Madness at Miskatonic: a 1920s mini-campaign PDF download

[RPG Plotter]

For those who may be interested in a short, 4-session Call of Cthulhu campaign set at Miskatonic University, may I present
*cue music*
MADNESS AT MISKATONIC....

The Investigators are freshmen enrolled in an esoteric subject. Think Donna Tartt's The Secret History meets traditional The Thing on the Doorstep. It's more investigative and mood driven over adventuring and monster fighting, an attempt at a traditional Lovecraftian tale if you will.

I've uploaded the PDF (40 pages in all) to my blog and would welcome any thoughts or feedback, particularly from those who have had a shot at running it. I ran the campaign with my gaming group a little while ago (so it is play tested). It's presented it the way I'd like to see campaign notes so it doesn't have a lot of guidance for when Keepers should call for dice rolls or much by way of stats (I almost always do this on the fly). So that said, it's probably not suited to first time gamemasters which probably makes me a bad person...

I imagine it would work best as a self-contained thingy or the set up for a longer Miskantoic/Arkham based campaign.

Anyways, here's the link:

http://rpgplotter.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/madness-at-miskatonic/

[Afraid of the dark]

Ooooh, that looks good. Another reason for me to lay out on a printer and upgrade my PC. I'll be looking at that in depth when I get one. It's great that you've taken the time to put all that effort into it, and to make it freely available. It is genuinely appreciated by many, who I'm sure will also reply.

[WiseWolf]

At first glance it looks really good. Congratulations for creating this. I will see when can I read it.

As an important note, the scenario "maps" you created, I believe, should be included on every scenario published; this is a great idea. They help the keeper not to lose track of where the investigation stand and what should be provided to the players.

[Carnacki]

The layout and handouts are gorgeous. Very professional.

Did you get a chance to playtest it? I didn't see anything in your blog.

[Badger]

This looks better than a lot monographs Chaosium has published (and some of their more recent books, for that matter)! Have you considered submitting this to them?

-=badger

[RPG Plotter]

Ooooh, that looks good. Another reason for me to lay out on a printer and upgrade my PC. I'll be looking at that in depth when I get one.

Thanks! Do drop me a line about how it goes.

As an important note, the scenario "maps" you created, I believe, should be included on every scenario published; this is a great idea. They help the keeper not to lose track of where the investigation stand and what should be provided to the players.

I agree entirely. I also used an old copy of the Arkham map from Chaosium. Didn't include it in the PDF of course, copyright and all that :P

Did you get a chance to playtest it? I didn't see anything in your blog.

Yes. Just the once with my gaming group as I was writing it. I made some tweaks and changes based off that experience, particularly to the final session.

This looks better than a lot monographs Chaosium has published (and some of their more recent books, for that matter)! Have you considered submitting this to them?

Thanks! Coincidentally my copy of their monograph, 'Farewell, My Sanity' arrived in the post the other day. It's meant to be excellent but I was struck with how basic the layout was. It's an interesting idea though. Maybe I should drop them a line. I do wonder if they will allow it to remain up online under Creative Commons though?

[WiseWolf]

I meant the scenario clues or scenes maps, but the others are also good.

[chicklewis]

Looks just wonderful ! You should be proud of your hard work and creativity.

[Daria]

*yoink*

Always looking for shorter adventures. Thank you. (:

I'll be certain to post feedback after we play it.

Edit: Got to echo the layout and presentation of the PDF look amazing. If I didn't know this was fan made I would swear it was a professional source book.

[StuartB]

Kudos, RPG Plotter! This looks excellent. Nicely done!

Technical question: what software did you use to produce this? InDesign? Photoshop? Other? You've certainly got the skillz!

[RPG Plotter]

Thanks all for the kind words, it's much appreciated.

Technical question: what software did you use to produce this? InDesign? Photoshop? Other? You've certainly got the skillz!

I should admit though I did work as a graphic designer many years ago... I used InDesign to layout the PDF and for many of the hand outs with some judicious Illustrator and Photoshoping in there for the artwork. There are some great Creative Commons and public domain things out there on the interewebs that can be used as textures and images particularly with handouts.

As I say in the introduction to the campaign it was the HPL Historical Society guys who really encouraged me to lift my game in making my handouts more evocative.

[Badger]

Thanks! Coincidentally my copy of their monograph, 'Farewell, My Sanity' arrived in the post the other day. It's meant to be excellent but I was struck with how basic the layout was. It's an interesting idea though. Maybe I should drop them a line. I do wonder if they will allow it to remain up online under Creative Commons though?

Honestly? Probably not.

-=b

[christian]

Thanks! Coincidentally my copy of their monograph, 'Farewell, My Sanity' arrived in the post the other day. It's meant to be excellent but I was struck with how basic the layout was. It's an interesting idea though. Maybe I should drop them a line. I do wonder if they will allow it to remain up online under Creative Commons though?

My two cents? DON'T! For Gods' sake don't.
The monograph line, in my not so humble opinion, is a good idea done wrong and gone wrong. By debasing completely the idea of what a publisher, an editor, is and does, by putting the Chaosium logo on everything that was sent their way without editorial work on it, Chaosium have killed that idea, and lessened their image.

A publisher who publishes anything that comes his way is not a publisher.

And so quite good collections of scenarios are mixed with awful awful stuff. As there is no editorial work, no or very few reviews, people will tend to give the whole monograph idea a wide berth after having received, one too many times, very bad material.

You seem to have done a great job, I would gladly give you some money to help you on other projects or thank you for this one. Don't use a third party that cheapens what you do. Put a paypal button on your site, and ask for fans to consider giving a few quids or dollars in appreciation. I'm not sure you won't get a better deal out of it....

If you had a finished product and wanted to contact Chaosium or another company for a regular book, my advice would be completely different. But the monograph line has been fubared by lack of any editorial control ( which pisses me off because some of the monographs were of great quality, like shadows of war, ripples from carcosa, and many others...)

[PhoneCallOfCthulhu]

Downloaded!
Thank you very much for taking the time to create and release this freely to everyone.

[RPG Plotter]

If you had a finished product and wanted to contact Chaosium or another company for a regular book, my advice would be completely different. But the monograph line has been fubared by lack of any editorial control ( which pisses me off because some of the monographs were of great quality, like shadows of war, ripples from carcosa, and many others...)

Thanks for the advice Christian, I was being a bit rhetorical when I asked that question. I do like the idea of the Madness at Miskatonic campaign being free for people to download and remaining in Creative Commons. A Chaosium Monograph would stymie this. The Paypal button is an interesting suggestion, it might be something I look into as the blog grows. Right now it's very much a for love not money kind of thing...