What a year (part 2)

Continuing on…

Innsmouth House Press
The Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion {PDF}

I edited all of and wrote much of this titanic project. Hopefully I will be able to announce a print version soon.

Miskatonic River Press
Tales of the Sleepless City

MRP’s swan song (not counting the delayed “Punktown”), Tales was bittersweet; a great book but one that marked the end of a publisher. Unlike the forgettable scenarios included with Secrets of New York, it managed to wed the Cthulhu Mythos to its New York setting in a way that would no doubt driven Lovecraft from Brooklyn even faster. If you are running Masks of Nyarlathotep or want a change of pace from remote places or rural New England, give this book a look.

Modiphius
The Trellborg Monstrosities {PDF}
Achtung Cthulhu: Keeper’s Guide to the Secret War {PDF}
Achtung Cthulhu: Investigator’s Guide to the Secret War {PDF}

As per my comments about World War Cthulhu yesterday, while I’m very glad that Modiphius has had great success, this series simply didn’t capture my imagination. Perhaps some day I’ll pick up a copy and be swayed.

Pelgrane Press
The Final Revelation

I’ve read (and enjoyed) all but the framing scenario when they were published previously, but I wanted to have a reading copy so I can keep my limited edition Dragonmeet copies up on the shelf. I should probably read that framing scenario…

Eternal Lies {PDF}

Time for another confession… I can’t get into this. There is something so clinical about most Trail of Cthulhu scenarios that they simply are not, unlike Call of Cthulhu ones, fun to read. It’s like reading a grocery list merged with a horror story. Maybe it was the overall plot (which reviewers have appropriately avoided spoiling and I will do likewise) but I’ve still not finished it despite making a couple attempts. I should read it since it is Trail’s first campaign and I’m curious to see how they handle an on-going game.

Sentinel Hill Press
The Arkham Gazette #0 (PDF)
The Arkham Gazette #1 (PDF)

Wrote and edited most of these two. Give them a read!

Sixtystone Press
Lost in the Lights (PDF only)

An interesting, well-written and attractively presented modern scenario. Wondering why it still hasn’t come out in print.

Investigator Weapons, Vol. 1 (Classic era)

Essential for any Classic era game. Hans knows his stuff but this isn’t a dry catalog of weapon stats and damage tables. This presents weapons as historical artifacts that enriches your game, not just adds nifty kill machines, by giving you the context to the weapon and a deeper understanding of how they function. If you’re like me and aren’t someone with a lot of experience with weapons (reading that polearm table in Unearthed Arcana counts as experience, yes?) this is fascinating.

Solace Games
Fungi Mine (PDF)

I tend not to read PDF-only release. I may pick this up at some point, but I am in no rush.

Tomorrow, Chaosium and perhaps additional comments.

Farewell to Miskatonic River Press

Farewell MRP 😦

It has been announced via an interview on Yog-Sothoth.com that Miskatonic River Press is going to shutter (possibly forever) as a publisher once they wrap up some of their current projects.  As someone who has written for MRP and worked with Tom Lynch (who will focus on his teaching career) I wanted to post my best wishes to Tom and express my sadness at the passing of this CoC licensee.  Tom cites lack of time, ever-growing cost of shipping (especially international), and poor sales (in large part due to shipping costs).  If you haven’t picked up Tales of the Sleepless City (or any other of MRP’s books) I recommend doing so now.  I do not know what the fate of Forgotten Corners of Lovecraft Country Vol. 1 (aka the Aylesbury Book), a book to which I have contributed, will be unfortunately.

I hope that the Arkham Gazette, which I hope to have the first issue of done soon, will carry on a small part of the MRP legacy.

Six years of the Masks Companion and other news

The Companion

It is a little hard for me to comprehend, but I’ve been working on the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion for over six years now.  Damn.  In that interval I’ve lost two cats, created a homunculus, and eaten a great deal of pudding.  I hope to have news to announce soon… good news.

In other news Arc Dream has announced its production schedule for 2013, including (ideally) four (!!) new issues of the Unspeakable Oath, release The Sense of the Sleight of Hand Man, and a bunch of other stuff.  Hopefully I’ll wrap up my latest submission to the Oath and it will see print soon.  I think it is one of the creepier things I’ve written.

The Dan Harms media empire also had similar news about his Ghouls sourcebook, Tales of the Sleepless City, some secret project (oooooh!), and a bunch of non-fiction about magic (an oxymoron I suspect, save from an academic perspective).

The DGML Shotgun scenario contest has wrapped with a total of six entries.  Members should vote now.

Omnibus catch-up

I’ve had a myriad of items to report here to my corner of Blogsylvania.  Life has kept me away, but I have declared “No More!”  Of course, I started this post when it was still September, so you might infer from that how well I can slap life around.  Let’s get cracking!

  • Paul Maclean of Yog-Sothoth.com was extraordinarily generous and sent me a copy of The Express Diaries as a thanks for my ‘work’ as a moderator at the site.  What a splendid book!  Now if I only could stay awake for more than 10 minutes after laying down for the evening…  Speaking of slow reading pace-
  • I’ve been very slowly working my way through Bumps in the Night and am generally enjoying it.  My favorite scenario so far the the Westerfield Incident but I’m only about 1/2 way through the book and two scenarios and change are yet to come.  John Crowe 3 definitely has a style of scenario, which I generally like.  Now if he might only be convinced to allow his work to be sold as a PDF…
  • Various Kickstarter projects continue to progress.  Chaosium managed to raise in excess of $200,000 for their revamp of Horror on the Orient Express.  Updates for both Cristoforo and Sense of the Sleight of Hand Man suggest those two projects are moving forward satisfactorily as well.  Excelsior!
  • My friends at Miskatonic River Press have started taking pre-orders for Tales of the Sleepless City, their newest scenario collection.  Check it out.
  • I’ve slowly been adding to my Massachusetts graveyard maps.  In addition to Worcester County and Middlesex County which I’d finished previously, I’ve completed Norfolk County and am making progress on Hampden.
  • I’ve been compiling a list of all the CoC scenarios set in New England.  When I have it something closer to done I’ll share it
  • Speaking of, I’ve got some gaming news, all of it forcibly ambiguous… a cult for Delta Green… an old work in translation… a new [redacted]… fun stuff.
  • Finally, yay October!  What candy do I buy for… the kids?