Ice Cream Man by Michael LaBossiere is a role playing game supplement published by Chaosium Inc. through the Miskatonic Repository Community Content Program for use with Call of Cthulhu, the horror role playing game based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. This is set in the modern era in America.
This is available as a nine page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. One page is the front cover, one the front matter, one the Contents, and one page has an Author’s Note and About the Author.
The short Introduction explains that the adventure transforms one of the joys of summer – an ice cream van – into something more predatory, and that it may be too dark for some.
Getting the Investigators Involved has them approached by a man who has heard of at least one of them by reputation. If given the chance, he explains the situation, about how his son was killed by a monster masquerading as an ice cream man. He hunted the monster down, but made a mistake and killed a normal person. The man will be arrested – willingly – by the police whether or not the investigators listen. If they don’t, they can hear the details at court. If they fail to follow up in either case, the ice cream man monster will continue.
The Keeper’s Background gives the details on how the monster – which has been alive for centuries – is currently operating.
Investigation gives the details that the characters can find out about the monster and how it operates. There is insufficient evidence to convince anyone that something is wrong; the monster preys on so few that it doesn’t distort the statistics enough. The investigators can hunt down the creature and defeat it.
The Ice Cream Man is a single page and gives background – which is extensive – and stats for the unique creature.
Finally, there is a page with a single handout, which is reproduced as text and as a fragment from a newspaper.
Ice Cream Man in Review
The PDF is bookmarked, but the bookmarks only cover the cover and front matter, so are effectively useless. The Contents covers the different sections, and is hyperlinked. Navigation is okay for a short supplement, but it could be better. The text maintains a two colour two column format and was almost free of errors. There are a couple of tweaked, appropriate photographs and the reproduced piece of newspaper. Presentation is okay.
The scenario, dealing as it does with child murder – and consumption – is perhaps a bit grimmer, but it isn’t presented in a truly grim fashion. The matter is only mentioned, rather than explored in detail, so it isn’t perhaps as dark as the Introduction might suggest. The hook is better than normal, as it doesn’t involve the standard friend no-one has heard of before; instead, a random stranger has heard of the investigators. There isn’t a way of forcing the investigators to take part, nor is there any penalty for them failing to do so. This could perhaps be added. Ice Cream Man is a fairly decent side adventure and it can be checked out for free by clicking here.
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