Ectoplasmorphia by Hyacinth is a role playing game supplement published by Chaosium Inc. through the Miskatonic Repository Community Content Programme for use with Call of Cthulhu, the horror role playing game based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. This is a 1920s scenario.
The supplement is available as a 20 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. One page is the front cover and one the front matter.
The opening paragraph explains that this is a scenario for 1-4 investigators that set loosely in the United States in 1926 and focuses on two very different households. The investigators are chased through the forest and end up in either one or the other.
Background: Decadence explains that the two houses are essentially the same dwelling, the home of a young woman who was originally raised in England in a mansion, but whose family had to sell up and move. What happened to her resulted in the house splitting in two.
Intro: Into the Woods has the characters encountering some headless creatures and in fleeing come across a path where they have to choose a direction.
Going Left: Dolled Up starts with some keywords for some reason and has the differences for this house explained, including how to escape and what happens as the house level increases, which causes effects.
Going Right: Fleshed Out follows the same pattern for the other house.
Investigating: Downstairs and Investigating: Upstairs cover the descriptions for the house which are the same no matter which one is visited.
Cast: Dramatis Personae has the NPCs and creatures.
Finale: Rewards, Handouts has plain text versions of the handouts and the SAN rewards for completing the scenario.
Following this are two pages that have handouts and eight that have four pre-generated characters.
Ectoplasmorphia in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. Apart from the maps of the house and handouts, there are no illustrations. Presentation is okay.
This adventure is a bit unusual in that there is nothing that can be fought in the combat sense. The scenario revolves around investigation and other kinds of rolls, not combat. Though there are two different houses, and therefore two ways the scenario can be run, this fortunately does not mean that half the adventure is wasted; there are only a few differences between the two houses and this related mostly to the scenario’s feel. Ectoplasmorphia is a somewhat unusual adventure that can be found by clicking here.
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