A return to abnormalcy

The downside of a just-for-kicks blog is that when those times arise when you are kick deprived or even kick deficient, you have to let things slide a while. I’m hoping no one was too badly put out that my updates have been quasi-monthly of late.

Autoduel!!!In a nutshell – the whole of the the Tomes in Progress crew (i.e. me, the homunculus, and the mother of the homunculus) have moved westward, in a manner not wholly unlike the narrator of “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” (i.e. from New England to the Midwest, though thankfully no ichthyoid transformations have occurred). This took a couple of months to arrange, enact, and recover from. Leaving behind friends and family, as well as a home you’ve lived in for close to a decade is trying. It is only now that we have that wonderful conjunction of technology and time which allows me to, hopefully, restart blogging on a more regular basis. I fear though that the black squirrels that control my lawn are not my friends…

A bit of my gaming work has suffered, as is to be expected with a low (or no) pay sideline. My scenario for the forthcoming London Boxed Set had to be dropped. While I’m happy I got to make a small submission to that really excellent looking project, I wish I’d been able to wrap that up. I want to offer my thanks to Cubicle 7 and the magnanimous Stuart Boon in particular for being more than understanding. It may see the light of day somewhere, someday. Keep your fingers crossed.

The Arkham Gazette has been slowed but not stopped. The nice thing about working on a magazine is that there are lots of little projects that can be done, even in very short bursts. I’ve posted about the next issue’s status and sincerely hope to finish it up before the month is out. We’re still taking submissions for future issues, of course, with issue 3 most likely going to be focused on witches and witchcraft in Lovecraft Country.  I may talk the Miskatonic University Podcast crew into interviewing me about the next issue as well.  (By the way – their new ;yearbook’ Cephalophobia is beautiful.)

As for near term gaming news, aside from the Arkham Gazette I’ve got a couple pieces submitted to the Unspeakable Oath so I hope to have something in the next issue, which is supposed to be released shortly. A recent Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff episode spurred me to start yet another piece for the Oath as well. I hope to have news about the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion print release soon as well. Watch this space… and Yog-Sothoth.com, since they get several order of magnitude more readers than I. There are one or two other long-dormant projects that have begun to quicken recently as well, though I cannot say more… yet.

I think the list of new Lovecraftian RPG products is up to date, at least it will be once I sort out the PDF dump the Modiphius crew put out recently. If I’ve missed something, let me know.

Speaking of which, if I owe you an email or a call, bear with me a little while longer or feel free to remind me to do so. Hopefully the stars will remain rights for a while.

Views and reviews

Hey, I’ve had my 3000th page view.  Yippee!  Thank you Chinese spam sites, graveyard junkies, Cthulhu fans, and one guy in Albania.

In other news, there have been some positive reviews of my article “Saucer Attack 1928: The Dunwich ‘Horror'”:

My favorite is “Saucer Attack 1928!” which ties the events of The Dunwich Horror to the UFO craze. – Ed Grabianowski, Robot Viking

and

“Saucer Attack 1928! The Dunwich ‘Horror’” is… a very funny idea for a book that definitely is outside the box… I’m not sure I’d ever use it (I rarely play in or run modern era games of COC. Delta Green though…). Still this is exactly what COC needs after thirty-one years: things that stay true to the old conventions while giving them a new twist rather than relying on the clichéd trappings.  – Alex Lucard (is that an anagram?) at Diehard Gamefan

Hello Albania!

Isn’t he adorable?

Assorted news of a most propitious sort! Take it away Manservant Hecubus!

  • As previously mentioned, all the proof-readers have returned their sections of the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion.  I will have more news once I have heard back from Adam Crossingham about how things are progressing.
  • After having someone actually commenting on my page about Massachsuetts graveyards, I have updated my annotated list of sources, including useful books and websites.  Give it a look.  I hope to find the time to visit the remaining graveyards of Worcester County – Royalston, here we come?
  • Our psychic efforts to attract the attention of the Unspeakable Oath gang have succeeded!  I  received an email from Shane Ivey… regarding another matter, but still… and he, no doubt feeling the untold psionic pressure of my readership, said that they’d try to get another episode finished soon, by Gencon at the latest.  Huzzah!
  • In totally unrelated news, I might have something in the next issue of the Unspeakable Oath.
  • Finally, I would like to welcome our first reader from Albania.  Përshëndetje! Na vjen keq për Hoxhën!

 

What the world needs now…

Is probably not a new blog, but since when has the wold been given what it needs, eh?

So, since I was using my other (semi-used) blog Reading the DMG to discuss my rpg writing projects, I decided it might be of use to craft a separate blog solely devoted to that topic and leave poor ‘Reading’ its own special, if not oft visited of late, place in the sun.

Here I will discuss projects I’m working on, muse on issues I’m pondering related to said projects, and otherwise keep interested parties abreast on my progress on various writing fronts.

This begs the question, “what are you working on, buster?”

Project 0 (I call it that because the writing portion is done) : The Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion.

My ‘go-to’ project since January of 2007, this monstrosity (over 200,000 words – yikes) is now in the hands of our able layout smith.  When there is more news (like a confirmed release date, or perhaps a preview) I’ll post a notice here.  Likewise, we’re releasing a few freebies for Patrons (note the ‘P’) of Yog-Sothoth.com, mainly consisting of bonus pre-generated characters, as created by Matthew Pook.

Project 1 : Machine Tractor Station Kharkov-37, version 2.0  (link goes to the current 1.1 version monograph on Chaosium’s site)

Shhh.  It has not been officially announced, but I’d like to get reader feedback while  I’m rewriting it to be, hopefully, turned into a real book.  This was originally planned to be done last year, but delays w/ Project 0 slowed me down so I’m only now turning my gaze back to it.  The core story (Mythos horrors in 1930s Russia) will remain, but I’m open to making changes that aren’t wholly cosmetic.

Project 2: Call of Cthulhu Sourcebook of unspeakable nature.

I’m just starting to craft the outline of this project in my head, so all I will say about it for now is that it is a sourcebook (rather than a campaign, scenario collection, or location guidebook) for Call of Cthulhu.  When I can say more, I shall.

Other stuff in the works:

I’ve got my inky fingers in several other pies, though these are projects I’ve contributed to and am not either editing or the primary author.

More Adventures in Arkham Country (from my friends at Miskatonic River Press) contains my scenario “Ghosts of the Florentina”, a Classic (1920s) era Lovecraft Country scenario featuring a haunted theater in the fog-shrouded city of Kingsport.  Pre-order it now (please?)

Ghouls: Eaters of the Dead, by Dan Harms, from Sixtystone Press. Need it be said this is a sourcebook on ghouls?  The vast bulk of this work is by the inestimable Dan Harms; my contributions are some minor bits and bobs, perhaps a short scenario depending on what Sixtystone decides to do with it.

Fury of Yig, also by Dan Harms from Sixtystone Press.  A modern day CoC campaign, focused on the machinations of Yig.  I did a wee bit more for this book, focusing on dressing up a few of the tomes one might find during his excellent campaign.