Dateline Lovecraft EXTRA! – Spoiled Milk (Un-Statted) by Jo Krell is a role playing game supplement published by Cthulhu Reborn. This is a generic role playing game supplement intended for use with horror role playing games based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft and set in the 1920s. It is clearly intended for use with Call of Cthulhu, but is published without stats due to IP restrictions; a statted version is available elsewhere.
The supplement is available as a 21 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. The supplement is intended to be used with Dateline: Lovecraft #1: Arkham, 1928, which is a newspaper prop designed to look like an issue of the Arkham Advertiser together with instructions on how to use it. Spoiled Milk is based around several of the clippings from the prop.
The Introduction explains that this is a short Mythos scenario based on the prop newspaper and is best done in October 1928, but it can be moved. There have been illnesses in Arkham connected to milk from one of the three local dairy companies. Links to Dateline: Lovecraft and a sidebar list the various relevant parts of the newspaper. Game Moderator’s Introduction explain that a reporter at the Arkham Advertiser broke the story, then disappeared. A sidebar explains that food safety in the 1920s was rather less than it is today. Which farm is responsible is also covered. Three Mythos Motivations has three different sources of the contamination. Involving the Investigators has different ways the investigators could be involved in the investigation.
The adventure then continues, with a sidebar for potentially involving the characters through a pet or family member. This sidebar says to make sure the player is okay with this sort of involvement. The characters can head to the hospital, the Arkham Advertiser, the home of the reporter and the dairy where the tainted milk is coming from, which will lead them to the farm where the milk actually originates. There are clues in other places too. Sidebars cover what will happen if an investigator is foolish enough to try the tainted milk and an attack on a milkman by citizens unfairly blaming him for the problems with the milk.
The farm is mapped but what happens at it depends which of the three motives is chosen. Each outcome is detailed. Rewards and Penalties describe such and Statistics has some details, but not full ones, because of IP restrictions.
Dateline Lovecraft EXTRA! – Spoiled Milk (Un-Statted) in Review
The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be nearly free of errors. There are a number of black and white illustrations, at least some of which appear to be custom, as well as the coloured farm map. Presentation is good.
As with other supplements in this series, the scenario expands on the prop newspaper. It can be run without the prop, and it could also be set in different times and locations with more tweaking, but it does work best with the prop. Using it otherwise will lose a degree of immersion, although the newspaper does tie the scenario to a specific place and time. Having different options for the motive is also an interesting twist to it. Dateline Lovecraft EXTRA! – Spoiled Milk (Un-Statted) is a nice complement to Dateline: Lovecraft #1 and can be found by clicking here.
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