Just finished @kennethhite’s ‘H.P. Lovecraft: Maker of Modern Horror’ SPACE class.

H.P. Lovecraft: Maker of Modern Horror went on for one month of weekly two-hour sessions. Ken Hite walked us through a selection of Lovecraft’s stories, while discussing HPL’s philosophy and what author’s influenced him. It was worth every penny, but fair warning: if you take a future version of this class, you will find yourself on Kindle afterward, looking up a wide variety of early twentieth century horror fiction. They’re all individually cheap, but the books pile up real quick.

Anyway, it was a good class, with smart people in the discussion. I heartily recommend it. Check out the next one.

#commissionearned

The H.P. Lovecraft: Maker of Modern Horror SPACE Module is confirmed!

I’m looking forward to attending this, next month:

H.P. Lovecraft: Maker of Modern Horror

H.P. Lovecraft revolutionized horror, modernized the Gothic, and created a 20th-century mythology explored by authors from Jorge Luis Borges to Stephen King. This module provides an overview of Lovecraft’s fiction, from his early “Dunsanian” fantasies to his later science fiction masterpieces. Along the way, it touches on Lovecraft’s life and times, his letters and criticism, and other aspects of his thought, but keeps the stories themselves central. We explore Lovecraft’s uses of settings such as “witch-haunted Arkham,” techniques including the near-hoax and “adventurous expectancy,” and his great theme of “cosmic indifference.”

…especially since Ken Hite’s going to be teaching it. There’s still space available: it’ll be on Thursdays in July, from 5-7 PM Eastern Time. It should be a blast and a half.

Check out @kennethhite’s proposed online course on H.P. Lovecraft!

I signed up for this: hopefully it’ll get enough interest to actually run.

Best wishes for Ken Hite’s recovery (he should be fine).

Ken tells the story better than I would…

…although, I have to admit, now that it’s over and he’s not in any danger: it’s all pretty damn metal. Still, keep him in your prayers for a quick recovery.

In the Mail: GURPS HORROR: THE MADNESS DOSSIER.

Purchased by accident, honestly: I forgot it was in the cart. I already had GURPS HORROR: THE MADNESS DOSSIER in digital form, and while I wanted a print copy… well, my family’s weekly grocery bill has gone up by thirty to fifty percent in the last year. One has to be mindful.

Still, it’s a fun concept for a horror game, full of ancient Sumerian gods, brain hacking, and secret conspiracies to keep reality itself from being rewritten. I definitely can recommend it as a sourcebook. Then again, I could have just said, ‘written by Ken Hite,’ and that would have been sufficient.

VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE SECOND INQUISITION PDF now available.

H/T: GeekTyrant. The print version of VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE SECOND INQUISITION isn’t available yet, but Modiphius has released the PDF for it. And third-party vendors too, I guess: at least, I ordered mine through Renegade Game Studios and I’ve downloaded and am reading the PDF right now.

I’ve wanted this one for a while. SECOND INQUISITION is not for playing vampire-hunters in the World of Darkness; if you want that, go play NIGHT’S BLACK AGENTS*. Which you should do anyway, because it’s a cool game. And as I’m sure Ken Hite would readily tell you, too.

Moe Lane

*Well, that turned out to be an expensive link for me. #commissionearned

Book of the Week: Vampire: The Masquerade: Fall of London.

I picked up Vampire: The Masquerade: Fall of London this week, and now I want to run it. The only question is: do I want to run it in VtM — or in Night’s Black Agents, and have the PCs play the vampire hunters of Operation Antigen? Because it’d port over beautifully to NBA.

Go figure.