Tag: call of cthulhu

Day to go on the ‘Cold Warning’ Call of Cthulhu mini-Kickstarter.

Apparently you can do one-week ones, and Cold Warning is one of those.  It’s a blast from the past that had been on ice for decades.  But they thawed it out, which is pretty cool and I think that it’s interesting to see how stuff that’s been frozen in time for that long can still be well-preserved. Plus, if they get enough ice by tomorrow then a stretch goal will open up, which would be chill.

…I’ll stop now.

Quote of the Day, You Tell ‘Em, Cthulhu edition.

“Please make better movies about me.”

Moe Lane

PS: Geeks Are Sexy updated to note that the 2005 HPLHS silent movie Call of Cthulhu Did Not Suck, which is true: it did not. It was also decidedly not produced by Hollywood, which is absolutely an indictment of Hollywood — and buttresses the comic’s original point, to boot.  If a bunch of enthusiasts can create an excellent Cthulhu flick, there’s no reason why a major studio can’t produce at least a decent one.

Blasphemous Tomes: The Cernan/Evans Transcript (Annotated)

Blame this, and particularly this:

blasphemous-tomes_-the-cernan_evans-transcript-annotated-google-docs

Blasphemous Tomes: The Cernan/Evans Transcript (Annotated)

[Delta Green/Call of Cthulhu]

Language: English; Mythos Gain: +1; SAN Loss: 0/1; Study Time: one week; Grants Skill Checks in: History and Occult

Continue reading Blasphemous Tomes: The Cernan/Evans Transcript (Annotated)

OK, formal call, then: Call of Cthulhu scenario playtesters wanted (via Google Hangout).

I dunno the date yet, because I don’t know what the deadlines are: but if you’re interested in getting in on a quick playtest of a Call of Cthulhu scenario then let me know. I already have two folks interested, so there are at least two slots left – and probably a few more.  The game session will be rules-light, because I’m mostly going to be checking for awesome.  You’ll get character sheets and some kind of quick rules; there’s at least one one-shoot Cthulhu horror ruleset out there.

Adventure seed: A Clockwork Yellow. [Delta Green]

A Clockwork Yellow

Background: In 1995, some idiot in Burnaby, British Columbia decided to use The King In Yellow as part of an experimental and flatly illegal psychological reconditioning study using criminals.  And ‘some idiot in Burnaby’ is about as detailed as a description as one can make, these days: part of the fallout of that particular disaster was the permanent erasure from human language of the phonemes that made up that man or woman’s name. Don’t think about it too hard, particularly if you have a family history of neurological incidents.  The resulting disaster turned out to be of the ‘time bomb’ sort, rather than the ‘Azathoth has been summoned’ sort: while the staff all went messily and flamboyantly mad – like you do – the reconditioning appeared to …work, sort of.  At least, all the subjects went permanently catatonic, which is not the worst thing that can happen when you’re exposed to Carcosa, right?

Unfortunately, the investigation was handled by Canada’s anti-Mythos government agency (M-EPIC) – and, just as unfortunately, M-EPIC’s remit has mostly been involved with Ithaqua cults and the like.  Cleanup squads knew to close down the site and cover up the evidence; and the original researchers typically found new and exciting ways to commit homicide-suicide while still in custody, and before trial.  But the research subjects were allowed to live, in the hopes that they’d wake up.  Which they never did: the last one died in 2014, still on a respirator.  By then, the relevant M-EPIC staffers had all done the usual round of retirement, resignation, reassignment, gone mad themselves, or committed suicide; which meant that nobody was left on this plane of existence who still possessed any institutional memory of the original case.

Continue reading Adventure seed: A Clockwork Yellow. [Delta Green]

Kickstarter and Call of Cthulhu: a Cautionary Tale.

If you’re into crowdfunding and using places like Kickstarter to fund your favorite geekstuff, you’ll want to read this mildly gruesome tale about how Chaosium almost imploded over a successful Kickstart of their Seventh Edition rule set for Call of Cthulhu. Short version: take underestimated international shipping costs and mix it with bad management, flavor to taste with extravagant promises, and then serve it up with a poor choice of corporate HQ (seriously, San Francisco is too expensive to HQ your gaming company). The company only survived because the new management loved Chaosium enough to spend the money needed to save it; great for Chaosium (seriously), but you can’t count on it for your smaller shops.

Via @jefftidball, who sardonically notes that this is why Atlas Games is charging so much for shipping Unknown Armies.  Which is what you have to do, these days. Especially if you’re shipping overseas. There’s a reason why the British gaming companies try to maintain a publishing presence over here, and vice versa.