Storm From A Teacup by Royce Wilson 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 scenario is aimed at a 1920s setting.
The supplement is available as a 25 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. One page is the front cover, one the front matter and one the Table of Contents.
The Introduction explains the adventure’s creation and that the author predominately does theatre of the mind GMing and that there are areas where a Keeper can have flexibility to determine what happens.
Scenario Overview explains that this is a one-shot aimed at 1-3 investigators, set in the fictional New England or Pacific north-west coast town of Pineview during Prohibition.
The Background explains the Shub-Niggurath worshippers have created a hallucinogenic tea and are distributing it. The tea can give Mythos-related visions, with the potential consequences to the mind that implies. The adventure is described as being fairly linear.
Dramatis Personae has an overview of the major, and some minor, NPCs that characters could encounter.
Adventure Begins has the characters arrive at the Kerring Mansion, to which the investigators have been summoned to help William Kerring deal with a personal matter. Kerring explains that his daughter, after apparently drinking some “vision tea,” suffered from hallucinations that snapped her mind. Kerring believes the tea to be responsible, and that the local police are not doing enough to help.
Investigators may then speak to the daughter, Sarah, and may get some clues from her ramblings. They can then head to the local library, see the police chief and visit a local club, and attached speakeasy, that Sarah was known to frequent. This should hopefully get them some clues as to the origin of the tea. They may even try drinking some. Following the trail should lead to where the tea is being produced, and the cultists who are making it.
Possible Outcomes has four different outcomes, depending on the players’ actions.
NPC Stats & Skills provides details for the NPCs.
The last six pages have five handouts, including one that can be folded to represent a packet of tea, and a map of one location.
Storm From A Teacup in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. The Table of Contents is thorough and is hyperlinked. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are some stock black and white illustrations, as well as the handouts. Presentation is okay, and there are more handouts than might be expected, given the Introduction.
In a number of places in the scenario, there are options for different play styles, whether this be as dangerous an adventure as Call of Cthulhu scenarios can be, or one less fatal to investigators. There are also a few options as to outcomes in places, which is good, and it’s stated that there could be others. There’s also a potential hook for another adventure, should a Keeper decide to create one. Storm From A Teacup is a decent little scenario and can be found by clicking here.
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