Mysteries of Montreal

I just had to go through a very uncomfortable and unpleasant experience. That of uninviting a player from my group. This is an experience I wish on no-one, and mostly because I have experienced in from the other side of the table. Of course I write this from my point of view, but I can imagine how the other party feels. We are social animals, and social exclusion is a very serious weapon if used the wrong way, and not something I would ever, ever do lightly. I did turn to the web for advice on how best to manage this, and there is not much to be found, but I did find this blog entry on the subject . Though there really is no formula to use for this kind of thing, as each individual case is different. Have any of you had experience of this from either side of the GM screen? If so, I'd love to hear about it.

I don't post after game reports on my ongoing Horror on the Orient Express game, but since my player posted these all over his social media last night, I though it appropriate to share. He was so proud. The party took on the Anatolian Dragon, in the underground water system of Constantinople during the 4th Crusade, thereby saving the Frankish invaders from the beast, summoned to save the Greek populace. Slaying a dragon in any RPG is a big deal. To do so in Call of Cthulhu requires extra kudos, don't you think?

Who? That was my question, up until quite recently, but I have been schoolong myself in Pontine lore. Pontine, what a great word! Though I must admit, I keep reading it as Poutine. I have my collections of Mythos Tomes, by various authors (which is by no means complete), and of course my Sherlockian works, but I quite recently discovered the series of tales that could in some ways be seen as the original point of contact of these two universes, the Solar Pons stories. Solar Pons was a character created by Lovecraft's friend, correspondant, and later publisher through his company Arkham House, August Derleth . Derleth of course wrote his own, much maligned, mythos tales, but let's not go down that rabbit hole here. Derleth also wanted to write Holmes tales. Indeed he contacted Doyle, to ask if he could take oer the series aftr Doyle had finished with Holmes, but Doyle declined (no doubt Derleth was not the only young author to contact Doyle about this, so I'm not p...

Just backed another Kickstarte r. " Children will always be afraid of the dark ." - H.P. Lovecraft Do you remember what it was like to be a kid?  When in every shadow there might lurk a monster?  When a nightmare might be escaped from by diving under your blankets?  When the morning light brought escape from all your fears... for a little while? In The Dare , players take the role of a group of average kids who are forced by their neighborhood bully to spend the night in the dreadful (and haunted!) Barnaker house.  This being Call of Cthulhu, there are actually things in the house far more dangerous than even the most terrified child might imagine.  The kids must then work together to explore the nightmarish old Barnaker house and investigate its mysteries if they hope to survive until the morning. This has a few things going for it that made it a no brainer. A one shot adventure, written by Kevin Ross, based in the 1980s (so getting in on that retro ...

Please excuse the delay between the rest of the NecronomiCon posts and this one. There is no good reason for it other than life getting in the way. These were taken whilst wandering round the town on various days, either as part of the bus tour, or just walking. Unfortunately I did not make it onto the walking tour. Maybe next time. The image above is a view of the two main hotels of the Con. On the Right, the Omni, where Kris and I were staying, and on the left, the Biltmore, where the bulk of the literature talks were, as well as the gaming room on the 18th floor. The Biltmore is supposedly haunted, by quite a number of ghosts, but we didn't run into any. Inside the Biltmore, are some ver old elevators, including one in the central lobby with the sign opposite attached. Yes that's right, it is an unused glass elevator, to be used for time travel only. No I don't know what they mean (please excuse the fuzzy picure). The bus tour I took, went around some of the mor...

I have mentioned the work of this artist before, and backed her first Kickstarter, the results of which I'm using at the table right now in my HotOE game. As as her 3rd Kickstarter is nearing a successful close, I thought I would post to tell you all of the latest work by Delphes Desoivres on the  The Props of Nyarlathotep, New York and Kenya Kickstarter. I'm not in a position to drop too much money on this one, but I thought the tattoos were a wonderful idea, and I might yet go in for the Scar of the Bloody Tongue latex prosthetic. I love the Mask of Hyama she has designed here, this version of the artefact is unique, and the idea of making a latex version that fits to the players head when they inevitably try to wear the mask is inspired. There are 4 days left on the clock on this one, so still plenty of time to get in on it!

We made it to the end. A post a day. What an achievement. Want to know a secret? I wrote most of these posts in the first few days of the month, then scheduled them all to post one a day as I knew I would never be able to keep up the momentum (except for the 19th, where I was in Providence). Is that cheating? I don't care! Anyway, on with the last question of this year's RPG a Day challenge: Question 31: What do you anticipate most for gaming in 2018? Playing. That's all I can really ask for in the next year is to continue gaming with friends. All the rest is just icing on the cake.

Question 30: What is an RPG genre-mashup you would mostly like to see? Oh goodness. Mash-ups are not my strong point, certainly not the obvious ones. I do use inspiration from all genres in my games, but I tend to find 'mash-ups' can be sometimes glaring and incongruous when not done well. Keeping this on topic, at least for this blog, and looking at the Mythos, it seems that the very nature of the Mythos means that it fits well with almost every other genre, in a way that it has already been done. D20 fantasy style? Already done with D20 Call of Cthulhu , or Cthulhu Invictus and Cthulhu Dark Ages . Pulp Cthulhu? Done . Gaslight Cthuhu? Done . Steampunk Cthulhu? Just played a game of Cogs, Cakes and Cthulhu earlier in the month. Cyberpunk Cthulhu? There's a GURPS book for that, as well as a whole game system . Modern day? All over that in to many ways to list. Straight up Historical game? That's what it's all about, for any time period you could ima...

Question 29: What has been the best-run RPG Kickstarter you have backed? There are a couple that come to mind. The Sedefkar Simulacrum , was without a doubt the best produced Kickstarter I have backed, and they came through with what they promised. I have backed a couple of RPG books and adventures that have not yet been fulilled, ut look to be on track, including two by Stygian Fox ( Fear's Sharp Little Needles , and Hudson and Brand ), Pax Cthulhiana by Two Starving Gnolls, Cold Warning by Golden Goblin Press, and The Star on the Shore by Dark Cult Games. I have not yet recieved any of these products, but in terms of communication and being on time with what they have offered, I can fault none of them. I think most kickstarters these days have learned from the mistakes of others, and not stretched themselves too thin on the stretch goals, and kept things tight and reasonable, so as to be able to finish the product they are actually selling.

Question 28: What film/series is the biggest source of quotes in your group? Surprising to say, it's not Monty Python. Not these days. Maybe if we played more fantasy games it would make a comeback. Firefly/Serenity is up there, as is Alien and Star Wars. 

Question 27: What are your essential tools for good gaming? Gaming to me, comes in many forms. RPGs are but one facet of this many-varoius hobby of ours. And to my mind, there is but one essential ingrediant to a good gaming experinece, and that is to game with like minded and fun people.  Get a good gaming group around you, and the rest will follow. Thus ends todays lesson in the Tao of Gaming.

Question 26: Which RPG has the most useful resources? The resources that imediately comes to mind here, are props and handouts. I love props and handouts. Physical items that help with play, advance the game, and increase immersion are things I look for. Maybe I should be a LARPer. Of course, one game excels in this, Call of Cthulhu (seeing a pattern here yet?, this is a Lovecraftian blog after all). This excellence is not through the company who make the game. Yes most adventures come with handouts to copy and give out at the back of the book, but other games companies make/made more effort than Chaosium (the handouts for the Empire in Flames campaign by GW come to mind). No, it is not through the efforts of Chaosium that Call fo Cthulhu makes it's name, but through the efforts of fans. It would take forever to list all the ways in which the support of the fan community help the game, and indeed all lovecraftian games, but here, for those amongst you who are neophytes to t...

Ok, after the great game of Cogs, Cakes and Cthulhu with Lynne Hardy at NecronomiCon , I have folded and picked up this little book! *Sigh* Just spent the last few evenings going through old books, comics, DVDs and miniatures trying to weed out the collection to stuff I actually use and read to make space, and then I go and do something like this! I tried!

Question 25: What is the best way to thank your GM? Simply say thank you. Also, tell them what you enjoyed about the game/session/campaign. Feedback is always welcome. Of course, if there's something you'd like to see improved, a good GM will always want to hear that too, so don't be shy. Criticism, if constructive, improves the experience for all involved.

Ok, so there were many reasons for going to a Con like this, but one of them is surely to pick up on products that you can't get elsewhere, or without spending too much on postage. With this in mind, I think I was actually quite restrained in my purchases. First off, I had a list of books to buy at the Chaosium stand (although I did spend my Cult of Chaos credit, and won one of these through the Extra Life Charity event prize draw). I was able to get the following: Pulp Cthulhu Two Headed Serpent Grand Grimoire of Cthulhu Mythos Magic Doors To Darkness Dead Light Another tip to the vendors hall led me to find a couple of second hand book stores, who had all the kinds of books you'd want to find at a Con like this, including: H P Lovecraft : The Shadow over Innsmouth and other Stories of Horror, as well as a copy of August Derleth's: The Reminiscences of Solar Pons. The Necronomicon Press stand was there, where I hooked up with a copy of TED Klein's: The ...

Sunday was a short day in terms of scheduling, but I did make it to the  Chaosium Panel: Favourite Scenarios in the morning. I'm not sure that any of the scenarios metioned were a surprise to anyone in the audience, in fact there was only 1 I had not heard of. here are the members of the panel with the scenario they chose to highlight as their favourites: Christopher Smith Adair: Sacrements of Fear Badger McInnes: Grace Under Pressure Chad Bouchard: Paper Chase Paul Fricker: Unhealthy Occupation (Unspeakable Oath 14/15) Mike Mason gave the honorable mentions to Bad Moon Rising, Dead Light and Mr Corbitt. Of these, the only one I hadn't heard of was the one Paul spoke of, but I have been looking into them all as options to run in the future. As this was the last day of the Con, I had initially thought to do the walking tour, but decided at the last minute to do the morning stuff at the con, then go round and take a few more pictures in town. Unfortunately, both ...

Saturday morning started off as all the other mornings did, at 9am with the  Chaosium panel on Campaigns in Call of Cthulhu , where amongst other things, it was announced that they have revamped the Masks of Nyarlathotep. Then went into detail on what the panelists thought about writing and running longer campaigns. MUP and Good Friends podcast . Combined podcasts for combined fun. Here are some pictures for a segment they did at the start on the eclipse. I'm not sure how that'll work in the podcast version, which both teams will be releasing, but it'll be fun to listen to them try. Extra-Life Charity event . If you don't know what this is, find out more here . What it was in actuality was a tremendous deal of fun, where I got to sit at the table with many great names in Call of Cthulhu gaming, for example Chad Bouchard, Scott Dorward, Con-organiser Niels Hobbs (who apparently never gets to actually game at the con) Badger McInnes, and of course, the GM for the fi...

Question 24: Share a PWYW publisher who should be charging more. Dean (from Adelaide), owner of the wonderful blog Cthulhu Reborn , and maker of exquisite handouts for various Call of Cthulhu adventures, and indeed the fillable pdf character sheets available on the Chaosium site , has written a series of supplements and adventures under the title Convicts & Cthulhu. Go download them , and PWYW. They are worth it.

Friday morning started off (at the wondrously early hour of 9am) with the  Chaosium panel on Pulp Vs Pure.  This was set upas a debate, with Keeper Dan, and Cris Lackey on the side of Pulp, and Paul Fricker and Lynne Hardy taking the side of the Pure, To be honest, it wasn't much of a debate, as both sides were pretty much fans of both, but I was taken by the thought put forward by Chris Lackey, that all games of Call of Cthulhu are Pulp, if not in tone, then at least in execution, as that is the way that most players will end up gaming it. A fun panel, selling me on the Pulp rules even more than I originally had been, enough so that I bought them later that day (more on that later) Lunch time was the tie to go listen to H. P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast live . I have been listening to these guys pretty much as long as they have been on air, and it was both surreal and wonderful to be in the same room as them while they recorded. I look forward to hearing the podcast v...

Question 23: Which RPG has the most jaw-dropping layout? I'm not a great one for noticing design and layout, except for when it is done badly, I think this hots me more than when it's well done, as this is one of those things that the goal is to make something so user friendly that the actual layout isn't what hits the normal user. I can think of a few RPGs that hit me as having bad layout. Old games aside of course, as back in the day we didn't really think of these things so much. Call of Cthulhu 6th ed, English version, is one such layout. They got into the habit of making huge columns down the side of the pages with repeated art that just took up space, and padded out the book for nothing. This added with the use of dark pages with grey text. *Shudder* However, the flip side is the way the european verions of Call of Cthulhu (German version by Pegasus, and French version by Sans Detour) changed how RPG books were made. With both art work and layout...

Or how I survived the Con, Part 2. As I previously stated , this summary is split over five posts. The first four posts covering the days of the con, and the last being what I purchased and other pictures of things I saw. The con proper didn't start till about 1pm, so we had the morning free. First we wandered up college hill, taking some pics of the area, then into the Ars Necronomica exhibition. The level of art was really very high. We are not talking fan art here. After that, we had booked on to the Providence HPL Bus Tour. Met Keeper Dan from the  MUP . As part of the tour, we saw the site of his birthplace (his Grandfather's mansion is long gone), a couple of his homes, as well as his grave and the  Ladd observatory , where he did spend some time. There are conflicting reports as to how much time, and whether or not he had a key or did any observations The bus driver/tour guide said yes, the observatory caretaker said no, there's always...