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Scritch Scratch
A scenario for Call of Call, Seventh Edition, set in the north of England in the modern day. Scritch Scratch: A Modern-Day Call of Cthulhu Scenario for Two to Six Players. which asks the question, “What Terror Lurks Within the Gloomy Woodlands Surrounding a Sleepy English Village?”.
- GenresRole Playing GamesHorror
42 pages, Paperback
Published June 16, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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February 13, 2023How? Another 7th edition Call of Cthulhu book, and I guess I'm collecting those now. This I picked up in a store in South Carolina where I was for a work trip; the store was full of stuff, and if the owner would just kept quiet and let me browse, I might've gotten more.
What? A modern-day CoC one-shot, originally written on a flight for a convention after the original GM bailed, this puts the PCs in the position of cleaners hired to clean up the old ratcatcher's house in a dying English village (and/or in the position of the reality tv film crew trying to make a day-in-the-life show about them). The cleaners are being paid more than usual, which is for a very sensible reason: the rat catcher leaves the dead rats out in the woods behind his cottage. But why?
Yeah, so? Here's the takeaway line from the Vintage RPG post on this game: "Folk horror is largely about forgetting the past (and paying for it) and the economic erosion of a quaint English village is the perfect venue to explore that theme." I might also add another reviewer's note: this is "low key."
All of which adds up (for me) to this being pretty execution dependent. There's a few places to go in the town in order to put together the mystery, and there might be some spooks and scares on the way, but the mystery itself isn't that interesting or mysterious to me. That is (and here's a spoiler so look away now), the rats are sacrificed to the woods, and if they're not, the woods will come for the town. There's no deeper horror beyond that -- no, "the woods were carved out by Roman slaves who were murdered" or whatnot. It's just, "here's some woods that hate this dying town," which really raises the question: well, can the few people here just move?
(I do love that the inciting incident is just "the ratcatcher is an old man who was hurt by some touring cyclists.")
What? A modern-day CoC one-shot, originally written on a flight for a convention after the original GM bailed, this puts the PCs in the position of cleaners hired to clean up the old ratcatcher's house in a dying English village (and/or in the position of the reality tv film crew trying to make a day-in-the-life show about them). The cleaners are being paid more than usual, which is for a very sensible reason: the rat catcher leaves the dead rats out in the woods behind his cottage. But why?
Yeah, so? Here's the takeaway line from the Vintage RPG post on this game: "Folk horror is largely about forgetting the past (and paying for it) and the economic erosion of a quaint English village is the perfect venue to explore that theme." I might also add another reviewer's note: this is "low key."
All of which adds up (for me) to this being pretty execution dependent. There's a few places to go in the town in order to put together the mystery, and there might be some spooks and scares on the way, but the mystery itself isn't that interesting or mysterious to me. That is (and here's a spoiler so look away now), the rats are sacrificed to the woods, and if they're not, the woods will come for the town. There's no deeper horror beyond that -- no, "the woods were carved out by Roman slaves who were murdered" or whatnot. It's just, "here's some woods that hate this dying town," which really raises the question: well, can the few people here just move?
(I do love that the inciting incident is just "the ratcatcher is an old man who was hurt by some touring cyclists.")
July 10, 2024
A nice little sandbox-style scenario which is both well written and slickly presented. It’s probably best suited to newer players, and should be achievable in a single session.
July 10, 2024
Solid modern-day scenario for Call of Cthulhu, brief enough to make for an entertaining evening's gameplay but perhaps not the most substantial or rich scenario concept out there. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews