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Showing posts from July, 2017

Inspirational Artefact: General Montcalm's Skull

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I saw this, and had to post it. As a relic/artefact. Who was Montcalm ? Preserved as a relic by the Ursuline Order. Find a grave link . The skull was finally buried in 2001. ( link1 )( link2 ) A skull as such doesn't make such a great Call of Cthulhu artefact, as it is human in origin, not mythos related. It would make a great item to be used in Unknown Armies . Of course, in a Call of Cthulhu game, it may be on show, labelled as Montcalm's skull, but the cultists know, or at least believe it to actually be the skull of a great shaman and cult leader. The skull itself may not actually have power, but the possession of it can be used as an identifier, or bargaining tool with a being of power, thereby allowing the cult access to something they do not yet have. The investigators could be hired to find the stolen skull, and thereby are in a race against time to find it before the cult accesses what it wants. Otherwise, the cult succeeds in it's plan, unlea

Kickstarter: Tour de Lovecraft by Ken Hite

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What's that? Three posts in as many days? Why yes, I am being rather productive over here, though it as, as it must be, at the detriment to my other areas of hobby interest. I have been on the lookout for a paper copy of Kenneth Hite's book, Tour de Lovecraft: The Tales , for some time now, but it is out of print, and I am not looking for it so much that I'm willing for pay over the odds for a copy. yes, I could buy an eBook, but quyite frankly, I never get round to reading those. This has now been remedied, in spades, with the launch of a new Kickstarter my Atomic Overmind Press . Where they are looking to print the second volume of Tour de Lovecraft: The Destinations. With this, the first stretch goal is the re-release of The first volume: the Tales. Problem solved! Needless to say, I have backed this Kickstarter, and look forward to it's success. This also means that I now have the pdf version of the original book, to read through before Neconomicon in Aug

From Cthulhu to Christ

Not my usual browsing space, but I share here a link to a post on Christ and Pop Culture . A bi-weekly magazine with the mission to: ...edify the Church, glorify God, and witness to the world by encouraging and modeling a biblical presence within culture that is characterized by nuance and appreciation while resisting the extremes of thoughtless condemnation and uncritical embrace. We stand on the Gospel and exist for the church. Anyway, without further comment, I direct you to the article From Cthulhu to Christ . The article gives a nice overview of Lovecraft and his work, and it is always interesting to read from an alternative viewpoint, and to "Why H. P. Lovecraft’s Cosmic Despair Is Still Worth Reading".

Pic of the Day: First Diving Suit

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I've recently been on a trip to Long Island, NY, and came back with a few ideas to put together, maybe for a scenario. In the meantime, here's a wonderful picture that I came across of the first diving suit, tested in the Long Island sound. An older Chester E MacDuffee may be making an appearance as an NPC Pictured here is Chester E. Macduffee and his newly-patented creation, the diving suit.  It was made of aluminum alloy and weighed over 550 pounds, which is exactly the kind of thing you want to be strapped into when you’re thrown into the ocean.  The invention did help advance deep-sea diving when, in 1914, the suit reached new depths of 212 feet in the Long Island Sound.

The Adventuress

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The Adventuress Arthur B Reeve  (1880-1936) First published in 1917, 220 pages. I found this little hardback book, and was initially attracted to the cover. The reason being that they book is published with the original 1930s cover. The original 1917 cover is on the back. I had never heard of Arthur B Reeve before, but the inside cover of the book describes him as: a New York author and criminologist, whose creation, the scientific detective Craig Kennedy, became famous as "the American Sherlock Holmes". Reeve's cutting edge stories, newspaper serials and movies about Craig Kennedy made him the most popular detective writer of the era, and The Adventuress was his first full-length novel. I was interested by that description on many counts, and the foreword expanded upon this by suggesting that his use of cutting edge technology was what made him so well loved at the time, but may also have counted against his longevity, as it has not aged well.