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.

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Unspeakable Oath subscriber drive and more

As ever, as soon as I post some Lovecraftian RPG news, there’s even more to share…

• The Good Friends of Jackson Elias have released their 7th episode, this time talking about how they discovered both Call of Cthulhu and Lovecraft himself.
• NecronomiCon have opening up their (somewhat disappointingly small) gaming registration.  I’m running two games on Saturday the 24th.  Hopefully I can make time to play something on one of the other days…
• ENnie Award Voting is still open through the 29th.  Vote now for the many wonderful Lovecraftian products of the past year.  If you don’t vote, you risk being eaten by a Yugg.
• Shane Ivey at Arc Dream has announced a subscriber drive for the Unspeakable Oath.  I’m a big fan of the Oath (and not just because they publish my work) and hope that anyone reading this blog who isn’t already a subscriber to the Oath will become one.  Tell them ‘Tomes in Progress’ sent you.  Don’t make Hecubus angry.
• Finally, I’ve just about wrapped up work on the Arkham Gazette.  Look for it very soon.

New Podcast link: Miskatonic University Podcast

Please excuse poor Hecubus, he’s having a nap.

While we continue to await the release of our long-demanded next episode of the the Unspeakable Oath podcast, I have taken to listening to other Lovecraftian productions, as time allows. Today I’m adding a link to the Miskatonic University podcast. In each episode (13 so far, how propitious!) the three Keepers/Hosts discuss various topics of interest to Lovecraftian gamers (Keepers in particular). In recent episodes they have added dedicated segments, such as the enjoyable M.U. history presentation, giving the show a more polished feel. I do wish they would do a tiny bit more research sometimes… their discussion of the Deep Ones in a recent episode totally neglected to mention Dennis Detwiller’s excellent ‘Black Cod Island’, from Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity, for example… And more importantly they were unaware of Escape from Innsmouth!!!  Good luck gents and ‘Go Pods’ (though again, minor quibble, the real M.U. mascot is the Badger, iirc).

How many synonyms for ‘potpouri’ are there?

No earth-shattering news, but since it has been about a week since my last update, I figured it was time to post my meager bits of new information:

• I have continued to add and expand the Massachusetts Graveyards page; in addition to expanded notes about resources I’ve also continued to enlarge my listing of sites for Middlesex County. I’m now up through the Ns.
• I managed, for the first time in a long time, to get to the library and do a little research. I found a copy of Inscriptions from Burial Grounds of the Nashsway Towns, which is a compilation from Lancaster and all its ‘daughter’ towns, which includes portion of gravestone inscriptions, some cemetery information, a little on some local gravestone carvers, and whatever the local historical society saw fit to include.  It is very helpful in those cases where they saw fit to include information about the history of a town’s graveyards (like for Sterling).  Still, it is odd when local historians overlook facts I’ve learned elsewhere (Lancaster’s cemetery list omits one family plot, Harvard’s records neglect the burials at the Still River church… for example)
• There has been an update from Thomas Phinney regarding Cristoforo, including a spiffy contributor only limited preview.  I must confess I had the pleasure of playing around with seeing a few of my titles up in ‘Cthulhu font’.  Looking forward to seeing the finished version in the fall.
• It looks like Goodman games has another Cthulhu release in the works – The Timeless Sands of India.  I would normally not mention yet-to-be-released products (though there have been so few of late) but the author, Jon Hook, and the editor, Matthew Pook, were contributors to the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion, so plugging their book is the least I can do. {For the record Jon did the layout for our pre-gens, while Mr. Pook wrote, edited, and provided much moral support}.  Also, India is a seriously neglected corner of the world when it comes to Cthulhu gaming (a few brief sections of Spawn of Azathoth and Tatters of the King aside… and Mysteries of the Raj, a book I’ve not read) so anything set in the subcontinent is going to garner my interest.

  

• Voting for the ENnies is going on now.  Call and Trail of Cthulhu are well represented; give them some love, yes?
• LATE DEVELOPMENT: Shane Ivey is now reporting reception of our psychic emanations!  Behold: “Did I hear that correctly in the whispers the night brought me?”  Keep up the meditative focus people (and people-like entities)!