This is a fairly new entry into the Arkham Horror franchise, but one that carries a lot of the same ideas. The game being as new as it is, there is less material in this game than the other entries in the franchise, but that also makes it a little easier to pick apart at the moment.

Most of what the players are able to do at the moment is investigate the town of Arkham, MA, where they are forced to reckon with some of the town’s mysteries. Many professors and mysterious books and findings are involved. Because of that, most of the archaeology in this game is what the players and the person running it bring to the table.

However, the Miskatonic University is one of the more prominent features in much of the Arkham Horror franchise and something that is mentioned a few times in Lovecraft’s books. The expedition team in At the Mountains of Madness works directly for the university and sends back missives throughout the book. Likewise, Danforth is able to read the troves of books in the university’s library that eventually help lead him to madness, including the Necronomicon.

Universities have always played a large role in archaeology. It is difficult, and sometimes seemingly impossible, to find a way to work as an archaeologist without a university or museum sponsoring you. Miskatonic University takes that to another level.

It seems like this university strives to uncover a lot of mysteries throughout Lovecraft’s work and this is emphasized in the roleplaying game. Many of the professors have secret collections of occult books, and the professors who specialize in archaeology-adjacent fields are often the first to go missing. The university is the place where many investigations start because the cults or mysteries often begin there due to the professors’ occult interests.

The most unrealistic part of this university is that it seemingly has so much funding for these grand research expeditions. And it would surprise no one if that was because some of the people at the top are involved in the cults. The roleplaying game never explicitly states that, but it is very suspicious that they are able to continue funding the expeditions without having an ulterior motive.