The Scarecrow by Michael LaBossiere is a role playing game supplement published by Chaosium Inc. via 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 a modern-day scenario.
This is a fifteen page supplement that is available as a Pay What You Want PDF from RPGNow. One page is the front cover, one the front matter, one the Contents and one an about the author page.
The scenario starts with the brief Introduction. Although using Call of Cthulhu rules, this is not a Mythos-related adventure. Instead, it has a common or garden human serial killer with no weird abilities, just with a fondness for killing people. It takes place in a retreat on a small island, where one of the guests is the serial killer. The retreat was the site of the killer’s first murder and he and his partner are planning to kill as many people as possible.
Some background and tall tales are given on a local legend of the strangling scarecrow, but this is pure misdirection. The primary location is detailed with maps and an overview is given of the island’s current occupants. The investigators will need to stop the serial killer for, in true horror movie form, he will be able to kill any NPC off camera, no matter how bizarre the murder method (investigators will prove more resistant).
There are two pages of NPC stats, one page has a colour map of the island and four pages have colour maps of the retreat.
The Scarecrow in Review
The PDF is reasonably well bookmarked and the Contents, which are also hyperlinked, are to roughly the same level of depth. Navigation is pretty decent for a small supplement. The text maintains a two column format and no errors were noticed. There are some portraits for the NPCs, which appear to be tweaked photos, as well as the colour maps. Presentation is pretty decent.
This adventure can give a nice change in routine for investigators, ones expecting, when the adventure starts, for there to be a Mythos angle. The legend of the murderous scarecrow can help with this, and help set them on completely the wrong path to begin with, possibly resulting in the deaths of some NPCs as a result. It is entirely possible that players will never fully accept that there isn’t any Mythos involvement.
Perhaps the biggest difficulty with the adventure is getting the characters to the retreat in the first place. Some methods are suggested, as it is said to be a good place to recuperate from Sanity loss, but it could still prove a problem.
The Scarecrow provides a nicely misdirected change of pace from usual Call of Cthulhu adventures and it can be checked out for free by clicking here.
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