Random Encounters: Miskatonic University

In the scenic New England town of Arkham, Miskatonic University sits on the bank of the river of the same name. The school's red-brick buildings and tree-shaded quads seem eternal, immune to time. Only the styles worn by the students ever seem to change.

Most people know of Miskatonic (if they know of it at all) as a good small university, not as famous as the Ivy League but certainly on a par with Amherst, Bowdoin, or Williams College.

But in certain rarefied circles which do not seek the public eye, Miskatonic is known as a center for the study of unusual things. The school's library holds a collection of occult works unrivaled anywhere. Its science departments poke into odd meteorites and impossible archaeological finds in Anarctica. Its math department investigates hyper-dimensional spaces. Its history and comparative religion departments have some of the world's experts on magic and forbidden lore.

The paradox about Miskatonic is that it simultaneously serves those who want to understand and use forbidden knowledge, and those who want to protect humanity from it. It's kind of an intellectual neutral zone, where conflicts are suspended because neither side wants to risk damaging the library's priceless copy of the Necronomicon.

ENCOUNTERS AT MISKATONIC UNIVERSTIY

(Roll 1d20 when moving about the campus at night. During the day, replace any non-named individuals with random undergraduates.)

1. Roll Twice and Combine
2. Plot Advancing Encounter: Someone or something related to your current topic of inquiry at Miskatonic.
3. Campus Police: one Miskatonic University Police officer equipped with revolver and billy club. Unlike the town cops, the school police are rather protective of the students and ignore minor misdeeds as long as they don't involve harm to people or the campus.
4. Cultists: 2d6 furtive strangers unfamiliar with the campus, looking for a particular item or person. They're armed with knives and pistols.
5. Drunk Students: 2d6 intoxicated undergraduate men and 2d6-6 intoxicated undergraduate women. They're mostly interested in pranks and finding more beer, but there's a 10 percent chance they'll mistake your group for members of a rival fraternity or (worse yet) townies trying to crash a campus party. Then it's fistfight time.
6. Escaped Specimen: One of the Antarctic Old Ones, a specimen from the Dyer expedition which has thawed out and escaped from the Geology Department basement. It is incredibly tough, very smart, and has been asleep since the Cretaceous Era.
7. Ghouls: 1d6 skulking, hunched, carrion-eaters.
8. Walter Gilman: Mathematics prodigy pursuing an interdisciplinary study combining higher-dimensional topology and ancient witchcraft. Kind of a grind, really.
9. Man-Faced Rat: It's about the size of a gopher, has oddly human-like hands and a human face, and titters horribly.
10. Misky: The beloved campus watchdog, a powerful English Mastiff. Misky's normally very gentle and good-natured, a pet to all the students and especially the young children of the faculty. But when confronted with any unnatural beings Misky becomes an unstoppable 250-pound bundle of muscle, teeth, and righteous fury.
11. Dr. Francis Morgan: A young, athletic Archaeology professor whose ongoing rivalry with Dr. Jones of Marshal University is legendary. Fearless and a crack shot, Dr. Morgan has seen more than his share of strange things.
12. Prof. Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee: A Professor of Political Economy, whose mind is currently that of a superintelligent time-jumping alien being. Knows everything — including things that haven't happened yet — but is always preoccupied with his own mysterious projects.
13. Dr. Laban Shrewsbury: Philosophy professor who always wears dark glasses, even at night. Tends to draft people into helping fight world-threatening menaces, even if they've got homework.
14. Storm: An unseasonable thunderstorm passes across Arkham. For an hour the city is beset by high winds, lightning, and heavy rain. Streets by the river are partially flooded for the next 1d4 hours, and there's a 50 percent chance of a power failure lasting 2d6 hours.
15. Swarm of Rats! Something has driven all the rats on campus out of the storm drains and steam tunnels. Roll 1d6. 1-3: The rats are fleeing something, and head away from campus in all directions as fast as they can go; 4-6: The rats are drawn to one particular location and attack anyone there.
16. Asenath Waite: Incredibly smart undergraduate with a shocking degree of ancient occult knowledge. She has strange off-campus acquaintances.
17. Herbert West: A medical student who has discovered a preparation of tropical lizard tissue capable of reviving the dead. He'll happily join in any activity which promises to get him some really fresh specimens to experiment on.
18. Wilbur Whateley: A visiting self-taught scholar from Dunwich, he's nine feet tall, smells funny, and carries a pistol. Wilbur's determined to get the school's copy of the Necronomicon.
19. Dr. Albert N. Wilmarth: English professor and folklorist, expert on old New England legends.
20. Tracks: Roll again to see what left traces.

SITUATIONS

(Roll 1d6, then use the table above to fill in the elements.)

1. A desires B
2. A wants to capture B
3. A wants B dead
4. A wants to go somewhere
5. A wants to solve a mystery
6. A wants X

REACTION TABLE

(Roll 2d6.)

2-3: Immediate attack!

4-5: Unfriendly

6-8: Neutral

9-10: Friendly

11-12: Very Friendly