A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Missing in the Woods

Missing in the Woods by Brandon Estelle 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 modern-day scenario.

The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a 14 page Pay What You Want PDF. One page is the front cover and one the Table of Contents.

Background explains that a young woman disappeared from where she was camping in a forest with two friends and a search and rescue operation has been set up. The characters have agreed to help and several reasons why have been given; members of Search and Rescue, acquaintances or family of the missing person or just people who decided to help. Truthfully, there are a number of ways characters could get involved.

The Truth explains that the young woman has been abducted by an otherworldly creature and taken to its realm. She isn’t the first victim either. It’s stated that the scenario could be adapted to other eras; going by later descriptions, the biggest single problem is likely modern technology for searchers to keep in contact. This is likely not insurmountable.

Set Up has the players given the background information, and being briefed by one of the team. They’re told if they see anything odd, including people, to totally avoid it. The briefer doesn’t explain why, just gives enough details for the warning to be disturbing.

The characters will then explore the woods and they will have some disturbing encounters before discovering a portal to the creature’s realm. They need to rescue the young woman and return to their own world.

The Appendix has the stats for the sole creature and one page is a handout for the players.

Missing in the Woods in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough that these would have been useful. The Table of Contents covers the major sections. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are no illustrations. Presentation is adequate.

The overall feel of this adventure is that it’s channelling The Blair Witch Project to a degree, though the characters are not the ones who went missing. There’s even an old building to enter. Overall, this is quite an unsettling little adventure, with some nice touches. Missing in the Woods can be found by clicking here.