Continuing my investigation into third-party Call of Cthulhu scenarios this week, beginning with the remaining Triad Entertainments books I own. I previously, briefly, covered Lurking Fears, a book that set a pretty high bar for third party stuff back in the olden days. This one is End of the World (1994) and it contains three scenarios. It’s a’ight.

First one is “Breeding Ground,” and involves an undying former priest who looks like the creep from Poltergeist III corrupting a town in Georgia in order to call the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young to the Earth. The ritual is as gross as you’d expect from the title, which I guess comes with the territory, but there is no real way to disrupt it, at least in terms of meaningfully saving lives and minds — the investigation merely leads the investigators to a front row seat. A Time to Harvest tackles similar subject matter much better. Second is “Thunder in the Blood,” which sees the players investigating a possible war crime during the Honduran Revolution and encountering an ancient Mayan bent on bringing Azathoth to earth. This feels a bit like a Delta Green scenario, and I can’t imagine playing it within the context of a campaign — it’s too far out and too deadly. It’s interesting, though. Last is “Think Tank,” in which the investigators go to Antarctica, get embroiled in a scheme by the fungi from Yuggoth to build a time/space devise using enslaved aliens (a Yithan, an elder thing, a Martian and an insect from Shaggai). There is a living moon (which is really the device?) and a jaunt to Yuggoth and maybe the assassination of the Mi-Go emperor. Decent odds the players can go on a road trip through time and space with an elder thing and a Martian? It’s a weird one.

R. D. Sanford does all the artwork. The interiors are all pretty great and often creepy — I think his best work lands in the final scenario with the Mi-Go. I like the cover art in concept but the execution is a little too subtle.