Miskatonic University Campus

Hi,

I'm looking to run a one-shot (3-4 hours) for some new players and I am wondering what published scenarios people would recommend as a good introduction to the horror RPG genre and the Cthulhu Mythos?

I like The Reeling Midnight, Ghosts of the Florentina, and Wasted Youth from MRP's Miskatonic Valley books.

Crack'd & Crook'd Manse from Mansions of Madness is an awesome investigative/haunted house scenario.
Closed Casket from Secrets is good too, and would def be in that timeframe.

I vote for Wasted Youth, I have ran it two times already as an introductory scenario. Works well. This is one of the first scenarios I ran in Skype of Cthulhu, I apologize in advance since I wasn't use to playing that early in the morning yet and I am not a morning person ,so my brain was running at half its speed.

http://www.cthulhu.me/search/label/Wasted%20Youth

Another great scenario is Dockside Dogs by P.F. We also have a recording, and we managed to play it in two hrs. It is good if people in your group enjoys Tarantino films and works great as an introduction with limited Mythos exposure.

http://www.cthulhu.me/2012/11/079-docks ... -shot.html

Another recommendation is Within you without you, I really liked this scenario. It is weird, with some basic investigation and exposure to the Mythos in a good way.

http://www.cthulhu.me/search/label/With ... hout%20You

And finally, King, from Cthulhu Britanica.

http://www.cthulhu.me/search/label/King

Keith "Doc" Herber's "Edge of Darkness" in the back of the 6E COC book. A classic clue trail with a haunted house to deal with a "demon". It has enough loose ends in it that an inspired Keeper could turn it into a miniseries/campaign. It is ideal for people totally new to COC.

I would second "Dockside Dogs" for a modern setting. I have run it ten times offline and online now. I expect to do more.

(WiseWolf): I'll check out some of the ones you mentioned. I believe I have a few of them already but have yet to read them.

I like the Shadows Over Scotland book from Cubicle 7's Cthulhu Britannica it has some great one-shots and the 3 adventures in Ripples Of Carcosa works across 3 time periods and work as one-shots or a mini-campaign

I always like to recommend anything from Blood Brothers and Blood Brothers 2. Great one-shots you can do in 4 hours or less. They are not Mythos based but rather based on familiar horror movie tropes which, I believe, makes it easy and fun for players. Personally, I've run Carnival Knowledge and Dead on Arrival and had a great time with both games.

Strange Aeons 1&2 also have short one-shot scenarios all over the human history, including the future.

If you join the Cult of Chaos through Chaosium, you can access a new thread of intro scenarios.

http://www.chaosium.com/join-the-cult-of-chaos/

I ran The Dead Boarder the other night and it went really well. With new player side banter and my not trying to railroad them too much into the suggested timeframe, it stretched out into an enjoyable couple of hours.