Friday Fantasy: The Magonium Mine Murders

‘Trouble down mine’ is the least of the problems facing the Player Characters in The Magonium Mine Murders, a scenario which details the many plots and mysteries that have beset the settlements of the Halbeck Valley. The kingdom in which the Halbeck Valley sits is moderately wealthy with an awareness of magic that sees it put to war in the long running conflict with the neighbouring barbarian tribes. The government is notoriously corrupt, its nobles and politicians accepting bribes and when not corrupt, likely incompetent. The war is unpopular, more so since conscript was instituted. Those workers dubbed essential are not subject to the draft and wear a magical token to indicate their exemption. This includes the workers at the mine in the Halbeck Valley where magonium ore, a rare mineral with magical properties important to the war, is dug out of the ground. Prisoners captured from the barbarian tribes are also made to work in the mines. There are reports of deaths in the mines, but the money that the actual miners are making from the extra demand for magonium has made them relatively wealthy and they are spending it in the taverns and brothel that have sprung to cater for them in a nearby village, turning it into a ‘new’ town, much to the annoyance of the villagers. There are rumours too, of bandits attacking travellers in the valley, and there is very much likely to be more than this going on, but now, there is news that Reith Alba, boss of the mine, has been found dead with a crossbow bolt in her back!

The Magonium Mine Murders is a scenario published by Gonzo History Project, better known as James Holloway, the host of the Monster Man podcast. It written for use with Old School Essentials, Necrotic Gnome’s interpretation and redesign of the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Stephen M. Marsh. Designed to be played by a party of Second to Third Level Player Characters—up to Fourth Level—it is what the author calls a ‘Cluebox’. What this really means is that it combines elements of a murder mystery with a sandbox, so a “sandbox-style murder-mystery scenario” according to the author. The scenario requires some set-up in terms of the setting, primarily the two warring kingdoms and the importance of a magical ore and its associated industrialisation. Beyond that, the plots—of which the scenario has a total of seven—are easily adaptable. For example, The Magonium Mine Murders could be run in a Science Fiction or a Wild West setting with some retheming and some renaming, or the scenario could just simply be adapted to the fantasy roleplaying game of the Game Master’s choice.

Part of that is due to the easy presentation of the content. Two pages labelled ‘What’s Going on’ sum up the scenario’s many, varied, and highly interconnected plots, followed by pages that provide detailed summaries of the Halbeck Valley, the two towns—the old and the new, the mining camp, the mine itself, and more. The information is really very well organised and accessible for the Game Master. The starting point for the scenario is the page actually called ‘Getting Started’, which offers several hooks to pull the Player Characters into its plots. These include investigating Magonium poisoning in the river, infiltrating a gambling ring, delving into the mine to determine the cause of a recent spate of accidents, and even do some debt collection! Any one of these can be used as the initial hook and then the others introduced as necessary when the Player Characters interact with the associated NPCs. Alternatively, the hooks could be tailored to specific character types. For example, a Druid Player Character could be asked to investigate the Magonium polluting the river, a Thief Player Character instructed to collect the debt, a Dwarf Fighter hired to investigate the mine, and so on. This would provide the players and their characters with more individual hooks and motivations. Of course, the main hook for the scenario is the murder of the head of the mine.

The murder site is the office of the head of the mine and is one of the few detailed locations in the scenario. The others include the ruined temple where the bandits stash their loot and some caverns under the under the mine, though the former is not as pertinent to the scenario’s plots as the latter is. The investigation is supported by a series of events that occur over the course of the investigation and by details of some fifteen NPCs. Their descriptions are thumbnail in nature and include details of what they know and any activities or reasons that the Player Characters might become suspicious of them. Each is also accompanied by a portrait. These vary in quality and style, but in general suggest that the scenario is set during the Industrial Revolution. This is followed by rules for Magonium poisoning, handling the prize fights being run in the New Town, a bestiary with full stats for the NPCs, and the various items, magical and otherwise, to be found in the scenario. The rules for handling prize fights do not add anything mechanical, even though Old School Essentials and similar retroclones are poor at handling unarmed combat. (As an option, the Game Master might want to look at Brancalonia – SpaghettiFantasy Setting Book for its non-lethal combat rules.) Rather, they add narrative detail and track the course of the prize fights—which are, of course, rigged.

Rounding out The Magonium Mine Murders is advice on running the scenario, necessary, as the author points out, since the scenario is not a natural fit to Dungeons & Dragons-style adventures with its heavy emphasis on investigation. The advice primarily consists of letting the players drive the investigation, relying upon their descriptions of what their characters are doing rather than on dice rolls and being generous with the clues to keep the story and their investigation going. This even extends to possible solutions to the various situations in the Halbeck Valley. Although there is a solution as to who committed the murder of the mine chief, how the other plotlines in the scenario are concluded is really up to the Player Characters and that is even if they engage with a particular plotline. With so many, the Player Characters may not encounter all of them and even if they do, not always follow up on them.

Overall, what The Magonium Mine Murders presents is a set of plots, places, and NPCs that the Game Master can present to her players and their characters and have them pull and push on them as they like. In places though, the Game Master is likely going to wish that there were more detail. The towns in particular are underwritten and feel as if they are in need of colour, especially New Town, which has the rough and tumble feel of a frontier town that has struck it rich. The Game Master is going to want to add some incidental NPCs and events to add colour and flavour and so enforce a sense of place. This is less of an issue in the Old Town. Similarly, the NPC descriptions are a bit tight and with so many of them, the Game Master, will need to work hard to make them stand out from each other. What this means is that the Game Master will need to do development work in addition to the usual preparation effort.

Physically, The Magonium Mine Murders is decently presented and organised. Both artwork and cartography are serviceable, and the writing is decent, if terse in places. The format of the adventure is fanzine style, but is not fanzine in the traditional sense.

The Magonium Mine Murders is an interesting attempt to combine a sandbox with a murder mystery—and it is an attempt that does work. The Game Master is certainly given enough information to run it and its numerous plots from the page, but the scenario is underwritten and lacks colour in places. What this means is that the Game Master is probably going to want to develop and flesh out some aspects of the scenario to enhance its roleplaying aspects and make it come alive, at the very least. Despite possessing a tendency toward succinctness, The Magonium Mine Murders packs a lot of play into its pages and is likely to be a decent, player-driven investigation.

Friday Fantasy: Terror in the Streets

Terror in the Streets is perhaps one of the most mundane scenarios written for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay in recent times. In fact, there is nothing outré, weird, or even profane in the scenario, that is, unless the Game Master decides that is what she wants it to include. In which case, the scenario provides options to add aplenty. Otherwise, the Game Master could run it simply as a straight historical scenario and her players would be none the wiser that it is written for a fantasy roleplaying game with a certain reputation. Similarly, the author of Terror in the Streets breaks his track record of doing bad things with typically big things inspired by his childhood toys to English villages in the 1630s. Instead, he shifts the action to Paris and sets it against the background of the city’s political and religious turmoil as the Player Characters are hired to investigate the disappearances of a number of children from across the city. Yet despite that mundanity, Terror in the Streets is a terrific scenario, rich in historical detail background—decent enough to serve as the backdrop for further adventures in the city during the seventeenth century—and rife with real and interesting historical figures for the Player Characters to interact with, including the greatest and most powerful political figure of his age. However, Terror in the Streets suffers from a truly terrible problem of its own, one that can be almost, but not quite completely, be blamed upon the author. It cannot, though, be forgiven.

Terror in the Streets is published by Lamentations ofthe Flame Princess and fulfils a brief that was given to the author as, “Jack the Ripper, but 250 years early.” It is a murder mystery—inspired by historical events of thirty years before, the ‘Werewolf of Châlons’—involving the disappearances and then deaths of initially, four children from the streets of Paris. It is quickly followed by more as the rate of disappearances and deaths accelerates, driving the Player Characters to investigate ever deeper in an attempt to stop further murders and whatever it is that the murderer is planning. Clearly, Paris has a serial killer stalking its streets and alleyways, one who like Jack the Ripper did in London two-hundred-and-fifty-years later, taunts the authorities with a series of letters that hint at his motivations. Ostensibly, the Player Characters are hired by a Deputy Provost, one of several city officials reporting to the Provost of Paris, the king’s representative and governor of the city, though other set-ups are possible. The adventure opens on November 7th, 1630, and will be over by November 18th. The Player Characters have the freedom of the city to investigate as they like, first the deaths and then the letters. Similarly, the players are free to approach the investigation how they want and the scenario facilitates that with a very clean layout that makes everything easy to find by the Game Master and by not having the players roll for their characters to find clues. Instead, the focus is on interpreting them and using them to further the investigation and the story.

However, there is one issue that will hamper the Player Characters’ investigation—Paris. Getting around Paris is difficult, a city just two square miles, but threaded through with narrow streets and alleyways that makes getting anywhere slow and occasionally difficult, and this despite the fact that there are numerous taxi services that run throughout the city. Then there are the Parisians, who will grow increasingly fractious and give themselves over to mob rule, which will ultimately lead to city offices closing, Paris being shut down, and martial law being declared. This tension is measured through an ‘Unrest Die’, a large—ideally, the largest that the Game Master has—six-sided die which sits in the middle of the table where the players can see it. As the tension rises, the Game Master will adjust the die to the new face indicating the increase in tension. Thus, the players will be aware of the tension in both narrative terms, as portrayed by the Game Master, and in mechanical terms. It is, as the author acknowledges, very similar to the ‘Escalation Die’ used to track the degree of action in Pelgrane Press’ 13th Age.

The investigation is neatly organised into tautly detailed little scenes that are clearly presented on the page making each and every easy for the Game Master to run and expound upon as necessary. The smaller scenes are typically with the families of the missing children and thus pertinent to the exploration, whilst the longer, more detailed scenes and locations tend to be red herrings—a potential werewolf attack and the search of a townhouse belonging to the wizard, Alain de la Mare.* Much like the rest of the scenario, these scenes can be played mundane or magical. Thus, for the encounter with the werewolf if magic factors into the campaign, this yes, it is werewolf, but if the campaign is mundane, then the werewolf is a fake. The Author does give advice on the Player Character use of spells to gain information, in case they decide to go down that route. Ultimately, the efforts of the Player Characters’ investigation will reveal that Armand Jean du Plessis, First Duke of Richelieu, also known as Cardinal Richelieu, is connected to the murders, but how? There is potential at the end of the scenario for the Player Characters to actually gain a degree of influence over the most powerful man in France, for good or ill. They could actually change history here if the ‘Day of the Dupes’ does not end in the way it did in our history! That said, apart from these scant few hours when the Player Characters can leverage their knowledge into a proper favour, Cardinal Richelieu is described as constantly playing fourth dimensional Chess and will always be a step or three in front of whatever they have cooked up.

* Yes, this really is who you think it is meant to be. Just not living in Northampton.

The scenario is very well appointed and the Game Master ably supported. Besides the description and map of Paris, there are full stats and details of Cardinal Richelieu, details of the various taxi companies operating in the city, and a full discussion of the possible outcomes to the scenario.

There are also the various letters sent by the perpetrators as handouts, rare in a fantasy roleplaying game, and a table of encounters. For the most part, there are no stats provided for these, so the Game Master will need to provide these herself.

Lastly, Terror in the Streets closes with a quintet of appendices. The first, ‘La Perfide Angleterre’ provides an optional event involving an English spymaster who wants the Player Characters to smuggle a ring out from a prisoner currently being held in the Grand Châlet, which is also the headquarters of the Provost of Paris. The English spymaster simply calls himself ‘W’, so could be Sir Francis Walsingham as the appendix suggests. Which is odd, because Walsingham has been dead for forty years when the scenario starts. The second appendix gives a full description of the Grand Châlet, whilst the third is potentially the most fun. ‘Musketeers’ gives stats and details of the main characters from Alexander Dumas’ The Three Musketeers for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay and thus other retroclones. It opens up the possibility of Terror in the Streets being as a one-shot as an investigation in the style of The Three Musketeers using the given characters, but it also suggests that Terror in the Streets could be run using other roleplaying games set in the swashbuckling period, such as Musketeers vs. Cthulhu: A Simple Nightfall RPGBook, AllFor One: Régime Diabolique, Swordpoint: A Swashbuckling Roleplaying Zine, and Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 1: Roleplaying in 1648 France, though the scenario will require some historical adjustment as it is set in 1648 rather than 1630. The fourth appendix, ‘Comment t’appelles-tu?’ provides a list of ready names for NPCs in the scenario, whilst the firth appendix, ‘Maison Richelieu’, which describes the home of Cardinal Richelieu, should the Player Characters ever need to visit (or break in).

Physically, Terror in the Streets is very well presented. The artwork has a slightly scratchy, cartoonish quality to it, but is still decent, and the cartography is good.

So, what of its utterly awful problem? Terror in the Streets—beginning with the acronym for its title—contains a profusion of puns and bad humour that in places does not so much veer as leer into slightly poor taste. To be clear, this is no Asterion or Beware the Mindfuck, so not utterly tasteless, but the schoolboy humour and dad jokes of Terror in the Streets gets wearisome very quickly. That said, in comparison to both Asterion and Beware the Mindfuck, let there be no doubt that Terror in the Streets is a work of profound genius and skill.

Humour aside—and there is a lot to put aside—Terror in the Streets is a very good scenario, an engaging murder mystery with lots of historical flavour and detail and options to run with or without magic, depending on how fantastical the Game Master’s campaign actually is. The scenario is well written, well presented, and well, one of the best scenarios for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay.

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DISCLAIMER: The author of this review is an editor who has edited titles for Lamentations of the Flame Princess on a freelance basis. He was not involved in the production of this book and his connection to both publisher and author has no bearing on the resulting review.

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Lamentations of the Flame Princess will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2025.

The Other OSR—Slow Sleigh to Plankton Downs

On the glacier moon of Myung’s Misstep, perpetually enshrouded in ice and snowstorms, the Player Characters have been contracted to transport and guard a locked box from Out of Order, the site of the moon’s still not functioning space elevator to the water-farm town of Plankton Downs. The safest means of travel is aboard a low-bodied hovercraft fitted with a heat spike it can use to anchor itself when a severe storm strikes. The Player Characters are booked aboard the Nantucket Sleigh Ride, one of these vessels with an adequate record in terms of punctuality, safety, and comfort. If the Player Characters are expecting a thoroughly uninteresting journey, then they are going to be disappointed. Amidst all of the colonial cyborgs, Martian nuns, alien tourists, and macrame owls aboard, a body is found missing its head! Then another one! And the way they died, their heads are all mangled... Could a monster out of galactic myth be stalking the halls and cabins of the Nantucket Sleigh Ride?

This is the set-up for Slow Sleigh to Plankton Downs, a scenario for Troika!, the Science Fantasy roleplaying game of baroque weirdness published by the Melsonian Arts Council. It is a whodunnit in the mode of Murder on the Orient Express or ‘Robots of Death’ for classic Doctor Who, but here infused with a sense of the weird or the unknown a la the episode ‘Squeeze’ from The X-Files. With the crew ill-suited to conducting anything beyond attempting to implement security measures, it falls to the Player Characters to conduct the investigation. To that end, the Game Master is provided with a break-down of the scenario’s plot and a detailed description of the antagonist and its motives. In addition to the isometric-style cutaway deck plans of the Nantucket Sleigh Ride, the Game Master is given stats and details for the passengers and crew aboard the vessel. All twenty-five crew are named, whereas only a handful of the twenty-one Martian Orthodox nuns, twenty-four water farmers—including children, twelve ice-miners, and four glaciology graduates are treated in similar fashion. Fortunately, a set of tables inside the back cover can be used to determine names, precoccupations, and distinctive features for any of these NPCs. There is also a weather table, mostly containing weather events which will delay the journey of the Nantucket Sleigh Ride even further, giving more time for the murderer aboard to strike again…

In addition, Slow Sleigh to Plankton Downs also includes seven new Backgrounds that can be used describe some of the passengers aboard the Nantucket Sleigh Ride or future NPCs, as well as possible replacement Player Characters, should one of their number fall victim to the murderer aboard the vessel. The new Backgrounds do include the suitably weird, such as Astropithecus Truckensis, a colonial cyborg of Old Mars attended by an Interpreter Parrot and several Martian Rhesus Macaques as attendants or Macramé Owl, which defies explanation. Others are prosaic and are related directly to the setting of the scenario, such as Ice Miner, Misstep Monastic, and Scud Miller.

Physically, Slow Sleigh to Plankton Downs is presented in a swathe of vibrant, gauche colours. It needs a slight edit in places—one of the tables is mislabelled in particular, but is otherwise engagingly written. The art is excellent, having a distinctly European feel to it. The deck plans of Nantucket Sleigh Ride are also decently done and are accompanied with detailed descriptions of each deck and location.

Slow Sleigh to Plankton Downs can primarily be run in one of two ways. As a one-shot, it makes for a weird whodunnit on a strange world for Troika! set in a classic closed environment as the murderer picks its victims off one-by-one. As part of a campaign, it is a short interlude between other adventures or a reason perhaps to get the Player Characters to Plankton Downs. Whatever that reason—and the Game Master will need to devise that, just as if necessary, she will ned to decide what is contained in the locked box the Player Characters have been contracted to transport. This might be the element that ties the scenario into a campaign. Whatever way it is used, Slow Sleigh to Plankton Downs should provide a session’s worth of murder investigation, perhaps two at the very most!

Slow Sleigh to Plankton Downs is short, combining elements of both scenario and toolbox. The brevity of the writing means that there is a lot of room in the scenario for the Game Master to improvise and make the scenario her own. However, the scenario has a lot of atmosphere, a sense of rundown drudgery and people going about their daily job or just waiting for the journey to end so that their lives can continue. Overall, Slow Sleigh to Plankton Downs is a lovely little book which provides the means to stage a weird, claustrophobic whodunnit that can be played through in an evening and ideally on a cold and wintery one at that.

Friday Fantasy: In a Deadly Fashion

Word and rumour are spreading across the whole of Europe. Miucci Carnivo is the greatest fashion designer of his age, his clothes and outfits in high demand not only in his home city of Seville, but across the whole of Spain and beyond. The dress he has fashioned for the Countess Serena de Reya for her wedding is said to have cost eighteen thousand gold pieces and taken him three months to make. He is never short of clients with deep pockets ready to purchase his latest designs, and he himself has become a wealthy man. Yet, his private life is a matter of debate and it is rumoured that strange men and women come to his house at night on a regular basis. Then there is the matter of his greatest rival, Francisco Alcon, found slaughtered in his home. Is Miucci Carnivo connected to his death, and if so, then how? These rumours have even reached his ears and he is worried—though these are not his only concerns. The dress he has designed for Countess Serena de Reya has gone missing and several of his customers have also turned up dead. All of which could affect his business, if not ruin his good name. Thus, he hires the Player Characters to investigate all of this, and he is prepared to pay handsomely—which should be enough to pique their interest and get them involved!

This is the set-up for In a Deadly Fashion, a murder mystery and mystery scenario for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay. Like other scenarios published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess it is set in the game’s default early Modern Period. Specifically, in Seville, Spain, so it would work well with several of the other publisher’s titles or equally easily adapted to the retroclone of the Game Master’s choice. Yet by its very nature, the scenario is easily adaptable to other roleplaying games set in the same period, such as Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, or even a time travel roleplaying game such as Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space! The scenario is not without its issues though, primarily due to its historical setting, which means that it involves religious bigotry. The scenario does not involve it directly in its story line, but it is present by implication. Further, the scenario involves a cult and some of the activities its members engage in are both listed and illustrated—the latter not explicitly, but it is clear what is happening. It is entirely up to the Game Master and her players how they want to deal with this aspect in play, but it is easy easy to draw a veil over this if necessary.

Whether hired by Carnivo, the government, a relative of one of the victims, or simply greedy enough to take an interest in some very valuable items of clothing, In a Deadly Fashion is easy to set-up and run. As Carnivo, the Game Master quickly points the Player Characters in the direction of the four avenues of investigation—the homes of Countess Serena de Reya, the two customers who died, and the rival tailor. Each of these has their own section in the book, which detail the locations, NPCs, clues, and so on, to be found there. The investigation itself is detailed, but limited. There are few if any clues beyond these locations, but if the Player Characters do come unstuck and are unable to progress any further, an NPC is provided who can point them in the right direction. There is also the equivalent of the local Catholic police who might be interested too, and could be helpful to the Player Characters, leading to an encounter with a bishop with a laconic and oddly elliptical manner.

Ultimately, the clues should lead back on themselves and point towards Miucci Carnivo as being the culprit—rather his clothes! For reasons unknown, they have taken on a life of their own and conducting a series of murderous acts. The scenario should ideally come to head as the Player Characters return to Carnivo’s mansion with all of its nouveau riche fripperies to confront him, only to find a cult party in full swing and the discovery of the missing dress before it animates and attacks! This is intended to be creepy, even unnerving, and should be a good set-piece with which to end the scenario.

In a Deadly Fashion is not a scenario which needs much in the way of maps. However, its one map, that of Carnivo’s mansion, is oddly placed, nowhere near the descriptions of its locations towards the back of the book. Nor is the actual plot presented in a fashion that makes it easy to read and use by the Game Master. The finale, or at least the aftermath, of the scenario is underwritten, as is the description of Seville. Of course, that makes the scenario easy to adapt elsewhere to the city of the Game Master’s choice, but if that is not an option, she will still needed to conduct some research on seventeenth century Spain and Seville. Even a page of information would have been useful, since it is rare for any scenario to be set there, let alone one for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay. There is though, decent advice on running a murder mystery and on running one in which the Player Characters are equipped with magic.

Physically, In a Deadly Fashion is a very presentable, if slim hardback. The writing is clear and easy to grasp, much of it little more than bullet points, such that a Game Master can prepare the scenario quickly and easily. The map is more pretty than serviceable, whilst the artwork is excellent, done in dense, rich palette of colours.

In a Deadly Fashion is easy to read and quick to prepare, and can be run more or less from the page. It is a solid murder mystery which should provide two or three session’s worth of creepy, horrific play.

Miskatonic Monday #102: The Dragon of Wantley

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 Dragon of Wantley

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: SR Sellens

Setting: Jazz Age North Yorkshire (sans Jazz).

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Fifty-Two page, 17.57 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: What evil hides behind an elopement?

Plot Hook: How far will the cultists and Investigators go in determining the aims of the cult?

Plot Support: Straightforward plot, staging advice for the Keeper, two maps, thirteen handouts, ten detailed NPCs, one Mythos tome, one ballad, and five pre-generated Investigators.

Production Values: Decent.

Pros

# Ferroequinology

# Superb cover

# Lambton Worm-like scenario grounded in classic English folklore

# Decent background introduction to England

# Excellently done handouts and photographs

# Gentility hides a nasty little plot

# Nobility hides a dark secret

# Huge potential to disastrously break Yorkshire (a bit) 

# Roleplaying opportunities amongst the manners and mores the English Class system

# Can be run as part of Day of the Beast, Masks of Nyarlathotep, or Tatters of the King

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Mummies feel like a red herring

# Underdeveloped in places

# Needs an area map

# No hooks for Day of the Beast, Masks of Nyarlathotep, or Tatters of the King
# Huge potential to disastrously break Yorkshire (a bit) 

Conclusion

# Nicely supported scenario which twists classic English folklore

# Plenty of roleplaying opportunities amongst the manners and mores of the English Class system as the Investigators winkle out a dark secret.

Miskatonic Monday #101: The Dilemma in the Desert

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 Dilemma in the Desert

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Ryan Graham Theobalds

Setting: The Desperate Decade, Death Valley.

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-Seven page, 49.63 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Death, distrust, and derangement in Death valley.

Plot Hook: How far will the cultists and Investigators go in determining the aims of the cult?

Plot Support: Detailed plot strands, staging advice for the Keeper, two maps, five handouts, six detailed NPCs, one avatar, and four pre-generated Investigators.

Production Values: Decent.

Pros

# Desert-bound one-shot

# Initiates or Investigators, Investigators or Initiates?

# Interesting real world location, Scotty’s Castle

# Potential for paranoia

# Potential campaign starter

# Potential link to Cult of Starry Wisdom

# Decent handouts and photographs

# Investigators could become cultist NPCs in a campaign

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Maps upside down versus the photographs

# Plot strands not clearly explained before they occur

# Mythos mish-mash
# Floorplans left unmarked and undescribed

# Weird cult initiation to murder mystery plot and back again

# Crucial antagonist’s ultimate aim included as an aside

# Crucial Investigator/Player decision decided by a die roll 

Conclusion

# Possible played through background for cultists in a campaign?

# Oddly plotted and often initially underexplained murder mystery/cult initiation where ultimately, the dilemma of whether or not to turn to the Mythos is out of the players and their Investigators’ hands.

Murder or Mythos?

A year ago, in the small town of Milo, Maine, thirty-year-old Alicia Thorne left Redd’s Bar and Grille after a few quiet drinks with casual friends. She never got home. The local police department investigated, but neither found her body or signs of a struggle. The number one suspect was, and remains today, her partner, Ben Facet. Public opinion then—and now—was that he kidnapped and murdered her. After all, he is known to be a recluse who collects strange books and manuscripts, who dresses in strange costumes, and practices all manner of sorcery and witchcraft. Who knows what goes on in the basement of the house that he shared with the missing woman? This is the background against which the Player Characters return to the town of Milo to celebrate their ten-year high school reunion. Everyone has an opinion upon what happened to Alicia, especially many of the women who attended high school with her and so will be at the reunion. The question is, what happened to Alicia, and did her partner, Ben, have anything to do with it?

This is the set-up for Whatever Happened to AliciaThorne?, a short scenario set in the modern day just north of Lovecraft Country for Callof Cthulhu, Seven Edition. Published by Stygian Fox, it can be played as a one-shot or as a campaign starter, and although there is advice on running the scenario as part of a campaign with more traditional Call of Cthulhu Investigators, Whatever Happened to Alicia Thorne? is not really suitable for use in such a campaign. Ideally, the players will create new characters, in general with relatively ordinary Occupations and develop some background as to who they knew at high school and what they have been doing for the decade since they graduated. This will come into play during the first part of the scenario. 

Whatever Happened to Alicia Thorne? is divided into two parts with an interlude in between. The first sees the Player Characters attend the reunion, an enthusiastic, if slightly down-at-heel affair. There is lots of scope here for interaction and roleplaying here—all to the music of the Player Characters’ youth, played very loud—with their former classmates, all of whom have their own backstories and post-school histories for the Player Characters to catch up with, as well as opinions of what happened to their former classmate, Alicia. With drinks flowing, the conversation is easy and the other guests share their histories and opinions freely, without the need for the players and their characters to roll Charm or Persuade skill checks. As the event winds down, the Player Characters have a chance to reflect and consider what they have learned over the course of the evening over a nightcap. This forms the scenario’s interlude between the two parts of the scenario.

The Player Characters become Investigators in the second half when they begin making enquiries into the disappearance of Alicia Thorne, themselves. Milo is a small town and Whatever Happened to Alicia Thorne? is a small scenario, so there are only a few places for the Investigators to look for clues—her family, her workplace, her last known sighting, and of course, her home. This also means investigating her partner, Ben. Whatever the police might say, both clues and local opinion point towards his involvement in his partner’s disappearance. 

When the Investigators do discover what has happened to Alicia, it is doubly shocking. Being a Call of Cthulhu scenario, Whatever Happened to Alicia Thorne? does involve the Mythos and being set in New England may suggest possibilities to veteran players of the roleplaying game and devotees of Mythos fiction. However, the other reason for its shock value is that the scenario does involve suicide. The scenario does carry a content warning, so a Keeper should be aware of this beforehand, and she should be aware of whether this would be a difficult issue for her players. An alternative option is included if neither the Keeper nor her players want to include this aspect in the scenario. 

Physically, Whatever Happened to Alicia Thorne? is a short—just eighteen pages long—scenario. The thirteenth entry in Stygian Fox’s series of Patreon releases, it is well presented and well written. In fact, it is a huge improvement upon other entries in the series in terms of its presentation, and hopefully future releases will maintain this standard. 

Whatever Happened to Alicia Thorne? is a surprisingly flexible scenario. It could easily be adapted to the Jazz Age of classic Call of Cthulhu or even the Purple Age of Cthulhu by Gaslight, but as written it would be easier to run at any time after World War II. Similarly, it is easy to shift in terms of location, with  somewhere near the coast being ideal. Designed to be played by between two and six Investigators, it can also be used as a campaign starter, a one-shot, a one-on-one scenario for a Keeper and single Investigator, and even as a convention scenario given its length. That said, if running it as a convention scenario, the Keeper will need to be up front about its themes. Whatever Happened to Alicia Thorne? would also work as a first scenario to introduce players to the Mythos and Call of Cthulhu, Seven Edition, again taking its mature aspects into account. 

As written there are no issues or problems with Whatever Happened to Alicia Thorne? It could though, have supported its flexibility with advice and suggestions for the Keeper. Whether that is moving it to a different time frame, running it for one player, or as a convention scenario. Some hooks to get each of the players and their characters involved would also have been useful too, not necessarily to Milo where their characters grew up, but to Alicia and her partner, Ben. This would not necessarily replace whatever details and background the players are encouraged to create and roleplay, but at least help if a player is short on ideas or the Keeper is preparing some pre-generated Player Characters. 

Whatever Happened to Alicia Thorne? is a solid, straightforward investigative one-shot with plenty of scope for roleplaying and interaction. Plotted more like a movie mystery with a horrifying revelation and shock ending, Whatever Happened to Alicia Thorne? is an excellent scenario to run for those new to the Mythos and Call of Cthulhu. Veteran players may well be just a little too jaded.

 

Friday Fantasy: Lady Trevant’s Bones

Lady Trevant’s Bones is an adventure for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Published by Critical Kit, it is designed for a party of four to five Player Characters of Sixth Level and is intended to be played in a single session, either as a one-shot or as part of an ongoing campaign. It involves two warring factions of Elves, a peace summit, an ancient tomb, hallowed ground, and a dread necromancer. The scenario involves some interaction, but primarily emphasises combat and exploration.

Lady Trevant’s Bones takes place on Orphan’s Bay at the far reaches the Cantorus Dynasty, the default setting for many of the adventures from Critical Kit. Here the leaders of two long feuding nations of Elves, the underworld dwelling Evershades and the maritime Midnight Banner, both descended from the same sea-faring Sea Elves that split roughly four thousand years ago, have come together at the Perigee Summit in light of terrible news. A necromancer and Moonshade exile, T’Zraam, has broken into the tomb of Lady Trevant, the first leader of the Evershades, and is probably going to try and raise her from the dead and in doing so, take command of the Evershades Elves. Unfortunately, neither participant at the Perigee Summit can send anyone into the tomb after T’Zraam, as both the Evershades and the Midnight Banner regard her tomb as hallowed ground. Thus outsiders are needed… Enter the Player Characters.

Several reasons explain why the Player Characters have come to Orphan’s Bay and the Perigee Summit are suggested. The best and strongest simply has them deliver a sealed letter to the summit containing proof that a captured spy was not sent by either nation of Elves. This gets the Player Characters to the summit, proves their bona fides, and it makes a possible scene with the spy a whole lot easier to work into the scenario. The other suggestions, such as investigating the disappearance of the spy, wanting to look for treasure, and so on, are nowhere near as detailed as the first option, and consequently, will leave the Dungeon Master with more work to develop them and involve the Player Characters. The only issue with the involvement of the spy is that his surname is ‘Burgess’. (Fortunately, there is no MacClean.)

If the Player Characters agree to enter the tomb, they are quickly ushered to the mouth of a cave on the shore. This is the entrance to the tomb of Lady Trevant. The whole complex consists of eight locations. The first five of these consist of damp caves hung with spider’s webs and infested with spiders, and the Player Characters will have to fully explore most of these to progress to the tomb beyond. There is a simple puzzle to solve, the Player Characters having been given the means to solve it before entering the caves, and this will require them to back track a little. Once this is solved, they can descend to the tomb itself where they will encounter the first of several undead, including a multi-trunked elephantoid undead! Inside the tomb itself, the Player Characters will confront T’Zraam as the necromancer conducts the ritual to raise Lady Trevant from the dead. This should be a fairly tough fight given the encounter that the Player Characters will have had outside the tomb beforehand.

In addition to the scenario, Lady Trevant’s Bones provides the Dungeon Master with the stats for T’Zraam, three new monsters, three new magic items, and background on both the Evershades and the Midnight Banner. The latter is accompanied by a timeline for Orphan’s Bay and broaden the details known about the region. The monsters are in keeping with the setting—almost evergreen Evershade Zombies which keep coming back and may be tough to finally put down and Moonspiders, denizens of the caves who appear not to eat Elves… The treasures are good too, The Bracelet of Cardinal Points being perfect for any nautical campaign and a Spirit Box in which a ghost can be locked. Plus there is a nice bit weirdness to be found in Lady Trevant’s tomb as well.

Physically, Lady Trevant’s Bones is decently done, but it needs a further edit and the maps could have benefited from a direction compass. The full colour artwork is excellent and the Dungeon Master should certainly use it to show her players as necessary.

Lady Trevant’s Bones does need a little more development. It is not clear what happens if T’Zraam manages to raise her and if so, what does she come back as. Similarly, what happens if the Player Characters fail? Both are left to the Dungeon Master to determine.

Its short length means that Lady Trevant’s Bones is more of a mini-scenario, one that can very easily be completed in a single session or evening’s worth of play. It has a stronger emphasis on combat and exploration than roleplaying, so may well be better for some groups than others and it does leave some information for the Dungeon master to answer herself. Nevertheless, its brevity and its simplicity in terms of set-up does mean that it would be relatively add to a Dungeon Master’s campaign. All it needs is two feuding factions of Elves, whether that is High, Wood, Drow, or other.

Overall, Lady Trevant’s Bones is decent combat focused scenario for mid-Level characters which with a little effort slots easily into a campaign.

Friday Fantasy: Macdeath

Macdeath is an adventure for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Published by Critical Kit, it is designed for a party of four to five Player Characters of low- to mid-Level and is intended to be played in a single session, either as a one-shot or as part of an ongoing campaign. It involves a theatre troupe, a fairy circle, a performance, and a murder! Whilst self-contained, it would be easy to adapt Macdeath to the setting of the Dungeon Master’s choice, so long as the setting involves the fae and fairy-kind. Most fantasy roleplaying settings—especially for Dungeons & Dragons—feature this, but the Ravenloft setting would be particularly appropriate, as would any with a Renaissance feel. However it is used, Macdeath is fairly straightforward and involves a mix of investigation and interaction, with almost no combat.

The adventure revolves around the Orb Theatre Troupe, which in recent years has become renowned for its highly entertaining theatrical productions. This is due to the prolific output of the troupe’s founder and bard, Willard Rattlesword. Both his fame and that of the troupe have even spread beyond the Material Plane and so Titania, Queen of the Summer Court has commissioned Rattlesward to write a play and have the troupe give her and her entourage a command performance. This is due to take place in Whimsel Grove, a demiplane half way between the Material Plane and the Emerald Plane. Unfortunately, things do not go as planned. The Queen and her companions arrive, but are disappointed to find not the troupe’s lead actor, Penrod Peppin, performing the lead role in that evening’s performance, but his understudy, Ned Hackett! Worse, not only is Ned’s performance wooden and stilted, when they are directed to find out where Penrod Peppin has got to between acts in the hope that he can come back and save the play, the Player Characters discover him dead in his trailer! Even worse than that, Penrod Peppin has been murdered!! And even worse than that, when the faerie queene discovers that the performance is going to be cancelled, she still demands an entertainment—find out who killed Penrod Peppin, find how Penrod Peppin was killed, and why Penrod Peppin was killed. Then present her with a trial at her court!

Macdeath is thus a murdery mystery play set at that most classic of locations—it could only be more classic if it was set at a country mansion—a theatre. The Player Characters must search the locations, question the witnesses and suspects, gather the evidence, and form a hypothesis, and present it to Queen Titania. With just a cast of just six suspects, eight locations, and a handful of clues, this is not a very difficult mystery to solve, and to be fair it is not meant to be. This scenario is meant to be played in a single session or evening, which means that everything, including the murder should be wrapped up within that time. Short though, does not mean that it is not entertaining. The cast are sufficiently detailed and along with the members of the troupe, the Dungeon Master is given a handful of pixies, rarebits, will-o’-wisps, and dryads to play, the latter able to give clues and nudges as necessary. These veer very much into the whimsical and should be fun to roleplay.

Much like a Shakespearian play that Macdeath is a ‘play’ upon, the scenario is a three act play and the Player Characters are very much doing different things in each one. In the first, they are performing the first of act of the play, which itself is called Macdeath; in the second, they are investigating the murder; and in the third, they are presenting the evidence at the trial. It is also both a locked room murder—the victim’s trailer is locked, and a locked room investigation and trial. Or rather, a locked Whimsel Grove murder and a locked Whimsel Grove investigation and trial. The Player Characters have to perform the play, investigate, and litigate all within the limits of the Emerald Plane.

The scenario is supported with full NPC descriptions, though not necessarily with full stats as they are not intended for combat, details of the Emerald Plane and its various fairie denizens, as well as fae gifts that Queen Titania can hand out, the best being a Bag o’ Cats, from which a cat can be drawn at random and to stay, it must tell a secret. There are several good handouts too, including the full four-page script for the first act of the play.

Physically, Macdeath is decently done. It needs an edit here and there, but the artwork is excellent. The handouts are decent too.

Macdeath—and to be clear, it has nothing to do with The Tragedy of McDeath for Warhammer Fantasy Battle—does have a problem, and that is in its set-up. It requires the Player Characters to be actors and performers, part of the Orb Theatre Troupe. This may not sit well with every player or indeed every Class, and it also means that it might be harder to set up and use, especially in an existing campaign. This may make it difficult to run. That said, there are Classes which would work well with this set-up. The Bard obviously, but also any Class which relies on Charisma. Unfortunately, Macdeath does not support either set-up, so no real advice on using existing Player Characters or pre-generated Player Characters for use when it is run as a one-shot. A good Dungeon Master should be able to come up with either though.

The short length of Macdeath means that it does not outstay its welcome, keeping its plot fairly simple and mixing in plenty of whimsy along the way, so that it has the feel of a television series murder mystery, though of course with magic and fantasy flavour. Overall, Macdeath is an enjoyable different scenario, emphasising and showcasing the interaction and investigation aspects of Dungeons & Dragons, and in the process, the roleplaying too.

Miskatonic Monday #44: Akhenaten Unveiled

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: Akhenaten Unveiled

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: James Austin
Setting: Ancient Egypt (Cthulhu Invictus)
Product: Scenario
What You Get: 38.56 MB, thirty-five-page full colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: ‘Death on the Nile’

Plot Hook: King Amenhotep IV rejected the Egyptian gods. You have been assigned to assassinate him.
Plot Development: A perilous trip down the Nile leads to party town, strange magic, and ‘The King is dead! Long live the King!’
Plot Support: Glossary, twelve NPCs and monsters, its own Appendix N, two handouts, one spell, and six pregenerated investigators.

 Pros
# Intriguing plot
# Cthulhu Invictus one-s+hot
# Set in Ancient Egypt
# Physical puzzles
# Cthulhu Invictus meets Stargate

Cons
# Cthulhu Invictus meets Stargate
# Pregenerated Investigators lack motivation
# Assassination set-ups needs development 
# Non-Mythos scenario

Conclusion
# Feels underdeveloped in places
# Physical puzzles
# Original, but non-Mythos plot