Review of the system-agnostic Lovecraftian SF scenario, The Sentinels, from the Dark Space collection. In-short: A nasty little trick of a scenario that doesn’t actually give players much to do, but it can be worth experiencing without the railroading stinging too much due to its very short run time. Spoiler-lite for Players and Keepers As described in the review for Orpheus Station, the first scenario…
Review of the Delta Green community scenario Telling the Bees, written by Charles Perryman for the 2021 shotgun scenario contest. In-Short: A weird but easy to run little scenario with enough tools to adjust complexity and lethality without much extra work. Spoiler-lite for Players and Keepers As a community-written ‘shotgun’ scenario, Telling the Bees is short, bare-bones, and lacking any pretext of ‘production values.’ It…
The following is a review of the Japanese Call of Cthulhu scenario, Obikiri Bridge (帯切橋), written by Nanamine Kizashi and Gomi Hirufumi, published online by KADOKAWA as part of the ‘Tales of Nanafushi’ project. In Short: A classic-styled ‘Kwaidan’ that works as a neat little story to experience but feels more like a visual novel stripped down and stuffed into a Call of Cthulhu scenario…
The following is a review of the Japanese Call of Cthulhu scenario, Child Replay (チャイルド・リプレイ), written by horror-videogame-developer Sanada Makoto and Studio Arkham’s Satsukino Uso, published online by KADOKAWA as part of the ‘Tales of Nanafushi’ project. In Short: A tightly set scenario with an unsettling but touching atmosphere and background, and made into something special thanks to an extremely well used ‘gimmick,’ all of…
The following is a review of the Japanese Call of Cthulhu scenario, Cloud Jaws – Hell’s Fleet (クラウド・ジョーズ～地獄の艦隊～), written by Studio Arkham’s Nanamine Kizashi, published online by KADOKAWA as part of the ‘Tales of Nanafushi’ project. I ran this scenario during the A Weekend With Good Friends Convention 2025, and one of the players, Morgan Hua, wrote a review of the scenario and session, which…
Review of the Call of Cthulhu scenario Forget Me Not, written by Brian M. Sammons, for Stygian Fox’s modern day scenario anthology, The Things We Leave Behind, published in 2016. In-Short: A scenario with an incredibly strong opening half and an unfortunately underdeveloped tailing half, but overall held up by its nasty and memorable premise. Spoiler-lite for Players and Keepers: Among the non-Chaosium published…
The following is a ‘narrative replay’ for my Call of Cthulhu scenario, Be Good Neighbours, from the Flash Cthulhu series. I haven’t done one of these for quite a while, so to explain: what I call a narrative replay is simply an session recap, or AAR, or whatever you want to call it, but in a narrative, prose, format, with ‘replay’ being stolen from the…
The following is all I’ve learned about creating something for the Miskatonic Repository, Call of Cthulhu’s community content program on DriveThruRPG, using a dissection of how I made and sold my first scenario, Branches of Bone, and a breakdown of the costs and sales. What this is not is an explanation of how I wrote it, or a general guide on scenario writing, for two…
Review of the Japanese Call of Cthulhu scenario No Breaking Off (私には止められない), written by Uchiyama Yasujirou, from the modern-day sourcebook and scenario collection Cthulhu 2020 (クトゥルフ2020). In Short: A very linear scenario that trades player agency for a somewhat unique structure, spooky atmosphere, and a neat set piece. Spoiler-lite for Players and Keepers: No Breaking Off (weird English title instead of just going with ‘I…
Starting in January I have released one short, one-hour scenario per month, under the series title Flash Cthulhu. The final four are completed and now part of a ‘Season 3’ bundle, as well as together with the previous seasons into a full, 12-scenario ‘Year One’ bundle. I’ll give a short logline and general theme for the last four scenarios, then a more detailed explanation and…
