halfling Champion’s Initiative die, but nevertheless, the Halfling Champion is a doughty, fearless warrior ready to step forward* and protect his village.
* I would have written ‘ready to step up’, but that is Halflingist.
These four Classes are engaging and fun, offering new roleplaying opportunities. For example, playing a Halfling Champion would be wholly different to playing a Halfling. However, it would have been nice to have been given some information on who or what the Dwarven Priest typically worships, so the inclusion of a Patron or two would have been a nice inclusion. As well as offering new choices, the inclusion of the four Classes do something else, and that is push Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game further away from the baseline of Basic Dungeons & Dragons and more towards Advanced Dungeons & Dragons—though still a long way from getting there. Just as with any content in a fanzine, these four Classes are all optional, but their inclusion would be worth considering.
Just as there is no combining Race and Class in Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, there is no Multi-Classing either. ‘Half-Levels’ is Daniel J. Bishop’s solution to this, enabling a player to select a half-Level up to three times, each time choosing the equivalent of Zero Level in another Class. Then at subsequent Levels switch to the new Class. The mechanics feel just a little too complex to easily provide what the author is trying to do, but they include notes for all of the core Classes in the roleplaying game as well as those which appeared in the earlier Crawl! No. 6: Classic Class Collection, so ultimately the article covers a lot of choices whilst providing the player with even more options.
Colin Chapman’s ‘Not Just a Pretty Face’ provides a means for a player to create the random physical appearance for his character. It starts with a baseline for each Race and adds a Baseline followed by hair and eye colour, and so on. Lastly, the player can roll for a physical feature, whether negative, neutral, or positive. All very neat and simple, enabling the player to add colour and detail to his character’s appearance, and the Judge to do the same for her NPCs. Lastly, Noah Stevens casts a spotlight on three different third-party Races in ‘Three Weird Races’. Each is accompanied by a link, whether a blog or DrivethruRPG.com. Potentially useful at the time of the issue’s publication, but ultimately more filler than useful.
Physically, Crawl! Number 10: New Class Options is decently done, a clean and tidy affair. The artwork—done by Mario T—is a lot of fun and really captures the feel of the four new Classes in particular. 
Crawl! Number 10: New Class Options is very serviceable issue. The high points of the issue are the four new Classes, which expand the play of Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game with new options and new roleplaying potential. Whether or not the Judge or her players want to expand their game and thus move away from the core of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game is their choice, but the options are there.

 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 Secret of SilcestrePublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Andy Miller

Setting: Dark Ages WessexProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Fifty-two page, 38.35 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: There be dwarves in them thar hills—and they be evil. Evil, I tell ye!Plot Hook: What secrets and treasures lie in Silchestre’s Roman past?Plot Support: Detailed plot, three good handouts, eight maps, seven NPCs, three Mythos entities, one Mythos tome, and four pre-generated Investigators. Production Values: Decent.
Pros
# Multiple set-ups for the scenario# Solid support for Dark Ages: Cthulhu# Decent quartet of pre-generated Investigators# Multi-factional treasure hunt# Roleplaying opportunities for negotiating with the factions# Could be adapted to other periods and settings, but not easily# Potential campaign set-up
Cons
# Requires a fair degree of set-up and exposition# All male pre-generated Investigators
Conclusion
# A treasure hunt in Merry Olde Englande# Take the treasure themselves, give it to a nickname and have juicy thoughts about making it yours, promise it to another faction. Ultimately, the outcome is down to the players.# Good support for Dark Ages: Cthulhu

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.

—oOo—


Name: Broken Arrow: ChernobylPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Chad Briggs

Setting: 1990s Ukraine
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Seventeen page, 5.93 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: In the new wild west of post-Soviet era someone has mosied out of town with a nuclear warhead!Plot Hook: One of their bombs is missing!Plot Support: Detailed plot, six handouts, one NPC, one Mythos monster, and six pre-generated Investigators (separate).Production Values: Plain.
Pros
# Interesting use of the historical background# A chase into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone# Suitable as a one-shot or convention scenario# Decent background information# Easy to adapt to Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game
Cons
# Requires a good edit# Linear plot
# Mythos threat underdeveloped
Conclusion
# Best suited as a Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game scenario# Interesting background and setting# Linear and underdeveloped

 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.

—oOo—
Name: The Mad PriestPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Marco Carrer

Setting: Dark Ages Iceland using Cthulhu Through The Ages and Mythic Iceland
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Ten page, 792.80 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A plague upon their crops, a plague upon their animals, what madness has come upon the village?Plot Hook: The price of hospitality can lead to horror.Plot Support: Plot outline, one handout, two NPCs, two Mythos monsters, and five pre-generated Investigators.Production Values: Plain.
Pros
# Short, one-session one-shot or convention scenario# Support for Cthulhu Through The Ages, Mythic Iceland, and Cthulhu Dark Ages# Best to fit the scenario to Investigators’ village
Cons
# No Sanity losses for failure# Underdeveloped plot 
# Needs an edit# Needs development
Conclusion
# Compact scenario waiting for a Keeper’s input# Support for Cthulhu Through The Ages, Mythic Iceland, and Cthulhu Dark Ages

 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.

—oOo—
Name: A Shrieking VioletPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Jacob Parker

Setting: Jazz Age Chicago
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Nineteen page, 14.40.95 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A husband’s body on the cobbles, his wife, a curse, and Chicago gangland.Plot Hook: The detectives’ first nosedive just ain’t right.Plot Support: Plot, three handouts, some Mythos monsters, and four pre-generated Investigators.Production Values: Uneven.
Pros
# Chicago detectives, not Chicago mob# Short, one-shot investigative plot# Easy to set in other time periods# Decent pre-generated ‘actual’ Investigators# Scope to expand the scenario with the mob and the cops on its payroll
Cons
# Requires an edit# Plain handouts
# No illustration of the scenario’s MacGuffin# Connection between plot and climax unclear
Conclusion
# Scope for expansion, but plotting unclear# Needs some development by the Keeper before play

 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.

—oOo—


Name: The Great TrapPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Heinrich D. Moore

Setting: Jazz Age Chicago
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Sixty-six page, 18.39 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: What were the  Investigators doing thirty years ago and don’t know about?Plot Hook: A letter from their past reveals an unknown future.Plot Support: Highly detailed plot, seventeen good handouts, one map, three NPCs, four Mythos tomes, three Mythos entities, and six pre-generated Investigators.Production Values: Fulsome.
Pros
# Time travel and quantum mechanics—fun for the whole party# Fitting choice of Mythos elements# Surprisingly experienced pre-generated Investigators # Death is not the end, merely a change# Straightforward plot with a complex conclusion# Even the chase tracking sheet is themed!# Could be run using Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos# No, Gary Gygax has not been born yet, but neither is this Castles Forlorn—though it is close...  
Cons
# Pre-generated Investigators too powerful? (Keeper’s Discretion)# Non-Public Domain artwork scrappy# Straightforward plot with a complex conclusion# Keeper needs a better grasp of multi-temporal causality than a concussed bee
Conclusion
# Complexity to the scenario’s potential outcomes means it needs care study and preparation# Science Fiction Horror# To infinity, and beyond!

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 WarningPublisher: 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?

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: Michigan Mythos: Fall ColorsPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Charles Dunwoody

Setting: 1930s Michigan for Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-six page, 3.38 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: When more than the leaves fall in the autumn...Plot Hook: Who can say why a Civilian Conservation Corps team is off-colour?Plot Support: Detailed plot, four good handouts, eight maps, four NPCs, one Mythos monster, and one gadget.Production Values: Reasonable.
Pros
# Suitable as a one-shot or convention scenario# Three incalcitrant NPCs# Straightforward plot# Easily adjusted back to Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition# Pleasingly strong emphasis on the five senses
Cons
# Requires an edit# Slightly odd layout
# Underwhelming investigation
Conclusion
# Colourful employment of all five senses# Straightforward scenario

  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 Drooler in the DarkPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Michael LaBossiere

Setting: Anywhere with shoes, sex (potentially), and mobile phones (optional)
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Six-page, 262.23 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Sometimes your partner’s dog really does hate you.Plot Hook: Love and Labradors don’t mix Plot Support: Plot set-up, six random behaviour tables, and a demonic dog.Production Values: Reasonable.
Pros
# Brings the Mythos (or is it?) into an investigator’s love life# Enlivens an Investigator’s life away from deadly confrontations with the Mythos# Lots of roleplaying potential# Lots of embarrassing situations for a single investigator# Easily adapted to other settings and periods# Pets are evil?
Cons
# Requires a slight edit# Requires a fair degree of set-up beforehand
# Pets are evil?# Or is the Keeper being evil to the Investigator?
Conclusion
# Keeper merriment with a malign mutt at an Investigator’s expense# Can you say Cynophobia? I bet you can! Go on, there’s a good boy.

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 Oxford ArticlesPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: David Wright

Setting: 1950s Oxford
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Fifty-eight page, 61.95 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Missing books amongst Oxford’s dreaming spiresPlot Hook: Missing books and arson, could they be connected?Plot Support: Highly detailed plot, eight good handouts, eight maps, seven NPCs, one Mythos monster, and six pre-generated Investigators.Production Values: Fulsome.
Pros
# Good use of the historical background and city# Richly detailed investigative plot# Cluedo-like floor plans# Compact scenario in terms of time and setting# Could be adapted to the Jazz Age or Cthulhu by Gaslight# Scope for a sequel?
Cons
# Requires a strong edit# Too richly detailed investigative plot?
# Mythos threat underwhelming?# The Dreamlands rather than Yog-Sothoth?# Oxford and no J.R.R. Tolkien?
Conclusion
# Oxford Bibliophilia noir# Mythos may not fit the feel or nature of the scenario# Compact, but thoroughly detailed (perhaps overly so) investigation

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: Storm From A TeacupPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Royce Wilson

Setting: Prohibition Era New England or the North West
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-five page, 3.03 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: What happens when the high life comes from a cuppa...?Plot Hook: Is there something in the tea?Plot Support: Detailed plot, six good handouts, two maps, and eight NPCs. Production Values: Good.
Pros
# Good use of the historical background# Solid investigative plot# Underplayed sense of violence (which could be overplayed)# Works as a one-shot or a convention scenario# Mythos pleasingly underplayed# Scope for a sequel with another cult?# Scope for links to Innsmouth?# Could be adapted for use with Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos
Cons
# Requires a slight edit# More maps would have helped
# Some handouts underdeveloped
Conclusion
# Decent little investigation# Mythos pleasingly underplayed# Madness in a teacup

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 Evil on the East RiverPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Ryan Graham Theobalds

Setting: Jazz Age New York
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-one page, 5.26 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Extracurricular activity puts the Investigators on another path.Plot Hook: What extras will an opportunity for extra credit lead to?Plot Support: Detailed plot, three good handouts, two maps, ten NPCs, Mythos tome, one spell, and four pre-generated Investigators. Production Values: Good.
Pros
# Potential addition to the New York chapter of Masks of Nyarlathotep: Dark Schemes Herald the End of the World# Good addition to a Harlem Unbound campaign# Strong historical background# Decent quartet of pre-generated African American Investigators# One very surprising NPC# Fantastic shipboard fight# Could be adapted to other periods and settings, but not easily# Desperate race to stop disaster# Action-orientated adventure (suitable for Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos?)
Cons
# Requires a slight edit# Adult in tone# More maps would have helped
# Research links poorly developed# Action-orientated adventure# Adult tone means it is unsuitable as a convention scenario
Conclusion
# Action-orientated adventure# From debauchery to disaster, a desperate race to stop a madman# Fantastic shipboard fight

 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: Pop Goes the WeaselPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Chris Stewart

Setting: Miskatonic University in the SeventiesProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-three page, 1.67 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: One day the computer will rule all our lives.Plot Hook: The opportunity to be present at the dawn of a new computer age...Plot Support: Detailed plot, seven good handouts, five NPCs, one Mythos tome, one Mythos entity, and six pre-generated Investigators. Production Values: Decent.
Pros
# Little explored period for Call of Cthulhu# Suitable as a one-shot or convention scenario# A plot that is almost, and thus suitably, programmed# Inserts the Mythos into the digital dawn# Graphic design fits the seventies  # Helpful goal achievements listed at the end of each act# Potential Delta Green links?# Enjoyable period piece
Cons
# Requires a slight edit# Layout incomplete# Villain underwritten
# Link to the Mythos tome for the Investigators unclear# Mythos tome left undetailed# Technical aspects make it less adaptable to other periods
Conclusion
# Enjoyable technical period piece # Nicely different one-shot or convention # Villain and Mythos tome need some development

 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: Horror at the Westmore MotelPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Leopoldo Rueda

Setting: Early Eighties New England
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-eight page, 8.29 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Missing Mother MysteryPlot Hook: Alice’s mother is missingPlot Support: Detailed plot, three handouts, three NPCs, one Mythos tome, one spell, and three pre-generated Investigators. Production Values: Reasonable.
Pros
# Little explored period for Call of Cthulhu# Suitable as a one-shot or convention scenario# Strong emotional impact for one pre-generated Investigator# Interesting roleplaying challenge in negotiating with the Mythos# Appendix details options for using it as part of an existing campaign
Cons
# Requires a strong edit# Needs a spell check# Plotting is quite direct
# Sanity losses underwhelming given their potential emotional impact# Uninspiring maps# Lacks maps where it counts# Emotional impact all on one pre-generated Investigator# Emotionally influenced Sanity losses underwhelming
Conclusion
# Requires a strong edit# Might work better as a one-on-one scenario?# Directed  plot which focuses too much on one pre-generated Investigator

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: AutopsyPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: G.A. Patrick

Setting: Shaw University, Jazz Age New England
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-five page, 12.89 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Extracurricular activity puts the Investigators on another path.Plot Hook: What extras will an opportunity for extra credit lead to?Plot Support: Detailed plot, twelve good handouts, seven NPCs, two Mythos tomes, one spell, and three pre-generated Investigators. Production Values: Decent.
Pros
# Better suited for experienced players of Call of Cthulhu# Suitable as a one-shot or first part of a very dark campaign# Delightfully vile NPCs the Keeper can sink her roleplaying teeth into# Strong ‘film-like’ plot pulls the Investigators into the Mythos# Some fraternities are eternal# Easily adapted to other periods and settings# Constantly pushes and prods the Investigators# Could be relocated at a horridly dour boarding school# Well done handouts# School for Ghoul(s)?
Cons
# Requires a strong edit# Adult in tone# More maps would have helped
# Needs a stronger overview# Not suitable for inexperienced players of Call of Cthulhu# Adult tone means it is unsuitable as a convention scenario
Conclusion
# Requires a strong edit# Strong plot with some horrifying fun NPCs and great clues# Enjoyably different introduction to the horrors of the Mythos

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 Colour of MoneyPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Sean F. Smith

Setting: Modern day, Essex, England
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Eight page, 1.41 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Right of possession in a numismatic mysteryPlot Hook: An undocumented Merovingian coin can’t be in that good a condition, can it?Plot Support: Detailed plot outline, one NPC. Production Values: Plain.
Pros
# Short one-session scenario# Straightforward plot # Suitable for one or two Investigators# Easily adaptable to other time frames# Solid little investigation
Cons
# Requires a slight edit# Keeper will need to add colour to the NPCs and town
# Villain motivation undeveloped
Conclusion
# Decent, modern small scale investigation # Villain motivation undeveloped

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: Bootleg Whiskey, Liquor, Champagne & WinePublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: C.M. Arnold

Setting: Gangland New England
Product: One-shot scenario or part one of a campaign
What You Get: Thirty-eight page, 23.88 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The Color of WhiskyPlot Hook: Pulled back in for one last job...Plot Support: Detailed plot, three decent handouts, six NPCs, one Mythos monster, and four pre-generated Investigators. Production Values: Reasonable.
Pros
# Gangland bloodbath# Suitable as a one-shot or first part of a campaign, ‘The American Empire Saga’# Nicely flawed pre-generated Investigators# Horrible dream sequences# Possible sequel to ‘The Colour Out of Space’# Intriguing campaign set-up and antagonist
Cons
# Requires a strong edit# Plotting not always clear
# Similar theme to (but not exactly like) ‘Blackwater Creek’ from the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Screen Pack# Odd mix of Mythos elements in places
Conclusion
# Requires a strong edit# Plotting not always clear# Gangland bloodbath# Punchy, physical investigation which suits the gangland setting

Cantaloop is likely not something that you will have heard of—and there is a good reason for this. Published by Lookout Games, a publisher of board games rather than roleplaying games, Cantaloop has caught the attention of the board game hobby rather than the roleplaying hobby, despite the fact that Cantaloop is not a board game. In fact, Cantaloop—or rather Cantaloop – Book 1: Breaking into Prison—is a solo adventure, part of the Lookout Games’ Paper Point ‘N’ Click line. The name of the line should give a clue as to the inspiration for the line, that is classic ‘point and click’ computer adventure mystery games, such as Myst, Monkey Island, and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. The designer has taken that inspiration and instead of producing a ‘point and click’ computer adventure game, he has given it a physical form, for Cantaloop – Book 1: Breaking into Prison comes as an eye-catching landscape format folder with a mugshot of the adventure’s protagonist on the front. Inside, the player will find a complete adventure consisting of twenty locations, a double-sided poster which serves as the player’s Inventory, a deck of sixty Item cards, a post card, a trigger sheet, and last, but not least, a decoder! Now this decoder is needed because much of the text is obscured and needs to be viewed through the decoder, which is a transparent piece of red plastic. Place the decoder over the text and it becomes clear! Roleplaying game fans of a certain age will remember TSR, Inc. using a similar mechanic for the adventures MV1 Midnight on Dagger Alley for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and IJ4 The Golden Godden Goddess for The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game back in the nineteen eighties.

The set-up for Cantaloop – Book 1: Breaking into Prison is simple. ‘Hook’ Carpenter is a charismatic and resourceful crook, who ten years ago was forced to flee Cantaloop Island and hide out in Switzerland—as detailed in the free to play Cantaloop – Book 0: The Prequel—and now he is back for revenge! For that though, he needs a team, starting with a Hacker and a ‘Lady in Red’. The Hacker is the problem though, because the best Hacker in town is in prison. However, this is not going to the determined and ever resourceful ‘Hook’ Carpenter. He is going to find a way to break into Cantaloop Island’s prison, bust the Hacker out, and help bring his plan to fruition.

Cantaloop – Book 1: Breaking into Prison is designed to be played by a player aged sixteen and above—some of the narrative’s humour is slightly adult in tone, though not risqué—and can be completed in about five hours or so. There is nothing to stop more players getting involved and working together to help ‘Hook’ in his plan, but really, more than two players and playing Cantaloop – Book 1: Breaking into Prison is going to get crowded. Better for the players to work through it and then lend their copy to the third (and fourth) player to enjoy.

The game opens with a seven-page tutorial explaining what the components to Cantaloop – Book 1: Breaking into Prison do and how the adventure is played. The majority of the book consists of twenty locations, beginning with the lighthouse and eventually ending with—well, lets not spoil that. Each location is given a two-page spread. On the righthand side is an illustration of the location complete with an indication of possible exits and various objects and items which the player as ‘Hook’ Carpenter can examine and interact with. On the lefthand side is a block of obscured text. At the start of the game, the player only has two items, the equivalent of a Nokia 3310 mobile phone and a magnifying glass. These have code fragments down their sides. When the player aligns one of these with the code fragment of an object in the scene it will generate a full four-digit code which can be referenced in the obscured text on the left. Alternatively, two item cards can be aligned to generate another four-digit code which can be referenced with an entry on the double-sided Inventory poster.

When revealed, whether from the Inventory poster or the location, the text might instruct the player to take more items which will help ‘Hook’ in his plan, give access to another location, and more, though sometimes it will just be warnings to the player to not cheat or just nonsense. Certain codes will instruct the player to cross off particular numbers on the Trigger Sheet, which will unlock other areas of the story, whilst other will open up scenes where the player can read the dialogue between ‘Hook’ and another character. Other codes reveal secrets and jokes—none of which are mentioned elsewhere in the game, but are worth finding if the player can.

Just like the ‘point and click’ computer adventure games which inspired it, Cantaloop – Book 1: Breaking into Prison is built around a lot of puzzles. Many of these are quite challenging and when a player manages to solve them, he deserves to feel a sense of achievement. Some of them feel impossible or oddly out of left field though, but when the player really gets stuck, there is a lengthy help section at the back of the folder. Containing more obscured text of course…

Physically, Cantaloop – Book 1: Breaking into Prison is problematic. The storage for the cards—three different pockets is a bit tight, but the main issue is that the paper quality for the pages is poor. The paper is too thin to really withstand much more than the gentlest of handling or be torn from the ring binder. It would have been nice if the decoder had been mounted in a holder for ease of use also, and depending upon the player, the text may be too small to read with ease. However, the artwork is excellent and has a great cartoon feel to it. Lastly, it should be noted that Cantaloop – Book 1: Breaking into Prison is part of a trilogy, so there will be another two parts before ‘Hook’ Carpenter has his revenge.

Cantaloop – Book 1: Breaking into Prison is an incredible piece of design because it successfully translates the digital style of the ‘point and click’ computer adventure game a la Lucas Arts into an analogue format, bringing with it a strong sense of silly, often cheesy humour. Cantaloop – Book 1: Breaking into Prison is a lot of fun to play and it is not difficult to imagine the exploits of ‘Hook’ Carpenter as a cartoon with soundtrack akin to Mission: Impossible which you can hum along to as you play.

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.