Here you’ll find a collection of all our one-page scenarios. Each scenario comes with a short, spoiler-free description so that you can suggest one to your Keeper if you’d like to play in it yourself. Many of our scenarios are easily adapted to several different time periods, so only those with a real connection to a historical moment have one noted in the description. And, as always, please let us know what you think! (Scroll down for our fantasy and OSR scenarios.)
Call of Cthulhu
The sequel to “The Effects of Williams Perkins,” our four church lady protagonists face a new threat, this time over a high-stakes game of bridge at the First Baptist.
Summer, 1947. A group of New York detectives is plagued with a variety of strange calls, from noise complaints to a bizarre murder. What do they all have in common? (Can be run as a companion piece with “Suicide Hour.”)
After an accident occurs at the construction site for the Hudson Tunnel Project, four of its designers wind up uncovering an ancient secret . . . (Gaslight, 1889.)
1600 B.C.E. and the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. A linked scenario with “A King Arisen,” the pharaoh’s chief architect has gone missing. His siblings try to track him down through a landscape of courtly intrigue and cosmic horror.
Play as four criminals hired to rob the leader of a social club. But what strange motives are behind the robbery, and who can the investigators trust? (Nominally set in 1920s Arkham.)
When four friends—mystery and true crime authors—find themselves aboard a cruise liner where murders really are taking place, will they be able to solve the crimes before it’s too late?
An experimental framework for new Call of Cthulhu campaigns, this scenario forces four strangers into a deadly experiment—will they work together to escape, or will it prove their end?
London, January 1752. The investigators find themselves shivering in Newgate Prison, debtors to society. When a malevolent creature attacks, the warden is willing to exchange their freedom to track it down . . .
Our first Gravesport scenario, in “The Door Beyond,” Margaret Bentley’s husband disappears at sea. Will the investigators be able to track down his vessel? And what secrets will the ship reveal? (1920s.)
A modern scenario, Arnie Spiegler is a comics author with a small local following. He has recently created his magnum opus, a work with divine—and terrible—significance.
Modern. Deep in the woods between Massachusetts and New York, an old cell tower desperately needs retrofitting. Now a crew of cell tower climbers are journeying to the top of an ancient hill, where even more ancient mysteries await them.
Drug War and Drug War Handout #1
During the drug wars of the 1980s, the United States employs illegal black ops forces in Central and South America. Play as a group of trained killers, black ops soldiers out to exorcise a local cartel with a deep secret.
Naval satellites have been picking up strange radioactive signatures from the South Sandwich Trench, off the coast of South America. Four civilian scientists are brought in to crew a deep-sea submersible and ascertain the cause. (Modern.)
The Effects of Williams Perkins
Four church ladies are on a tour through the countryside of other local churches. But at one of these churches, someone has something to hide…. See also its sequel, “Aces and Spades.”
A highly endangered species, the birth of a baby panda draws a lot of press. Play as the biologists and zoologists staying overnight at the Edinburgh Zoo, when all hell breaks loose.
Family Reunion and Family Reunion Handout #1
The Uxbridge family is a large one, and their family gatherings always take up space. In this hot summer of 1923, they gather for hot dogs, swimming, and a new Mythos terror.
The Fate of the Washington Brothers
1920s, and a tie-in with the “Ryan’s in R’lyeh” actual play podcast. A pair of truck drivers are hired by a mysterious benefactor to drive two crates from Boston, MA, to Buffalo, NY. While it should be a simple enough job, the task proves anything but…
Alaska, in the early 2000s. With new oil pipelines proposed, a survey team is sent into the Alaskan interior to search for new oil fields. What they find is something totally unexpected.
It’s 1900, and the foreign soldiers and civilians living in Beijing’s Legation Quarter are surrounded, besieged by the soldiers of the recently empowered Yihequan Movement, in what the West will call the Boxer Rebellion. Can the investigators, French Nationals, escape with the aid of some very strange Mythos tech?
Your wife has been missing for days. Federal agencies have released her description nationwide. After a week, a phone call comes in from a sergeant in the Navajo Nation Police Department. He says that a body has been found in the desert matching your wife’s description.
With a cast of untrustworthy individuals all working in a seedy hotel, a strange guest, and a bag of money, the stage is set for an evening of gangster-rousing “fun.” (1950s.)
Five coworkers on their annual backwoods trip decide to go fishing in the High Sierras. But their boss seems distracted, confused almost, about where… or when… he finds himself.
Gravesport University, Gravesport Handout #1, and Gravesport Handout #2
Nominally Modern, “Gravesport University” pits graduate students at different stages of study against a mystery around their own friend group, and the university itself.
May 1983, in rural Kansas. Father does something uncharacteristic—he brings home a hitchhiker, and events are set in motion that will either tear the family apart or bring it closer together. Either way, secrets will be brought to light.
A Colorado winter, 1994. Four friends on a skiing trip, out looking for quiet hills and fresh snow, find more than they bargained for.
Paulet 7 is an ice world, home to a distant colony of humans who survive by trading their mineral resources and using their labor mechs to mine, perform construction, and provide defense when necessary. But something awaits them under the ice . . .
A volcanic eruption on a remote South Pacific Island has revealed the ruins of an ancient structure—one that seems to defy modern understandings of ancient humanity.
This OPS isn’t a full scenario, but presents the Keeper with a new artifact with which they can torment (and maybe help) their investigators. A mysterious key, a box with no seams, and creatures that can walk between worlds. Find out what waits on the other side in . . . It Opens Doors.
1940s Los Angeles. Many former soldiers have returned from the war horribly scarred, not only in body but in mind as well. Now, ex-GIs are cropping up across the city, vacant-eyed and hollow, wandering the streets like lost souls. Inspired by classic noir fiction and film.
The sequel to “Burial of a King,” this scenario takes place during the Arab Spring, 2011. While working in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, rioting and looting breaks out and a Mythos threat makes itself known.
1926, Massachusetts. A tree at the geographical heart of the state is dying, and no one knows why. But when Miskatonic University is called to investigate, what could go wrong?
1871. The whaling ship Oregon was due back into port nine months ago, but there has been no word of it, no letters from its crew of 125, and no sightings reported by other ships. The town of New Bristol has already begun to grieve for these lost souls . . .
A Newport Christmas, Newport Handout #1, and Newport Handout #2
When billionaire Dunmore Throop dies, the fortune hawks come out to roost. Play as his former wives, who’ve come to collect their own—and collect some terror on the side. Our 2017 holiday special (and the subject of our first actual play recording).
(Modern.) Deep beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, a newly discovered lake may be the deepest ever discovered. Radio soundings have put it at nearly 10,000 feet, twice the depth of the currently known deepest lake in the world. Dubbed Lake Carter, the Americans have leaped upon this discovery, sending out an expedition to drill through the ice sheet and probe the mysteries of the maddeningly deep abyss . . .
For some extra resources, see this scenario’s original posting.
Red House and Red House Handout
This scenario has a bit of that classic, academics-inspired Call of Cthulhu feel, with a few of its own surprises. In The Red House, four graduate students come upon the work of an unknown nineteenth-century poet: could this be the big break they’ve all been looking for? What other secrets does her poetry hold? And what awaits them inside… The Red House?
The Relocation of Cottonmouth Springs
When a new dam threatens to destroy the village of Cottonmouth Springs, state employees are sent in to relocate them. What they find in the small town, however, is far from pastoral tranquility. California, 1944.
Summer of 1967, and the hippie movement is in bloom. A seemingly simple traffic accident on highway 99 draws several California Highway Patrol officers into a mystery of revenge and mayhem.
As visitors arrive for a Maine university’s annual winter pageant and ice-skating festival, heavy snows keep the guests confined to the area. When a dead body is found, the investigators realize that they are trapped with a murderer. Or, as the case reveals, far worse.
The Stars are Righteous, Dude!
Here we ask what would happen if you took an international surfing competition and set the stars just so. A whirlwind, whacky adventure. (Modern Malibu.)
The Strange Case of the Missing Painting
Another tie-in with the “Ryans in R’lyeh” actual play podcast (along with “The Fate of the Washington Brothers,” above), and a specially designed one-player, one-GM scenario. Play as art detective Reginald Tufts, who’s hired on to solve a painting that’s mysteriously gone missing. 1920s.
Winter, 1947. A macabre scene awaits several New York detectives, who stumble upon a garish drug syndicate—and worse. (Can be run as a companion piece with “The Afflicted.”)
One of our first ever scenario ideas, “Susquehanna Sasquatch!” sees a team of museum professionals hunting for petroglyphs. Far from the big city, they find themselves hunted by a mysterious figure. (1930s.)
An experiment in scenario design, this adventure relies on player input and Keeper improvisation. The investigators find themselves in a mysterious elevator, one that moves between more than the floors of a building.
The Thing that Came from Kynarth!
Halloween in Chicago, 1921, and the world’s most famous stage magician plays one of the city’s most prestigious playhouses. Billed as a costume party, the audience has arrived wearing their most frightening costumes, excited to see the great Harry Houdini.
A group of 90s schoolkids find their home threatened by a strange, terrible entity. Also features a few rules for Trail of Cthulhu. Modern.
1979, Fort Worth, Texas. A two-day technology convention brings salespeople of all types from around the world. Explore what cosmic terror awaits the ultra-consumerist culture of the 1970s.
In our take on the contemporary gig economy, CloudHotels offers some of the best private room rentals around. Of course, they can’t account for every happenstance on their listings . . .
In one of the worst snowstorms in decades, a small New Mexico police station finds itself waylaid, with a strange prisoner and an evasive F.B.I. agent causing headaches for everyone inside.
1919, near Gravesport, WA. Residents of the country roads around Gravesport are noticing strange sights and waking up in strange places. It all seems to focus around… “The Vineyard.”
Paris, 1682. Four middle-class merchants find themselves moving in aristocratic circles while they try to save the subject of a recent poisoning.
A spiritual successor to Hereditary. A cold spring night. A remote mansion in the woods. A gruesome murder. What more do you need?
White House Outhouse, Modern investigators, and 1972 investigators
Four Washington, D.C., plumbers, answer the call when the White House basement begins flooding. The cause of the flooding, and its decedents, however, are oddities no one sees coming.
More of an encounter seed than a full-fledged scenario, when the investigators are involved in a car accident in the backwoods of Gravesport, the other injured party is less than pleased.
Fantasy and OSR
In a small lake town tracking down the origin of an arcane tome, our heroes find a friendly bookseller and a helpful wizard who have kept the worst of the tome from falling into the wrong hands. Or have they? Continued from “A Night at the Chalet.”
A Night at the Chalet, Main Level Battlemat, and Basement Level Battlemat (Pathfinder Second Edition)
Intended as a campaign starter, this adventure takes newly created heroes and plunges them into conflict with an evil demonologist performing a vile ritual. Can they stop him before it’s too late?
The heroes meet at an inn, but this time, there’s something afoot in the countryside. One of our more complex scenarios, with several moving pieces and a cohort of NPCs.
The Pillar of Anuul (Dungeon Crawl Classics)
Our first Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure, this is a 0-level funnel where the PCs play goblins, trapped as prisoners of war by the cruel humans. Suddenly set free, can they survive the wasteland they find themselves in?
Stuck in the Middle with Yew and Goldorth Map
Competitive groups of adventurers find themselves between the crosshairs of two necromancers, slinging undead at one another across the countryside.
Our award-winning entry for the One Page Dungeon contest! Enter a ziggurat of ancient malice, whose layout changes with every magical bolt or fireball that’s cast . . .
Yarin’s Farm and Yarin’s Farm Map
A scenario based off a D&D session Noah once ran, the town Yarin’s Farm has found itself plagued by rats, and the town leader has disappeared. Solve the mystery, and make your choice.
Reckoning of the Dead 