Monthly Archives: August 2013

NecronomiCon 2013; a few thoughts (part 2)

Mark Morrison transporting us to death under an African sun

Read Part 1

Saturday
I was scheduled to run a game on Saturday at 8 am. The Con staff had inexplicably IDed it as “Delta Green”, despite my attempts to have it correctly named in the program. Nevertheless someone had signed up for my rather generically named event; sadly he was the only one. MrBlueSky (I’m using YSDC forum names) was kind enough to bring a gift all the way from Australia and it went a long way towards appeasing the Homunculus upon my return home later. Since the scenario I had prepared (mostly prepared… it is still a little underdone) demanded at least two characters, he instead had the “privilege” of play-testing my submission to this years DGML Shotgun Scenario contest. I hope he had fun… had fun… had fun… (look a joke only he can get!)

Since that only took about an hour (what can I say, it is short), we then had the good fortune to jump in on a game run by Horror on the Orient Express’ own Mark Morrison – that was the amazing thing about Necronomicon: you could find space in a Call of Cthulhu game GMed by famous (for CoC, I’m not wholly crazy) authors. Hell, my DG game was across from Sandy Peterson’s demo of Cthulhu Wars… such pretty (expensive) ‘miniatures’.

Returning to Mark Morrison – the five of us adjourned to the open air porch and found ourselves in the Kenya wilderness of 1939 in a scenario (unpublished, by Penelope Love) in part based on a Hemingway short story I’ve fortunately never read. The scenario is better than the story, in my opinion, but I must confess in school I found myself rooting for the Sea and not the Old Man. I played Wilson the “great” white hunter and leader of our safari and I came to most sticky end. It was a great game, showing that with good players and a great GM, you can make even a breezy veranda a place of nightmare and terror. (Confidential to M.M. – Dear god, please never make that hyena sound again. Yikes!)

After that MrBlueSky and I were joined by Keeper Murph of the Miskatonic University Podcast (whom listeners to their program will recall I promised a lunch when I was interviewed on the most recent episode). We supped at a nearby tavern, and discussed the state of the game, the weather in Australia (i.e. HOT), GenCon, etc. It was an enjoyable and convivial meal and I was glad to have the chance to talk with both of them. MrBlueSky also made some disturbing hints about a ritual taking place that very evening by the shore of the Providence River, which I unfortunately could not investigate due to my second scheduled game.

Next I returned to the Biltmore to drop off copies of “The Graveyards of Providence” to Tom Lynch who had agreed to sell them at the MRP table. (I still have a few for sale) and browsed the tables, briefly saying hello to Oscar Rios – I should note that I saw several Golden Goblin Press shirts – and then I returned to the Providence to prep for my game that evening.

After getting a chance to peruse the Chaosium booth briefly and drop off some instructions where they might wire my outstanding payments (The Royal Bank of the Caymen Islands, of course), I had the good fortune to listen in on the final hour or so of “The Last Flight of the L58“, as Keepered by Adam Scott Glancy and will hopefully soon appear in print form…

(More Later)

NecronomiCon 2013; a few thoughts (part 1)

The Biltmore, in Lovecraft’s day

This past weekend was NecronomiCon in Providence, the first in over a decade.  I had the good fortune to be able to attend (at least for a few hours) every day and had a wonderful time.  While I have a bit to say about the Con, for those of you in a hurry, I present:

The Executive Summary
It was a very successful con, with only a few minor frustrations. I wished I’d been able to meet more people, but was glad to see those I did. While sometimes the RPG side of things felt a little shunted aside, it was amazing to have a venue in which so many of the people I’ve only known online could meet, talk, and game together.

For those looking for a more details discussion, here’s a recap, day by day followed by additional thoughts…

Continue reading →

NecronomiCon, here I come

I will be in attendance at NecronomiCon in Providence tomorrow and Sunday.  I’ll be running some games, selling copies of my new booklet, shooting the breeze, and generally have a good time (hopefully, I might end up eaten by a gug, but fingers crossed, eh?).

If your in Providence this weekend, look me up!  I’ll be the con-goer not wearing a black t-shirt.

Graveyard Visit – South Cemetery (Shrewsbury)

Shrewsbury is the home to eight cemeteries, including three dating from before 1800. The most obscure of these older burial spots is South Cemetery (aka Grove Street Burial Ground). Now located in a residential neighborhood just slightly south of Route 9, the stones here are in generally poor condition, probably due to a combination of age, stone nature (i.e. marble), and neglect. While there are not any particularly interesting stones, the grounds are interesting, with a large pair of crypts built into the hillside. The hill top is covered in a thick layer of moss and spongy plant life, causing your feet to sink more than one might expect. In a cemetery, this is never a welcome sensation.

Findagrave Entry

We’re number two!

I was reading the latest update from Shane Ivey regarding the Unspeakable Oath’s subscription drive and I noticed that Tomes in Progress was #2 among sites people had listed among web communities for free ads I future issues (and that The Arkham Gazette was #3). Woo hoo! Admittedly we only have one vote for each and trail those handsome devils at Yog-Sothoth.com by 2 huge votes, but still, it would be great to place and get some free publicity.

If you’re still on the fence about subscribing to the Oath– do it for your old pal TiP. I really want to see those unpublished scenarios.

Oaths Spaken and Modiphian Calls

Having already updated my new book arrival post once, I figured I should have new post instead…

The Unspeakable Oath #23 has been unleashed on the world.  More than half of the issue is a lengthy scenario set during the Soviet Coup in 1991.  Get your Spetsnaz action on, Comrades.

Modiphius Entertainment has started their own podcast.  Listen here.

NecronomiCon is but two weeks away and I still need to wrap up my scenario and get some other prep work done. Back to the Brain Cylinder…

Thank you, nameless Postal servitors (Updated)

Look out! The Dover Demon is, uh, mute! Any tiny! And probably not very dangerous!

{Of course as soon as I post something about the mail, I get more things to report.  I’ve added those at the end.}

Whilst enjoying some positive feedback on the Arkham Gazette’s demo issue, I was also fortunate enough to get a batch of books in the mail, so expected, some ordered long ago and forgotten. Let’s have a rundown, shall we?

  • The Unspeakable Oath #22.  Excellent as ever, with a really interesting modern scenario (“Die High”, which is not about a German High School despite the name).  Have you subscribed yet?
  • Stone Structures of New England, a pamphlet about, well, stone structures in New England.  An interesting resource.
  • Monsters of Massachusetts, which sadly doesn’t contain any beasties I’ve not heard of already, but has some interesting scenario building material nevertheless.
  • Shotguns v. Cthulhu, which contains Adam Scott Glancy’s fictional take on my Shotgun Scenario “Last Things Last“.  It is simultaneously thrilling and odd to see what one of the creators of Delta Green does with my little scenario.  I appreciate Scott’s enthusiasm for the scenario and his gentlemanly willingness to split the payment and contributor copies 50/50.
  • Three issues of Lovecraft Studies arrived at long (long long) last from Necronomicon Press (#33, 39, & 41 if you were curious).  I ordered these back in early June, having had my interest piqued about Foxfield, so I went right to the source… that source being Will Murray’s article “Where Was Foxfield” in #33.  Finally!

I’m expecting The Sense of the Sleight of Hand Man any day now (already have PDF but prefer to read the print version)… certain occult signs suggest that Sixtystone Press’ first book will see print soon as well.  I’ve got a lot of good reading ahead of me… now I just need to get my scenarios ready for NecronomiCon.

I’ve enrolled at Miskatonic University…

Podcast!

The friendly folks at the Miskatonic University Podcast invited me to join them for their newest episode (curiously, #37). In it we discuss a lot of topics, first and foremost being the newly launched Arkham Gazette, but also including graveyards, the Aylesbury Pike, my disdain for people who sell ghost story collections based on stories told by drunken teenagers.   I also promised to buy Murph a meal at NecronomiCon.

It was really lovely for the MUP gang to invite me onto the show and I had a great time chatting with the hosts, even if it was at a time only favored by the insane.  Thanks guys.  I hope to be back at some point… maybe when we have our next issue ready?