As well as creating the Cthulhu Eternal Rulesets, we create and professionally publish scenarios which can be run purely with the free System Reference Documents.
The summaries below include links to DriveThruRPG pages where PDF copies can be purchased.
“Thou Didst Let Fall” is a high-octane action/investigation scenario that draws on a number of topical demons that haunt the modern Australian psyche.
The scenario puts the players in the roles of everyday folks who suddenly find themselves caught up in a series of destructive catastrophes that occur around major Sydney landmarks. For reasons that are unclear these Protagonists seem sensitive to the weird phenomena, experiencing crippling headaches just before each attack. But the clues they hold — which might just lead to an understanding of what is truly plaguing the city — are not easy to follow.
To play this scenario you only require access to the Cthulhu Eternal Modern Age SRD (bundled with purchase)
[Contains Mature Themes]
“The Usurpers” is a contemporary horror tale which deals with a long-standing horror that has haunted Arkham for decades. It mixes deep (handout-fuelled) investigation with the challenges of physically navigating an inhospitable and claustrophobic environment.
What starts as a simple report to MU Campus security of a missing Sophomore spirals into a fully-fledged missing persons case. Unknown to anyone, however, the clock is already ticking. Will the new investigation team locate the missing woman before it’s too late? And perhaps more importantly, can they resolve the unique moral dilemma they uncover?
To play this scenario you only require access to the Cthulhu Eternal Modern Age SRD (bundled with purchase)
“Dead Flowers” is a substantial supernatural investigation/sandbox scenario set in 1980s in and around the small Western Australian seaside holiday town of Busselton (about four hours drive south of Perth). Players take on the roles of ordinary people who have travelled to Busselton for their own personal reasons, seeking a relaxing New Years break — and maybe some excitement marvelling at the new innovation of NYE fireworks. But even before the old year has rung out its last hours, terrible events shake the sleepy township, rendering most of the local authorities unable to control the situation. The acting mayor calls for volunteers to step up and lead the investigation into the dark crimes that have become suddenly common around town. People like the Protagonists . . .
To play this scenario you only require access to the Cthulhu Eternal Cold War SRD (bundled with purchase)
“Known Unknowns” is a substantial supernatural espionage investigation scenario set in 1951 in South Australia (both the city of Adelaide and the desert wastes of central Australia). Players take on the roles of spies — members of the newly-formed Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (A.S.I.O) charged with looking into the strange discovery on the beach. But what begins as a procedural sifting through scant clues morphs into something infinitely more terrifying … and unless the Protagonists have sorted out the true explanation for events, mushroom clouds and radiation might be the least of their nightmares.
To play this scenario you only require access to the Cthulhu Eternal Cold War SRD (bundled with purchase)
“Fathoms Below” is an exciting Cold War scenario which blends investigation with intrepid exploration, as Protagonists venture out on a grand expedition to discover the final resting place of Atlantis.
The year is 1962 and the Cold War between Western nations and the U.S.S.R. is in full swing. These tensions add extra complexities, even to a French-led scientific voyage of discovery. After all, not everyone who wishes to locate Atlantis is motivated by purely scientific motives … as the Protagonists might find out in the most surprising way possible. And the new conflicts between East and West pale into insignificance in the face of older, stranger schemes.
To play this scenario you only require access to the Cthulhu Eternal Cold War SRD (bundled with purchase)
This series of standalone scenarios all take place in the fictional Miskatonic Valley, that surreal and haunted region of Massachusetts invented by H.P. Lovecraft as the backdrop to several of his best-known short stories and novellas. Each of these scenarios can be run any time throughout the Jazz Age period (1920s and 1930s).
Three Times the Mythos: To give the GM a range of different options, the Miskatonic Mysteries scenarios feature three different possible Mythos backstories underlying the curious events portrayed. Choose whichever of the options appeals to the preferences of your individual gaming group, or re-run the scenario multiple times with different weird forces at play each time around.
“To Touch The Untouchable” is a short standalone investigative scenario set in H.P. Lovecraft’s notorious college town of Arkham, any time in the 1920s or 1930s.
The Protagonists are engaged by the family of a young Arkham woman, Gertrude Pettingill, who has mysteriously gone missing. A pious and obedient girl, Gertrude is seldom seen anywhere apart from the Miskatonic University Campus (where she studies) and the Arkham First Baptist Church (where she attends Bible-reading class two nights a week as well as services on Sunday). Her sudden disappearance baffles everyone … not least the Arkham Police. But fortunately the Pettingills have some friends or associates — the Protagonists — who know their way around a mystery.
To play this scenario you only require access to the Cthulhu Eternal Jazz Age SRD (bundled with purchase)
“Help Wanted” is a short standalone investigative scenario set in Arkham, any time in the 1920s or 1930s.
A strange series of ‘help wanted’ advertisements that have been appearing in the Arkham Advertiser over a period of months. Each has a very similar, and very odd, style and asks for assistance with a different specialized skill. Each advertisement runs sporadically for weeks on end, then disappears, only to be replaced with another variant a few days later.
People who respond to the ads tend to mysteriously disappear. That’s odd, even for Arkham. Who is placing the strange ads, and for what purpose? How do these events tie in with unbelievable tales about an 18th Century self-style sorcerer from Arkham’s dark past?
Playable with the Cthulhu Eternal Jazz Age SRD (bundled with purchase)
“Smoke Green” is a short standalone investigative scenario set in Arkham, any time in the 1920s or 1930s.
A new craze is sweeping Arkham (and every other nearby city). A new brand of cigarette with a wonderfully vivid selling point — the smoke from these smoother-than-smooth cigarettes has a lustrous green hue. But not everything is mellow. The recently-built five-story Reinhart Tobacco Factory, down by the refurbished Miskatonic docks, was recently
rocked when company founder and president Reinhart Laine was discovered
murdered in his own office. Who could have wanted to kill the wealthy tycoon? Is it tied to the bitterly-fought political tussle to see who becomes Arkham’s next Mayor?
The Protagonists are engaged to get the bottom of this most baffling of mysteries.
“Spoiled Milk” is a short investigative scenario of Cthulhu Mythos horror, set in the countryside surrounding H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional town of Arkham, any time in the 1920s or 1930s.
A sudden rise in the number of residents falling ill after consuming spoiled milk has put the town of Arkham on high alert. People are questioning the quality of the product coming from the three main dairies supplying locals with their daily deliveries. Some have even taken to blaming bleary-eyed milkmen. Arkham seems on the brink of a milk-related uproar!
But what nobody is talking about is the … unusual … nature of the illnesses and hospitalizations reported. The Protagonists are drawn into these unexplained events … hopefully they can find a solution to the mystery before more Arkhamites fall ill … or worse.
“Bottoms Up” is a chunky investigative scenario set in the industrial town of Bolton which sits about 4 miles north of Arkham. Briefly famous because of the Herbert West affair, Bolton is the power house of manufacturing in the Miskatonic Valley making everything from textiles to leather goods. One set of products that were once much-loved in Arkham were the beers and ales made by Bolton Brewing. With Prohibition, this century-old business has now built a business making sodas and tonics … but faces stiff competition from out-of-state companies like Moxie and Bub-L-Pep.
Bolton Brewing, however, seems to have an ace up their sleeve … albeit a very weird one. They’ve just announced the forthcoming release of some truly wild flavors. But are soda drinkers in Arkham and elsewhere really ready for “Djingula Bean” soda … or “Xuin Flower Elixir”? And what the heck is “Moon Tree Ale” …?
The horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos haunt the dark corners of the entire world … not just the corner of New England where Lovecraft set his most famous “Miskatonic” cycle of stories. And while it can be fun to set games in those familiar locales, it can be just as much fun to break with tradition and play out Lovecraftian-themed mysteries and adventures which take place in parts of the world seldom (if ever) visited in the source fiction.
“The Bitter Jungle” is a medium-length investigative scenario of Cthulhu Mythos horror, set in 1922 in the Central American country of British Honduras (modern-day Belize). In the years following World War I, a new-found fad is sweeping across America and Europe — chewing gum. In turn this creates vast demand for its naturally-occurring raw ingredients, in particular the sap of the Sapodilla tree.
Paul Selkirk is one of many entrepreneurs seeking to cash in on the gum boom. Sadly, his ambitious plans have been … beset by unexpected troubles, in particular a series of mysterious acts of sabotage against his plantation. Trees have been uprooted, and fences pulverised. Damage that would only be possible with the aid of heavy machinery … the kind of machinery nobody has out in the remote jungle.
The Protagonists are deputized by local police to investigate. Can they discover who … or what … is targeting the plantation?
Gifted writers have been crafting Lovecraftian Investigative Horror scenarios for over 40 years. There are now well over 1,000 original scenarios that have been published for this unique sub-genre of horror roleplaying. But, as with every creative endeavor, there are “lost treasures” — scenarios which were written by famous writers, but which never saw publication for some reason or another.
Through extensive sleuthing, we have tracked down several of these forgotten classics … and entered into arrangement to have the original pieces converted across to the Cthulhu Eternal ruleset and … finally, decades after their creation … brought to the public!
We’re thrilled to be able to present two early works by Kevin, updated to work with Cthulhu Eternal. Both these scenarios pit the Protagonists against the Mi-Go, one of HPL’s most imaginative creations.
The Protagonists learn of the curious disappearance of a relative — a reclusive uncle who lived near the town of Augustin, Vermont. Travelling to the remote but verdant region, they will become enmeshed in a mystery which has its roots in dark sorcery … and visitors from beyond the human sphere.
The Protagonists encounter a very odd research project being performed in secret at the university in their hometown. Why have so many of the best scientific minds on campus been summoned to provide their expertise? And why have there been a sudden spate of break-ins and prowlers reported around campus?
“Second Coming” is a sequel of sorts to events described by H.P. Lovecraft in his seminal tale “The Call of Cthulhu”. One strand of that tangled story focuses on a terrible cult that is active in the bayous close to New Orleans. A plucky young Inspector Legrasse leads a police raid on a debased ritual taking place deep in that remote swamp-country, not only interrupting their foul ceremonies and capturing many cultists but also seizing a bizarre idol of a squid-headed god. Legrasse believes that his decisive action has defeated the cult … but could such a nebulous secret order be so easily smashed? And what of the so-called “Unseen Masters” that degenerate members of the cult spoke about under interrogation? Certainly no such leaders were ever apprehended … is it possible they are still out there somewhere?
“Red in Tooth & Claw” is a gritty Lovecraftian survival-horror sandbox scenario which places the crew of an Australian World War 1 submarine in a perilous “lost world” environment brimming with danger. Nature and its predations threaten to snuff out the lives of these young men, bereft of supplies and resources … but those mundane concerns are but a backdrop to a weirder and pernicious form of peril that wants to ensnare them.
It is September, 1914, and the young nation of Australia finds itself at war. In order to neutralize German communications stations in New Guinea, a hastily-assembled force known as the ANMEFs (Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force) has been dispatched. The Protagonists are crew on the ANMEF submarine AE-3, who successfully force a German surrender in New Guinea but then find themselves adrift in altogether stranger waters. As the crew of this small ship are about to discover, there are places in the remote and empty oceans where the threat of enemy detection is the least of their worries.
“The White War” is a short scenario set in the Italian Alps in 1916. It places a small patrol group of Italian Army personnel in an eerie and icy No Man’s Land. Austrian forces have (seemingly) abandoned their posts in this remote Alpine region, after curious sounds were heard coming from the forward position several nights ago. What events transpired that made the enemy withdraw from a impassible and defensible place up on the glacier? Or is this all some kind of elaborate trap?
“Starlight on the Gutter” is a substantial investigative scenario set in Victorian London. It is January, 1895, and in London’s famous West End theatre district preparations are underway for a most singular production. Oscar Wilde’s Decadent play Salomé — a work that was banned until recently — will finally be seen by an audience. But not everything is going according to plan. Persistent rumours of curious happenings have attached themselves to the majestically-staged production. And Oscar Wilde — usually the most gregarious of souls — has become sullen and withdrawn. The playwright’s close friend Bosie approaches the Protagonists to try to understand the strange pall that seems to have settled over Oscar and the forthcoming play.
To play this scenario you only require access to the Cthulhu Eternal Victorian Era SRD (bundled with purchase)
Note: an actual play recording of a full play-through of this scenario was released online in February 2022.
“Physiology of Acquired Taste” is a thrilling investigative scenario of Cthulhu Mythos horror, set in 1830 in the months following the infamous “Three Days in July”, sometimes called the Second French Revolution. Life in France in these turbulent days is dominated by factional conflicts — some remain loyal to the ousted traditionalist King Charles X, others favor his moderate Orleanist replacement. Some yearn for the days of Emperor Napoleon.
In the North-Eastern city of Reims, such factional concerns are part of normal daily life … but in recent days life in the city has been anything but normal. Wild stories are circulating about a Werewolf that haunts the streets of town after dark. And then there is the discovery of the abandoned cart piled high with fresh corpses …
Note: an actual play recording of a full play-through was released online in May 2023.
“The Lord of Nombrecht” is a substantial investigative High Middle Ages scenario which embroils a group of Protagonists in a complex mystery of multiple interwoven strands. What begins as a simple task to investigate an unexpected death slowly drifts into stranger and stranger territory, as tendrils of an otherworldly force begin to become plain, and exert their influence on the castle community.
The Lord of Nombrecht — a domain in the Holy Roman Empire — lies dead, the victim of a cruel hunting accident. But was it really an accident? The abbot of nearby Hohenfluss Monastery has his doubts.
To play this scenario you only require access to the Cthulhu Eternal Medieval SRD (bundled with purchase)
