Annals of Flint’s Detective Agency: The Case of the Stolen Golf Clubs by Mark Potter is a free 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.
The supplement is available as a 36-page PDF for free from DriveThruRPG. One page is the front cover, one the front matter and half a page the Table of Contents.
The Foreword gives some details on the adventure and how it was written.
The Backstory, which isn’t for players, starts before recorded history and references to the Great Race of Yith, who discovered something that concerned them. It moves onto ancient Egypt where a cabal of sorcerers discovered what the Yithians had hidden away and their founder created a cult which lives on today, though it has fragmented into two factions. One faction of which stole some golfclubs. Both factions want the clubs which, needless to say, are not just clubs.
Starting the Game has the investigators hired by the valet of Heffington Burleigh the Third, the owner of the golfclubs, to retrieve them. Heffington Burleigh the Third, as well as having a regnal number, is a stereotypical Upper-Class Twit by all appearances. The characters will travel to his mansion outside Chicago, where they can investigate and find out what happened the night the clubs disappeared, as well as speak to the staff. They can also investigate the grounds and the neighbouring estate.
Following this, the scenario becomes less linear, as there are a number of locations in Chicago the characters can go to in order to follow up on leads.
Events that Happen During the Investigation is the fixed events that will happen unless the investigators derail them in some way, such as by investigating and following up on leads. There are options to put the party back on track should they lose the plot.
The Journey to Egypt has the characters travel to the country and the location of the tomb of the cult’s founder. There, they can travel to a Dream Realm, with an optional boss fight.
NPCs and Monsters describes the NPCs and several new creatures. This is followed by some travel times, suggested rewards and player handouts.
Annals of Flint’s Detective Agency: The Case of the Stolen Golf Clubs in Review
The PDF lacked bookmarks and was long enough that it could have used them. The Table of Contents covers the major sections. Navigation is fairly poor. The text maintains a two-column format and a lot of errors were noticed (notably, “Cthulhu” was repeatedly misspelled) and there were what looked like factual errors as well (the historical cultist from Ptolemaic Egypt has what looks like an Arabic name, the primary, British, NPC has a regnal number in their name for some reason and it looked like there may be others). There are a handful of stock illustrations used, as well as some custom maps. Presentation is okay.
The adventure is described in the Foreword as being a bit cliched, and indeed it is at times. Evil cults, mysterious artefacts and journeys to Egypt are not that original, but cliched doesn’t necessarily mean bad and there is an interesting adventure under this. It not being purely linear on occasion is a good sign too, though it has a definite start and ending. Annals of Flint’s Detective Agency: The Case of the Stolen Golf Clubs isn’t a bad first attempt and it can be found by clicking here.
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