Tag Archives: Feed the Shoggoth

Hurtling into the void of a New Year

130227173855-black-hole-super-169(Technically we are always hurtling into a near void, as our solar system spins along on the outer edges of the Milky Way, itself tumbling ever outwards… maybe I shouldn’t have watched all those episodes of the Expanse last night?)

So, 2015 has come and gone and 2016 is rapidly piling up on my doorstep.  Happily with the new year comes actual progress on various fronts, some at a satisfactory speed, others at a rate that only a geologist could love.  Nevertheless, part of that work is updating ye old blog.  To that point I’ve updated a few bits and pieces here including:

  • Checking the various links on the right-hand side of the page.  I deleted a few defunct ones, noted the date of last posting if a personal blog’s not been updated in more than a year (in blogging terms that suggests a blog is dead, but that more an art than a science), and added a link to Hans-Christian Vortisch’s new blog “Shooting Dice” which is about RPGs and firearms… appropriate considering he’s the author of Investigator Weapons Vols 1 & 2 for Sixtystone Press.
  • I’ve also updated my list of Lovecraftian RPG products for 2015.  It is a rather idiosyncratic list of products and I am sure I’ve missed something, so I’ll probably update it at some near point.  I don’t know if I’ll run down the various books for 2015 at any point as I’ve not actually purchased all of them and my time is at a premium of late.

Golden Goblin Press unleashed one more product under the calendrical wire for 2015, making the scenario “Goblin on Bourbon Street” available via the GGP website for $5.  This is apparently a convention scenario the GGP crew has run multiple times and a not-quite-reached stretch goal from the Tales of the Crescent City kickstarter.  I don’t know the page count of the scenario or much beyond the blurb:

When four people turn up dead of an apparent wild animal attack in the French Quarter of New Orleans the police are quick to close this case. If that weren’t strange enough one of the dead is reported to be a Mordechai Whateley of Massachusetts. Could he be from the decayed line of the Dunwich Whateleys, rumored in certain circles to be a powerful clan of degenerate sorcerers? Things just don’t add up and nobody really seems to care. It’s clear, to the investigators at least, that something dark and dangerous is at work here. If they don’t get to the bottom of this mystery no one else will.

cydotanukaai4uy

I am oddly fond of this card…

In other gaming news, Squamous Studious is now offering the public a chance to buy their excellent and amusing card game ‘Feed the Shoggoth’.  In the game each player takes on the role of a cult leader (the cults being very familiar to Call of Cthulhu players I suspect) with the goal of being the last one standing once everyone else has been devoured by the titular shoggoth.  $20 (and shipping) gets you fine Lovecraftian amusement, perfect when some of your gaming group is late or you’re waiting in a crypt until the ghouls finally awaken.  I played it at Necronomicon 2013 and am a very satisfied Kickstarter backer.  Check it out.

Keeping a Festival all its own (for ten years now!) the Delta Green Mailing List had its annual Shotgun Scenario competition.  There were 12 entries this year and I look forward to seeing which one is chosen by the DGML readers as the winner.  Check out this year’s entries (and vote for your favorite) HERE.

And, finally, what madness has come up in the realms of podcastery since our last post?

Post-Yule Post

Shockingly, between the Arkham Gazette Kickstarter (48 hours to go!) and other seasonal obligations, I’ve had scant little time to update good old Tomes in Progress.  Sorry!

So, here’s what has been going on in the world of Lovecraftian roleplaying games.

In other news, Shane Ivey might possibly have had the best Christmas of us all.  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Finally, a bit of seasonal poetry from HPL himself:

Festival

by H.P. Lovecraft

There is snow on the ground,
And the valleys are cold,
And a midnight profound
Blackly squats o’er the wold;
But a light on the hilltops half-seen hints of feastings unhallow’d and old.

There is death in the clouds,
There is fear in the night,
For the dead in their shrouds
Hail the sun’s turning flight,
And chant wild in the woods as they dance round a Yule-altar fungous and white.

To no gale of earth’s kind
Sways the forest of oak,
Where the sick boughs entwin’d
By mad mistletoes choke,
For these pow’rs are the pow’rs of the dark, from the graves of the lost Druid-folk.

And mayst thou to such deeds
Be an abbot and priest,
Singing cannibal greeds
At each devil-wrought feast,
And to all the incredulous world shewing dimly the sign of the beast.

How many Hit Dice do Smorgasbords have?

We’ve got a smorgasbord of Lovecraftian RPG stuff to note.  Grab a plate and make your own feast:

  • The ENnie nominations have been announced.  Of particular interest to me are the Best Adventure nominations for the Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Quick-start rules for best freebie, The Sense of the Sleight-of-Hand Man and Eternal Lies, Ken and Robin Talk about Stuff for Best Podcast, and Achtung! Cthulhu’s Keeper’s Guide to the Secret War for cover art, writing, and product of the year.  Voting starts July 20th.
  • Manservant Hecubus reports that a new episode of the Unspeakable Oath podcast was recorded over the weekend, with special guest Ryan Macklin.  It is expected to be released in a few days.
  • Do you want your own (mini) Sedefkar Simulacrum?  (For only 35,000€ you can have a ‘life-sized’ one.)
  • This is an ad in the new issue of the Unspeakable Oath (you’ve picked up your copy, yes?) suggesting that there will be a Kickstarter for the long awaited Horrors of War this summer.  Fingers crossed?
  • Want another fundraiser?  Dennis Detwiller has launched a Patreon account (? not sure what term to use here).  In short, you can pledge a fixed amount to Dennis every time he creates new content for Delta Green.  His initial goal is $750 but if he gets to $5000 he’ll devote himself to Delta Green full time.
  • Feed the Shoggoth’s Kickstarter is drawing to a close and our last question is how many stretch goals it will hit.
  • In the realm of completed fundraisers, Dave Sokolowksi (one of the many contributors to The Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion) has publicly released He Who Laughs Last(in PDF), a scenario for Cthulhu Dark.

That’s it for now.  Stay frosty.

Camping is a thing in the summer, right?

S’mores!

Gather ’round children, and let us tell a tale of gaming news…

Chaosium’s website revamp has finally been completed (though there appear to be a few hiccups). They’ve got a new BRP sourcebook for using varieties of Western magic in a game.

The Miskatonic University Podcast crew have put out a new episode (sans Keeper Murph, no doubt out harvesting wild mushrooms or building a brass war-golem, the usual stuff) providing their usual news roundup, Gef the talking mongoose, rat-things (including a source of inspiration I proposed), and the hosts discuss what draws them to the Cthulhu Mythos.

Feed the Shoggoth met its initial funding goal. Woot.

Golden Goblin Press’ Tales of the Crescent City backer release got a very favorable review from DieHard GameFan. They also had a preview for one of the stretch-goals for their next Kickstarter De Horrore Cosmico – Terror on the Borderlands, a series of four loosely connected scenarios set in the Near East.

Yog-Sothoth.com is having a fundraiser to cover travel expenses and to supply new material for good old Yoggi.e

I’ve added entries for the Arkham Gazette to rpggeek.com; give it a look and rate the magazine if you’re a member.

“It’s Friday, I’m in Love(craft)”

Cue the bullet points!

  • As June segues into July, we finally have started to see some actual Call of Cthulhu releases (at least available to a few of us). I’ve only started digging into my backer PDF copy of Tales of the Crescent City, but I’m really enjoying it so far. I look forward to getting my print copy shortly.  Oscar, apparently having made some dark pact with the forces of the Mythos, is not just gearing up for the Kickstarter for their Invictus scenario collection De Horrore Cosmico, but is already plotting their next book.  I maaaaay have been one of those people he emailed…
  • Curious what the the first poster for NecronomiCon 2015 will look like?  Behold! (as an added bonus, there’s also a timeline for HPL in 1915 at that site.)
  • Help get the next issue of the Arkham Gazette out before 2015 – I’m always looking for submissions.
  • As for Podcasts, only one this time – Ken and Robin talked about… Mummies, George V vs. the Flying Dutchman, and an interview so historically geeky that it put a smile on my face.  Dissolution of the monasteries?  My catnip!
  • The Kickstarter for Feed the Shoggoth is only (as of this moment) $805 from its funding goal.  Don’t make me fund the rest, gang…
  • Oh look, as a backer of the Failed Anatomies Kickstarter, I got an email with a PDF to playtest the new Delta Green rules… Hmm… “This manuscript is confidential and under copyright. Do not distribute it to anyone else…”  Eh, who cares what that says, I’m going to spoil this thing… wait… someone at the door?  Candygram?  I didn’t order a—

    This /might/ be what I saw at the door. Folks, do NOT mess with the Delta Green partnership.

The Shoggoth is Unleashed! (and less monstrous news)

(Please excuse the perfunctory version of this I posted last night.)

Let’s gather up the news, shall we?

Herber’s Notes, Kults, and Shoggoths

Some sample “Feed the Shoggoth” cards

A few items from the grab bag today:

  • Paul of Cthulhu is selling off some of his CoC manuscript collection to raise money to cover server costs – Trail of Tsathoggua and Goatswood and Less Pleasant Places are both on the block.  I wish I had the spare change to grab the former.
  • Speaking of manuscripts – Paul has also made available to Community Patrons at YSDC a glimpse of the various developmental material Keith gave him, including notes for Arkham Unveiled, Return to Dunwich, and several scenarios.  Really a delight to see it all.
  • The Good Friends of Jackson Elias have released another episode, the second in their series about their favorite non-CoC horror games; this time they talk about Kult.  Fun fact, I played Kult once and only after figured out it was based on Gnosticism.  I thought it was just mopey because it was Swedish.
  • Finally, the Kickstarter for Badger McInnes’ “Feed the Shoggoth” card game is getting closer.  Check out some preview material here on the Facebook page.

NecronomiCon 2013; a few thoughts (part 3)

Where was I? (Part 1, Part 2)

Philatelists of the World, Unite!

Ah yes…  After listening in on the end of Adam Scott Glancy’s game, I took the opportunity to introduce myself and we spent a few moments chatting.  He filled me in on the near-future plans for Pagan and Delta Green, including plans to split the WWI book up into two parts and to fund it with a Kickstarter, the status of the stand alone Delta Green game, the minutia of Zeppelin warfare and the Far Eastern Republic.  Sadly our conversation had to end after a short while as he had places to be, like so many at NecronomiCon.  It is pretty hard to beat having one of the creators of Delta Green tell you that he really likes your scenarios.

I then joined in (with Keeper Murph of the Misk. U. Podcast) in a fun game of Feed the Shoggoth, a card game which ‘Badger’ McInnes (his credits, his blog) has been developing.  I’m not much of a card game guy, but I was very pleasantly surprised at how quickly I learned the rules and how much fun we had in our short game.  I don’t know if my impression was skewed by winning the game, but I do know that I’m looking forward to when he launches his Kickstarter so I can order myself a copy.

Since time has gotten away from me and it is over a week since these events passed, I  don’t clearly recall what I did next.  I think I popped back over the Biltmore briefly before I settled back in at the Providence to prep for my game that evening.  I do know that I shouldn’t have skipped dinner.  As six approached (the start time for my game) I was in a bit of a worry as the ballroom I was scheduled to run Machine Tractor Station Kharkov-37 had been reassigned to the good lads at HPPodcraft for their live show (which is sad since I’d backed the Kickstarter but couldn’t go due to being double-booked).  After some questioning of the Minions (the Con kind, not the yellow cross-promotional toy kind) I determined my game had been moved upstairs instead.

Good old Machine Tractor Station Kharkov-37.  So many dead Soviets… but I’ll save that for next time.