Miskatonic University Podcast

This episode, Murph and Jon go back to the mixing cauldron to pair locations with monsters again! This episode was recorded on October 25, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier Keeper Chad contributed to a thing you can buy! He wrote part of a D&D supplement called “Dread Encounters: 13 Horrifying Hooks for Ravenloft.” This includes the work of four writers, Noah Lloyd, Tyler Hudak and Ed Possing, and “Charles Gerard.” AKA Keeper Chad. Each wrote three hooks for the Ravenloft/Strahd/Barovia setting, and then all collaborated on one single hook to make a total of 13. There are side encounters and strange items and NPCs and weird monsters that you can easily integrate into your Ravenloft campaign. This is now available on the DM’s Guild, as a PDF for $3.99. They are putting this up for sale with a generic cover, but the first $300 in profits will go toward an original cover to make it more appealing. Look for a shamelessly large link in the show notes. Click Here To Check Out This Shamelessly Large Link for Dread Encounters >> Type40 has created three official Chaosium Call of Cthulhu collectable enamel pins. Available at the Chaosium PAXAus booth, DT720. So if you’re Down Under go get your pins! Frozen Hell – The Book That Inspired The Thing – A newly discovered and expanded version of the classic sci-fi story, “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell, Jr. A Kickstarter to fund the new book. Friends (and editors) of the show Sean Murphy and Edwin Nagy are planning their 4th annual game-a-thon in support of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Starting Nov. 16 at 6 PM Eastern on twitch.tv/enn321 (link in the show notes), they will stream live for 24 hours. At midnight, Sean is running Call of Cthulhu. During the entire event, your donations allow you to mess with the game (add monsters, design a trap, whatever!), make you eligible to win gaming prizes from their sponsors at Gallant Knight Games, Chaosium, and Frog God Games, and, of course, help sick children. Special this year for a donation of $100, Edwin will run (using 5e D&D) one hour of story of your choice. You can send him something ahead of time, or chat real time with him while he runs what you write. He will provide mechanics on the fly, if necessary. Contributions can be made at any time to Team NEG (New England Gamers) at Extra-Life.org. Link for donations >> Link to Twitch stream >> The Listening Room Back in the “Listening Room” of Orne Library, first, Agent Dinos opens another dossier from the FBI files, this time on something called the “Kuala Tahan.” Next up, we have an episode of Glimpses into the Empire, this time we hear the story of “Tutula, Savior of Rome” Once again, if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact [email protected] Feedback Hi there, I’m a keeper from the north of Spain currently preparing to run The Two-Headed Serpent. First of all I would like to say congratulations and thank you for your podcast. I have been listening to it for the past few months since I discovered it and well, I guess the time has come to say hi and thanks! It is really entertaining and useful, I have come across a lot of very interesting resources and products related to rpgs as well as having a very good time listening to it. I recommended it to all my friends and gaming group and even though the language is a barrier some of them have followed the advice. As I told you I plan on running TTHS in the near future and as part of preparation I listened to some old podcast concerning Pulp Cthulhu (amazing book, btw) to refresh rules, get new ideas… In installment 128, the one you interviewed Tyler Hudak (Trevlix), he talked about a globe-spanning pulp campaign involving occult/cthulhu horror and thulean nazis he run for his group. It sounded absolutely great and so much fun to play and I think he said something about officially writing it and perhaps releasing it. Did it finally happen? Is there any way to get a copy? Once again thanks so much for such a great podcast and Go Pods!! – Ilmaris Hey Guys, Really enjoyed this episode. So many writers come up with their own Mythos monsters, but it’s rare for someone to come up with a new deity. Jon’s “Spark of Life” brought to mind Annihilation. The whole zone was bursting with life, but in overdrive, so perhaps that could be one of the side-effects of its presence? Kind of like a bizarro Cthugha 🙂 Chad’s GOO made my mind melt for the most part (in a good way), and with yet another pop-culture reference, reminded me of Langoliers. Instead of living just behind the present however, it’s living just in front. While I

This episode, Murph, Chad and Jon concoct and stew over a few of our own new Great Old Ones. This episode was recorded on October 15, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron <<   Campus Crier Once again, heartfelt condolences go out to friends and family of Chaosium founder Greg Stafford, who passed away on October 11 at the age of 70. There is a condolence thread on the Chaosium site, which you can find here. Chris Lackey has announced that he is working on a CoC supplement for Chaosium called Cults of Cthulhu. He said on YSDC’s News from Pnakotus that it involves using Cthulhu cults as antagonists an comes with three scenarios across different eras. Look for it “vaguely next year.” No more details have been released. There’s a new novel by Ben Monroe, who is the originator of the Monterey Jack character. In the Belly of the Beast and Other Tales of Cthulhu Wars: A Cthulhu Wars Novel – it’s inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the game Cthulhu Wars, published by Petersen Games. There are eight short stories and a complete novel Grave-tober: Bret Kramer of Sentinel Hill Press has been posting an item a day for the whole month of October – you may remember previous “Octoberganza” posts. This time, each item is a New England gravestone of particular interest to him, for reasons of artistic value or insight into some facet of history or folklore. They’re each short, around 250 words, but there are weird and horrific carvings nuggets like stones carved with undead imp creatures bearing darts, and freaking skulls with extra rows of teeth…check it out. Cody Goodfellow wrote an interesting piece about Lovecraft’s legacy and ongoing controversies about his racism. It recaps some of the upheaval in the community over the last few years, including his once-friend Robert Price’s comments and the World Fantasy Award statue – as well as more recent conflicts it’s a nice thoughtful read that adds something new to the convo. Sean Hillman of ENWorld interviewed Chris Spivey of Darker Hue Studios about various projects. It’s a cool rundown of work in both Cthulhu and non Cthulhu realms, and his work process, his influences, his goals. Good read. LATE-BREAKING – Sentinel Hill Press is offering a bundle of Print-On-Demand softcover books PLUS PDFs for all four Arkham Gazette issues on DriveThru RPG at a significant sale price of $45, which is down from a $78 cost to purchase all of them separately. Check it out! Click here to read more via this special MUP link >> The Listening Room This episode, a second installment from the cold files of Agent Dinos – this time, we’re looking at a strange item from the Istanbul station… And a holiday-themed episode of Glimpses into the Empire, about “rituals for the dead.” Once again, if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact [email protected] Audio Credits for show notes… Scattered Ghost: http://www.freesound.org/people/qubodup/sounds/211646 by Iwan ‘qubodup’ Gabovitch http://freesound.org/people/qubodup under CC-BY 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode Feedback, Corrections and Comments On “Nuclear” in Azathoth: Danial Carroll — I believe HPL used the term “nuclear” with Azathoth to mean that it is the centre. It was subsequent writers that mistook that to mean nuclear energy, yet it has pervaded, so I guess it’s as canon as anything else From Max: Hollow Man is the bad movie with Kevin Bacon. There is a episode of The Twilight Zone from the 80s related to an “emo” version of The Invisible Man – “To See the Invisible Man.” Hi guys, Greetings from Melbourne, Australia. Just wanted to drop you a line and thank you for the great job you do in producing quality content that is both informative and entertaining! I’ve gotten back into Cthulhu recently after a twenty-year hiatus! Loved the recent idea of creating on the fly using the Malleus Monstrorum and random Earth locations. You should seriously consider making it a regular thing. Compile them all as one-page adventure briefs and kickstart it, you’d have something very cool to share with the CoC community! If you haven’t already, you should definitely put out a shout-out to the Sassoon Files (on Kickstarter at the moment), a series of very cool 1920s Cthulhu sessions set in Shanghai! Have a fantastic day! Thanks again for your hardwork, it is much appreciated. – Phillip Some notes you might be interested in with regards to your discussion of Spanish flu on the podcast. Canada, despite being at many of the bloodiest battles of the first world war had more people die to

Many in this community have heard news that Chaosium founder Greg Stafford passed away on October 11 at the age of 70. He founded the company in 1975, and was also designer for Pendragon, co-designer of RuneQuest, Ghostbusters, Prince Valiant and HeroQuest, as well as founding Chaosium and Issaries. Our thoughts and condolences go out to friends and family at this difficult time. There is a condolence thread on the Chaosium site, which you can read or contribute to here. We collected a few messages of condolence from people in the community, which we play in this short special report. Thank you very much to Chris Spivey, David Larkins, Scott Dorward and Lynne Hardy for sending these special messages on such short notice. Here’s the quote that David Larkins sent from a Gen Con 2014 panel on Gaming as Mythic Exploration: “For me, we are all mythological creatures. We all have some part of ourselves that we’re not aware of and mythology is a language. It’s like a sense like sight and smell and sound. Unfortunately, we’ve lost most of it these days. It’s been learned—out of us. But, to me, role playing games are a way to interact with that. We have an unconscious ability to deal with myths. They have meaning. They have meaning that we don’t understand. They have intuitive meaning. They have obvious meaning. They have storytelling medium. A good game is one that taps into all of these things. I think every roleplaying game in which you make up and create an imaginary character activates that mythological self. The best games are the ones that fulfill that hunger within us.” We may add other messages later in Episode 158, which we hope to air next week on October 22. If you want to add your thoughts about how Greg Stafford’s legacy affected you, or just send a message of condolence, please feel free to leave your own voice message on Speakpipe via the right-hand tab on this page, or as an attachment in an email to [email protected]. ]]>

In this episode, all four hosts gather to discuss classic vintage sci-fi and how to add an infusion of Mythos. This episode was recorded on September 27, 2018. Campus Crier Cthulhu Chronicles is now available on Android – Cthulhu Chronicles brings the terror and thrill of Chaosium’s award-winning role-playing game Call of Cthulhu to life on your mobile device. It emulates the tabletop experience, giving you choices to make, enemies to fight and mysteries to uncover. Mystery, intrigue, horror, and madness await your investigator, who can gain insights and lose sanity as they chart their way through Arkham City’s various interactive stories. Each story presents its own challenges and also plays a part of a larger campaign, which unfolds around you as you play. It is a great way to introduce yourself to the thrill of Call of Cthulhu, or, if you are already a player, to dive into a game and get a touch of Mythos on your own! Cthulhu Reborn has released Dateline Lovecraft #2 – Help Wanted by Jo Kriel on RPGNow as a pay what you want release. This is a 19 page extra scenario designed to work with the broadsheet styled newspaper released in Dateline #1. I’ve downloaded it and have started reading through it, and it is awesome. Retro Style Horror RPG ‘Cthulhu Mythos RPG -The Sleeping Girl of the Miasma Sea-‘ English ver. is Released on DLsite.com and Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/938240/Cthulhu_Mythos_RPG_The_Sleeping_Girl_of_the_Miasma_Sea/ The Sassoon Files is a kickstarter that is set in Shanghai in the 1920s. They have already funded with $14k of a 5k goal. A creator called 2d6.io has created printable props for the Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign to represent two of the artifacts investigators may encounter during the prelude adventure in Peru. They include something called “The Golden Mirror” and “The Golden Ward.” These are STL/3D-Printer Files, and they are all available on thingiverse for free! This person is planning to continue making stuff for the campaign, so stay tuned. Link in the show notes. The Props of Nyarlathotep, the Perù chapter. Handcrafted props for the whole new prologue created for the awarded Call of Cthulhu RPG Campaign : the Masks of Nyarlathotep. Something is Wrong Here is an RPG based on the films of David Lynch, specifically Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, and Lost Highway. Do we really need more of a reason to back this? This has already been funded by the time you hear this, but it is worth a mention in case it drops on shelves near you. Golden Goblin update: By the time this airs, four Golden Goblin products will be newly available for download on the company’s site. Two game products and two fiction products. That includes Riot at Red Plank and the Guide to the Caribbean, after those are released to backers, and then Tails of Terror fiction and the Further Tales of Cthulhu Invictus – all available for for download. And probably the 7th Ed conversion rules for the De Horrore Cosmico – the first Invictus book that they did – will be available for free download. Also, the new Cthulhu Invictus book is scheduled to arrive at the Goblin Lair on Oct. 1 – so the first batch should be in the mail by the time this episode reaches your noise holes. ALSO all PDF versions of the company’s fiction line has been dropped. Many went from $10 to $8, for example. A quick update on the Occam’s Razor collection of modern scenarios by Brian Sammons – the KS will be done by the time this episode airs. The Listening Room Now we’re heading back to the “Listening Room” of Orne Library. Mr. Tyler is on hiatus for this week, but we have something new from the cold files of “Agent Dinos” – this is a new segment and I think you’ll dig it. Next up, we have another episode in Season Two of Glimpses into the Empire, about a particularly notable “informant” in Roman history. Once again, if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact [email protected] Card Catalog Arkham Advertiser Editable PDF newspaper generator – 3 column front page newspaper with large AA bannerhead. It comes in two styles, with an ad on the front page, and without an ad. The creator also provides examples so you can see how to fill one out. Generic Newspaper Generator – This is most likely a reminder, but it’s always good to remind listeners of great game resources. This generator produces a great newspaper article JPEG that looks like a close-up of a folded Page 1 of a newspaper. Topic Lovecraftian Science, from a fantastic, Gothic angle, and how it could be twister and used in a Call of Cthulhu game at your table. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and other classic inspiration. Chad delves into Edgar Allen Poe’s sci-fi roots, with Poe’s scientific Hoaxes. Poe explored galvanism (Frankenstein-style electric revivification), time travel and weird speculative fiction. ‘The Unparalleled

In this episode, Jon, Dan and Chad talk about the horrors of plagues and pandemics to inspire game ideas! Please note that the Crier is a little short and hastily put together this week, and we know we’ve missed big news items. This episode was recorded on September 13, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier ‘Hardware’ director Richard Stanley’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Colour out of Space‘ coming ‘in the near future’ Check out the first hour of Call of Cthulhu – watch as Focus Home Interactive and Cyanide Studio showcase the upcoming adventure. Miskatonic Repository Reviews Jon reviewed: Idol of Thoth by Joe Trier and Mizuumi no bakemono by Jean-Michel Abrassart. As a companion, here is Chaosium’s Secrets of Japan. Chad reviewed: “Plague” by Matt Ryan and Noah Lloyd. The Listening Room Now we’re heading back to the “Listening Room” of Orne Library. This episode, part two of Mr. Tyler’s punitive ramblings on “The Derelict.” Listen to the story ready by FNH on his Cthulhu Podcast- Part 1 and Part 2. Next up, we have another episode in Season Two of Glimpses into the Empire. This time, we’ll hear the story of a certain “demi-god.” Here’s some background about the “magical” rebel children in Myanmar, who recently reunited. And finally, this episode we have something from a longtime listener, and a familiar voice to our airwaves. Check out this report from Chemistry PHD candidate Matthew Brown, a deep dive into the mystery of the Black Eyed Children. Context: Blurry Photos episode Skeptoid episode Once again, if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact [email protected] Topic Fun with diseases! We started here >> Each of us covered one disease, and we talked about related Mythos hooks. Chad: Cholera outbreaks of 1832-1866. Jon: 1918 Spanish Flu Dan: Typhoid fever Randomly, here’s a “plague fort” in Russia.    ]]>

This is Chaosium’s GenCon 2018 panel, “Cool of Cthulhu,” recorded on Saturday, August 4. The panelists were: James Lowder Mike Mason Paul Fricker Chris Spivey Sam Riordan The moderator was Michael O’Brien (a.k.a MOB).]]>

This episode, Murph, Jon and Chad put peanut butter into the chocolate as we mix together random monsters and random global coordinates. This episode was recorded on August 30, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier [Keeper Chad joins the show late] Occam’s Razor, a collection of scenarios for Call of Cthulhu by Brian Sammons! This is a collection of modern scenarios that have a dark tone, “more akin to True Detective and American Horror Story and is written for Mature Gamers Only. The scenarios look into the dark heart of humanity and the mythos… but this book has a twist.” The twist is that the scenarios seem to have link to the Cthulhu mythos but they have mundane causes and outcomes. Zweihander is about to kickstart a new supplement called Main Gauche, which looks dark and weird as hell on their page. Doctor Cthulittle – an illustrated tale. This is a completed Kickstarter from December 2017, but Jon got it from his local comic shop – and it is amazing! Haunting of Hastur available in print or at DTRPG. The Haunting of Hastur just had a successful KS to produce the 5e and OSR 4-part adventure scenarios in print. But many of them you can get now on DTRPG. A big Salute to SKYPE OF CTHULHU for 500+ episodes!!! And a big thank you goes out to..wait…to DAN this time for editing the show! Thankorry very much Dan for editing this one. The Listening Room This episode, let’s kick it off with an installment from Mr. Tyler, with a deep dive into a seminal weird fiction story: The Derelict. Then, we have the first episode in Season Two of Glimpses into the Empire. Let’s gaze up at the timeless stars for a story about the surprising fate of one Roman Astrologer. Once again, if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact [email protected] Feedback We have some audio feedback from Ritterton. The Google transcription is just too weird to post. Topic Riffing on a randomly generated monster in a randomly generated place. Here’s what we used: Random.org to randomly select a position on planet Earth Convert decimal to minutes/seconds.]]>

We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << This episode, Dan and Chad talk about their experiences at GenCon, and we catch up on a ton of industry news. The episode was recorded on August 16, 2018. Campus Crier The Diana Jones Award went to “Actual Play” Darker Hue Studios won three gold Ennies for Harlem Unbound: Best Cover Art Best Setting Best Writing In related news, Harlem Unbound is getting a second edition as a Chaosium book – with more scenarios and maps and art. Chaosium to publish second edition of the critically-acclaimed Harlem Unbound AND the book is on the syllabus for a course on American Horror this coming semester at Johnson C. Smith University, a Historically Black university in Charlotte, North Carolina. Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu awards: Best Supplement — GOLD: Reign of Terror Best Monster/Adversary — SILVER: Down Darker Trails Fan’s Choice, Best Publisher — SILVER: Chaosium Inc. Arc Dream/Delta Green awards: Best Rules – GOLD for the DG RPG Best Game – SILVER for the DG RPG Product of the Year – SILVER for the DG RPG Best Production Values – GOLD: Delta Green: The RPG Best Electronic Book – GOLD: A Night at the Opera Best Adventure – SILVER: A Night at the Opera This year’s award harvest marks the 10th ENnie for Delta Green since 1996, as outlined on the Arc Dram site. http://theunspeakableoath.com/home/2018/08/delta-green-wins-its-10th-ennie-award/ Sidebar news: The ENnies announced after GenCon that it was going to be “reviewing the awards structure” to make them better – specifically citing “more secure voting systems, changes to the ways the judges are nominated, and more.” Announced on the GenCon panel “Cool of Cthulhu” were a few odds and ends. There will be a Call of Cthulhu collectible card game in digital form using Blockchain. Cthulhu Chronicles content lead Sam Riordan was there to talk about the interactive fiction game, which was being demoed at the Chaosium booth, and you can see an extensive blog interview on the Chaosium site. Mark Morrison ran a new Reign of Terror scenario on Twitch TV’s “Saving Throw Show” Issue #25 of The Unspeakable Oath has been released. It’s 68 pages of TUO #25 in both PDF and print via DriveThruRPG, now. It has artefacts, tomes, and scenario seeds for Call of Cthulhu…four Delta Green scenarios. Delta Green features on privacy (or the lack thereof) and tactics for agents… and more. The Delta Green panel from GenCon was posted on the Unspeakable podcast. Chaosium has recruited renowned role playing author Robin Laws (Feng Shui, Hillfolk) to write an updated version of the RuneQuest supplement Pavis & Big Rubble. The first of two volumes, A Big Rubble, will release late in 2019, with Pavis planned for 2020. Robin Laws is also the writer for the King of Dragon Pass and Six Ages games. The amazing Gamer Prop Set for Masks of Nyarlathotep is now shipping! This truly is the ultimate collection of authentic RPG gaming props, from the masters—our friends at the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. Gen Con Reaches New Heights in 2018 with a Year of Firsts INDIANAPOLIS (August 6, 2018) Gen Con, the largest and longest-running game convention in North America, has announced that its 2018 convention is the most attended ever, propelled by a record number of 4-Day badge sales, a 16% year-over-year increase in Saturday badge holders, and astounding 60% jump in year-over-year growth for both Sunday badge holders and children attending with wristbands. Friend of the show David Larkins was announced as the new line editor for Pendragon and related titles. Mothership is a sci-fi horror roleplaying game where you and your crew try to survive in the most inhospitable environment in the universe: outer space! You’ll excavate dangerous derelict spacecraft, explore strange unknown worlds, exterminate hostile alien life, and examine the horrors that encroach upon your every move. http://www.tuesdayknightgames.com/mothership http://imboardwithlife.libsyn.com/pod/mothership-pt-1 http://imboardwithlife.libsyn.com/pod/mothership-pt-2 Stygian Fox News: Fear’s Sharp Little Needles is now available for purchase! This is an anthology of 26 one-night modern day scenarios for Call of Cthulhu. IMPOSSIBLY LONG LIST OF AUTHOR CREDITS: edited by Jeff Moeller, and written by Christopher Smith Adair, Glynn Owen Barrass, Simon Brake, Stuart Boon, Chad Bowser, Brian Courtemanche, Scott Dorward, Adam Gauntlett, Allan Goodall, Helen Gould, Tyler Hudak, Jo Kreil, Jeff Moeller, Andi Newton, Oscar Rios, Brian M. Sammons, Matthew Sanderson, Jennifer Thrasher, Joe Trier, Jason Williams, Matt Wiseman, and Simon Yee with art by Dean Engelh

In this episode – honestly I have no idea. This is Keeper Chad. Oh right…MUP won an ENnie! Go Pods! A big thank you to all who voted. While Dan and I were in Indy…Jon and Murph were minding the store and… [FYI, this one is explicit af.]]]>

This episode, we’re talking about the Tillinghast Resonator and other ideas that spawn From Beyond. This episode was recorded on July 19, 2018.   We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier The Campus Crier is Miskatonic U’s student paper. Here’s where we go through Mythos related news and feedback to the podcast. This episode was recorded on July 19, 2018. Delta Green: The Labyrinth – Delta Green co-creator John Tynes presents a sourcebook of threats, allies, and mysteries to deepen the terrors of your campaign. Over the Edge – Return to the island of Al Amarja in this new edition of Jonathan Tweet’s freeform roleplaying game of paranormal chaos. Tails of Valor for Cathulhu has funded! It wrapped up at $16,380 with 320 backers (a the time of recording it was just past the $12,500 goal with 228 backers), and unlocked six stretch goals, including extra interior art and fiction stories, sinister seeds, and bookmarks. Also, Sentinel Hill Press did a Q&A with Oscar about the project, mostly on the Kingsport Council feline investigator group and Grey in the Dark”, a scenario also set in Kingsport. You can check that out in the show notes! Check out Cthulhu: Death May Die, a “cooperative board game for 1 to 5 players willing to take on the Cthulhu mythos like never before! Cultists are summoning one of the Elder Ones to consume our world, and it is up to the ragtag group of investigators to face the nightmarish forces and disrupt the ritual long enough to make the Elder One vulnerable. And then kill it dead.” Jon was a guest on Spellburn! Spellburn is a podcast that focuses on the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, and episode 70 is all about using the Cthulhu Mythos in your DCC fantasy game. Jon talked about his Cthulhu Mythos inspired DCC adventures and the upcoming Cthulhu Alphabet book coming soon from Goodman Games. Amazon Studios has greenlit, “Tales from the Loop,” an hour-long science-fiction series executive produced by “War for Planet of the Apes” director Matt Reeves. The series is based on the famous artwork of Simon Stålenhag. A co-production with Fox 21 Television Studios, the eight-episode series will be helmed by executive producer Nathaniel Halpern, with Mark Romanek directing the pilot episode. “Tales from the Loop” explores the town and people who live above “The Loop,” a machine built to unlock and explore the mysteries of the universe — making things possible that were previously relegated only to science fiction. In this fantastical, mysterious town, poignant human tales are told that bare universal emotional experiences while drawing on the intrigue of genre storytelling. Punktown is out in PDF! Originally a Kickstarter from Miskatonic River Press in 2012, various development problems (and the closure of MRP) meant that the Punktown setting book, based on the works of Jeffrey Thomas, has now been completed and made available through Chronicle City (@AngusA). The print edition of Punktown is still in process. MetaArcade have launched the next chapter in the Investigations in Lovecraft Country series of linked adventures for Cthulhu Chronicles – an original scenario called The Good Professor. It builds on everything you have experienced so far in Cthulhu Chronicles; tensions are rising, and your decision-making skills will be put to the test. Like all others, this scenario is available for 20 tickets, or you can play it for free using one of your trials. The Good Professor will be followed by 3 more scenarios, as the campaign arc reaches its epic conclusion. Are you ready for the challenge? Check out Cthulhu Chronicles on the Apple App Store today. MetaArcade have also confirmed an Android version of Cthulhu Chronicles is their highest priority post-launch. More details at the MetaArcade Dev Blog. And a big thank you goes out to MAX this time. Thank you so much for the editing MAX! The Listening Room Now we’re heading back to the “Listening Room” of Orne Library. This episode, Mr. Tyler is turning his chair backwards and getting a bit more serious about a personal matter. Please check out Tyler’s Once again, if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact [email protected] Topic Beyond From Beyond! We talk about the original story, which you can read here. Other mentions: Artifact Zero Infrared sight experiments in WWII. Project Rainbow (Delta Green) The Man with the X-Ray Eyes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYowsdlWv1g]]>

Hello out there MUP Nation! This is Keeper Dan with a little addendum to our last episode. In the Crier, we were talking about the lovely HPLHS Masks prop sets, and we saw that they showed as sold out. It turns out that the sold out text is just a coding quirk, and they are in fact not sold out at all! So if you’re lamenting the missed chance at a Deluxe Edition or the SUPER Deluxe, then wait patiently, for the Dark Masters at the HPLHS will set their trained shoggoths (who wear little bow ties by the way, it’s adorable) after you to purchase these epic pieces worthy of the most stately of collections. And if you already got the Dark Adventure Radio Theatre, then they do state on their site: “Should you wish to upgrade a Standard or Deluxe edition, we are happy to apply your original purchase price against the upgrade item.” Here are the options- Masks of Nyarlathotep – Gamer Prop Set (No DART Audio) $ 95.99 Release August 1, 2018 Dark Adventure Radio Theatre – Masks of Nyarlathotep (Standard Version) $ 69.95 Release August 1, 2018 Dark Adventure Radio Theatre – Masks of Nyarlathotep Deluxe Edition Unknown cost Undetermined Release Date Masks of Nyarlathotep – Super Deluxe Limited Edition (This has the Deluxe DART and the Gamer Prop Set and MORE!) Unknown cost Undetermined Release Date]]>

In this episode, we take a look at horror-adjacent nominations for the 2018 ENnies, and then we do some riffing on how to make bad films into fertilizer for games. This episode was recorded on July 5, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier First, thanks to everyone once again for making our Sesquicentennial so memorable! IMPORTANT CORRECTION: During the recording for this show, we mentioned that HPLHS prop sets for Masks of Nyarlathotep had sold out. This is not the case at all. There is a quirk with the website that displays “sold out” before it launches, but the text clearly explains that this is not true. Please accept our apologies for the error! ENnies! There are several horror-adjacent products on the list of nominations this year. Click here to vote for your favorite ENnie nominees! Chaosium won a total of 8 nominations, including 5 Call of Cthulhu products: BEST ADVENTURE: The Two-Headed Serpent BEST ART COVER – Down Darker Trails BEST MONSTER/ADVERSARY – Down Darker Trails BEST PRODUCTION VALUES: The Grand Grimoire BEST SUPPLEMENT: Reign of Terror Darker Hue Studios got 5 nominations: BEST ART COVER: Harlem Unbound, Darker Hue Studios BEST RULES: Harlem Unbound, Darker Hue Studios BEST SETTING: Harlem Unbound, Darker Hue Studios BEST WRITING: Harlem Unbound, Darker Hue Studios PRODUCT OF THE YEAR: Harlem Unbound, Darker Hue Studios Arc Dream also got a bunch of nominations: BEST ELECTRONIC BOOK: Delta Green: A Night at the Opera, Arc Dream Publishing BEST ADVENTURE: Delta Green: A Night at the Opera, Arc Dream Publishing BEST GAME: Delta Green: The RPG, Arc Dream Publishing BEST PRODUCTION VALUES: Delta Green: The RPG, Arc Dream Publishing BEST WRITING: Delta Green: The Way it Went Down, Arc Dream Publishing; Author: Dennis Detwiller Other horror game nominations include: BEST ELECTRONIC BOOK: Hudson and Brand, Stygian Fox Publishing BEST RULES: Cthulhu Confidential, Pelgrane Press; Authors: Robin D. Laws, Chris Spivey, Ruth Tillman BEST PRODUCTION VALUES: Bluebeard’s Bride, Magpie Games BEST GAME: Red Markets: A Game of Economic Horror, Hebanon Games; Authors: Caleb Stokes, Laura Briskin-Limehouse, Ross Payton And…MU PODCAST ALSO GOT A NOMINATION! Voting is open through Saturday, July 21, at 11:59pm Eastern Daylight Saving Time. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on August 3rd at GenCon. https://www.chaosium.com/blogchaosium-receives-eight-nominations-in-the-2018-ennie-awards/ http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?5378-Congratulations-To-The-2018-ENnies-Nominees! There has been a little reorganization at Stygian Fox. Stephanie MacLea wrote on the publisher’s Facebook page, that frequent editor Jeff Moeller will be moving on to work on other projects, and after a series of effusive “thank yous,” she said: “we feel that Jeff and I have kinda run our course in terms of joint projects.” But before that, comments on the Kickstarter page for Fear’s Sharp Little Needles were initially tense and suggested the split was not on such good terms. But backers for Fear’s Sharp Little Needles have received a version of the book in PDF for review, and proof copies are on their way back from the printer. At the time of recording, Tails of Valor and Terror, the Cathulhu scenario collection from Golden Goblin Press that’s paired up with a feline horror fiction collection, was past the $9,000 mark out of its $12,500 goal with 148 backers and many days left to go. This looks on pace to fund and overshoot to reach some stretch goals, which includes extra art, bookmarks, stickers, and extra fiction stories. By the way, Sixtystone Press is offering a coupon to backers (above the $1 level) for 25 percent off the the purchase of the rules Cathulhu – Velvet Paws on Cthulhu’s Trail. YSDC has re-launched its longstanding newsletter after purging 18,000 email addresses. The new one is called Yog-Sothothery. It’ll come out monthly-ish, and you can sign up on the site. We’ll have link to the YSDC blog that has instructions for how to subscribe. They are giving away a copy of Fall of Delta Green to one subscriber. Fall of Delta Green from Pelgrane Press is now available. This setting adapts Arc Dream’s Delta Green RPG to Pelgrane’s own Gumshoe system, with Kenneth Hite creating a work focusing on the Delta Green of the 1960s leading to the official dissolution of the organisation at the end of the decade, following events in the jungles of Indochina. Syrinscape has released “Part One: Peru sound pack for Masks of Nyarlathotep” So this is funny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpoDdihq5Mc Masks of Nyarlahotep has been released! We have it in PDF currently, with the pr

This episode is our sesquicentennial! To celebrate, the hosts review some clips from past episodes. Our editors, Sean, Edwin and Max (but particularly Sean) inserted some hilarious sections and throwbacks – and touching messages from friends of the show. This one really took some effort, and we are so very grateful. This episode was recorded over the course of 6 years, since March 2012. A big warning: this one is totally explicit and salty AF. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier The Campus Crier is Miskatonic U’s student paper. Here’s where we go through Mythos related news and feedback to the podcast. This Campus Crier was recorded on June 22, 2018. Chaosium has announced a PDF release date for the Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign: Sunday, July 1st – which was yesterday. It’s $60 for the PDF. That money will go toward the retail price if you buy a print copy later – maybe 3 or 4 months down the road. The PDF is 666 pages! The latest Kickstarter from Golden Goblin Press went live on Friday, June 29th. It’s called Tails of Valor and Terror. This will be the first supplemental material in support of Sixty Stone Press’ Cathulhu – Velvet Paws on Cthulhu’s Trail. Tails of Valor is a collection of three scenarios, where your feline investigators will battle the forces of the Cthulhu Mythos in ancient Rome, ancient Egypt, and dark ages France. The scenarios are by Jeffrey Moeller, Stuart Boon, and Oscar Rios. There is also a fiction collection with at least a dozen stories, featuring cat protagonists of various sorts. Check the Kickstarter page for more details. It will run through July 29th. Darker Hue Studios is making some news. First, Harlem Unbound has been named as a nominee for the Diana Jones Award! A big congratulations. Comments on the site: “While most games dodge the issues of racism, often claiming it not suitable for gaming, Harlem Unbound places them front and center and focuses the spotlight on them until they begin to smoke and burn. It’s an important book in that it takes games as a serious art form in which such matters can be explored, plumbed, and — if we’re lucky — understood.” Chris Spivey will also be a guest of honor at the “High Level Gaming” and “U-Con” this year. So that’s pretty cool. High Level Gaming is in Atlantic City in October, and U-Con is in Ann Arbor in November. AND Chris has also teased that he is working on a campaign for Chaosium using the Pulp Cthulhu rules for a modern superhero-Mythos campaign. He has been calling it [Redacted]. And I am teasing right now what I am under an NDA to playtest said [Redacted] project. AND Chris is developing a new Basic Role Playing-based science fiction line for Chaosium! More info will be released at GenCon! He’s looking for contributors. Interested? Click here! Sentinel Hill Press has announced that copies of the revamped and expanded version of Arkham Gazette #2, the “Innsmouth issue,” is now available, in print and in PDF on DriveThruRPG. That means all three of the first issues of the Gazette are available, and Arkham Gazette #4 is closing in toward completion. He says to look for it, hopefully, late this summer. Also, there’s an update on “The Dare” Kickstarter – Badger has sent along some sample pages. Layout is getting hammered out and Bret says there should be “a rough version for backers in the near term.” Chaosium has officially re-launched its fiction line, with James Lowder at the helm as executive editor of fiction. In September, we’ll see the humorous picture book H.P. Lovecraft’s Dagon for Beginning Readers, by R.J. Ivankovic. Coming in October is Sisterhood: Dark Tales and Secret Histories which is an anthology of horror and Mythos stories set in female religious communities around the globe and across the centuries, including some of the genre’s leading female voices. Then in November, The Leaves of a Necronomicon, a braided novel revealing the fates of the doomed owners of one particular copy of that infamous cursed tome. And a heartfelt thank you to SEAN for editing this episode, but also to his conspiracy partners of Edwin and Max for all the extra work on this particular episode. Listening Room Our resident disciplinarian, Mr. Tyler, is back in session, this time with a new topic for all the boys and GHOULS. A note about Tyler – you have got to check out the podcast he co-hosts, Book Reports Podcast, which covers all kinds of cool stories from Henry Kuttner and Ray Branbury and scads of others. That’s co hosted by Sam Tyler and Bryce Diener. This time we also throw back to “MU Podcast Episode 9 – Roll SAN,” the first appearance of Dr. Gerard’s History Lecture. Once aga

                  This panel was a collaboration between the MU Podcast and Legends of Tabletop podcast. It features women in gaming who represent different aspects of the industry. This was one of our efforts for Women in Tabletop Gaming Month. This turned out to be quite an interesting discussion and it’s well worth a listen. Guests include Dani Neary, Monica Speca and Naomi Clark. We mainly provided background support and coordination for the event, but a big thanks to Leah Bond and John Haremza for hosting the panel and letting us use the audio that’s already in their feed – in our own feed. This was recorded on June 13th. If you don’t already know about Legends of Tabletop, you should go subscribe right away. They do tons of actual plays and excellent interviews. And they’re just good humans. Here’t a link to show notes for the panel on the Legends website, where you can also find more background on the guests. http://www.legendsoftabletop.com/?p=3635]]>

This episode is the fourth and last for Women in Tabletop Gaming Month. Murph talked to writer and game designer Becky Annison about the game Lovecraftesque, among other topics. The interview was recorded on June 9, 2018. Once again, check out the Women in Tabletop Gaming Month website to hear more interviews, as well as Lynne Hardy’s blog series on women creatives who contributed to Chaosium over the years. Women in Tabletop Gaming Month >> Chaosium Blog, with Lynne Hardy’s interviews >> Black Aramada >> We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << ]]>

This episode, we have the third installment in our series of interviews with women in the horror-RPG realm, with Lisa Padol, staff editor for Golden Goblin Press. Plus, a Campus Crier catch-up, listener segments and feedback. The intro and Crier was recorded on June 7, and the interview was recorded a few weeks back on May 17, 2018. Please don’t forget to check out the Women in Tabletop Gaming Month website, and catch up on Lynne Hardy’s blog posts about women creatives at Chaosium! We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier There’s an update on Miskatonic River Press’s Punktown Kickstarter, (now nearing 5 years since it was launched in November 2012). Last year backers received a PDF of the first half of the book, and Angus Abranson of Chronicle City was overseeing completion of the second half. Chaosium has recently received the finished, laid-out book for final review. Angus has advised backers that printing and shipping is slated to start in mid-June. Call of Cthulhu books Down Darker Trails and The Two-Headed Serpent were named as recipients of 2018 UK Games Expo Awards. The two were picked from over 200 nominations. The Two-Headed Serpent garnered Best Roleplaying Adventure and Down Darker Trails landed the Best Roleplaying Expansion award. The winners were announced at UK Games Expo on Sunday 3rd June. Seth Skorkowsky has reviewed Jon’s Age of Cthulhu scenario Transatlantic Terror on Seth’s YouTube channel. It’s a nice thorough look at the adventure with some spoilers, FYI. But check it out if you’re thinking about running it. Issue #3 of Dark Times Magazine has been released. That’s the fanzine that picked up the ball from Protodimension. Lots of great articles and adventure seeds and content. Check it out, and if you have any inkling to write this stuff, submissions are rolling, contact the excellent humans behind the veil of secret history at [email protected]. Pre-Order Dark Adventure Radio Theatre – Masks of Nyarlathotep from the HPLHS – Masks of Nyarlathotep – Gamer Prop Set 2018 200 Word RPG Challenge – fun contest, Max & I have entries. Max: Jordan: A Lifetime in One Hour, mine is Torture Traps: The Last to Die, Wins! BY THE WAY, a huge thank you to MAX, who is graciously editing this episode. Feedback From Forrest Aguirre: “Really enjoyed the episode on Tomes, but I felt like Jon’s idea of the binding (and, I assume, cover material) of the book having some mechanical effect didn’t get enough thought. I know, I host a podcast too, and “thinking” isn’t high on the agenda when you’re recording, I get it. Anyway, Jon’s question got me to thinking about the BBC production of “The Stone Tape,” written by Nigel Kneale, wherein some research scientists discover that a stairway carved of stone in the past recorded impressions of certain events that happened there, particularly traumatic events. I thought it might be cool to have a copy of (insert your favorite mythos tome here – the Necropnakoticthusspokezarathustraofglaaki, for example) bound not just in human skin, but in the human skin of a high ranking sorcerer of the cult who possessed the book. Because said sorcerer was SO powerful, those trying to cast a spell from this book will lose even more sanity than expected if they fail their sanity roll, however, they might be “rewarded” by lowering the number of magic points required to cast a given spell or by getting a temporary boost to POW to throw some extra “oomph” into the spell. Of course, you’ll want to make it very tempting and even more punishing for player characters to use, hence the risk of increased insanity. You can just bump it up the die chain, so if reading the tome would normally cost 1d6 sanity, the “improved” version would cost 1d8 sanity, or bump up from 1d10 to 1d12, whatever. You get the (nefarious) idea. — Just my 2 cents worth of tuition. From Ian Sandford: Hi Folks I just wanted to big thank you from here in Goatswood. I hit a brick wall writing a scenario based on “From Beyond” but through listening to your banter in podcast 143 my muse returned and blessed me with horrors upon horrors for my players. (Just in time for my game at the UK Games Expo this coming week!) I have not caught up with the podcast for a while but I still have fond memories of playing with you at Gencon a few years back. The memories of Chad’s character being hit by roof tiles after ‘pushing’ his luck too far still make me laugh. Anyway, I am back subscribing and enjoying. BTW – any thoughts on game ideas based around “From B

This episode Jon and Chad talked with Ruth Tillman, co-host of the Double Shadow podcast and contributor to Pelgrane Press. We’re releasing one episode per week during Women in Tabletop Gaming Month, so this time we skipped the Campus Crier, but tune in next week when we catch up on news updates, listener segments and audio feedback in Episode 148. Plus, on Wednesday, June 13 at 8:00 p.m Eastern Time, tune in as we team up with the Legends of Tabletop podcast for a LIVE forum with women representing various aspects of tabletop games. The audio from that will be re-broadcast in our feed, but click on the link below to watch on Wednesday and PLEASE ask some questions if you can stop by! LIVE: MUP & Legends of Tabletop – Women in Gaming Also, make sure you check out the Chaosium site for blog interviews from Lynne Hardy as part of Women in Tabletop Gaming Month. So far she has released interviews with Michelle Lockamy, artist for 13th Age Glorantha and RuneQuest, and Linda M Jones, full-time freelance artist who has illustrations RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu. By the time this episode airs you will also be able to read interviews with Marion Anderson, Shel Kahn, Mara Braun and Kerie Campbell. And please stop by Women in Tabletop Gaming Month website to read and listen to more interviews with women in the RPG industry. Topic During the conversation with Ruth, we mentioned a few things to link to. Here is the first episode of The Double Shadow, a Clark Ashton Smith Podcast. Here is a feed of posts about her work on Pelgrane Press. She mentions some of her exploration of BIG STUPID SPACE WORMS with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan for one of the “Cuttings from Hideous Creatures” installments.]]>

This episode, we are kicking off our part of Women in Tabletop Gaming Month, which is the month of June. We’re talking to a number of women in the realm of horror and Lovecraft-related role playing games. To start it all off, we have a previously recorded interview with Lynne Hardy on a bunch of topics including a series of interviews with 18 women who have contributed to Chaosium for the company’s blog. The intro and Crier sections were recorded on May 24, and the interview with Lynne was recorded on May 13. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier MUP has joined forces with Women in Tabletop Gaming Month as an official partner. This episode is the beginning of a series of interviews with women in our corner of the RPG realm, namely horror and Lovecraft-related RPGs. You’ll hear more about Lynne Hardy’s part of this in the main topic this episode. There has been an update from Adam Scott Glancy on the Horrors of War Kickstarter. He has informed Chaosium that the product will not be delivered by GenCon this year as promised in a meeting with them last year. Due to the number of complaints they’ve received about this Kickstarter, they have given him a deadline of December 31 this year to complete the work or lose the Chaosium license for this product. Chaosium issued its own statement that confirms this. To help appease waiting backers, he has sent the first part of a draft he submitted for a new Delta Green RPG scenario called “Iconoclasts,” that’s set in contemporary Ninewa province in Iraq. Dark Adventure Radio Theater has announced later this year that they plan to release six hours of “audio action”… and a special “Masks RPG Edition” with over 100 props! HP Podcraft is switching over to Patreon, and all of the episodes will be available now in the feed. “We’re still offering one free show a month, three additional shows for subscribers and if you sign up on Patreon you can get a listener comments show monthly as well as an additional show discussing whatever you want us to discuss…We’ve been at this show for almost ten years, and we’d really love to be with you for ten years more. Cthulhu Reborn has announced the release of the eleventh in the series of “Tickets of Leave” supplements for Convicts & Cthulhu, the Australian setting. It’s a 14,000 word, 25 page PDF. You can download it right now for free. It has a short sourcebook section, exploring an aspect of life in the colonies, followed by a lengthy scenario seed. The title for Ticket of Leave #11 is kind of irresistible – “The Dispensatory of Doctor Macdead,” which delves deeply into the seedy and somewhat primitive world of medical practice. A video game version of Mansions of Madness: Mother’s Embrace has been announced on Steam for release in the first quarter of 2019. In 1926, a mansion seems to be surrounded by mysteries and unexplained events… A team of investigators is trying to solve this mystery, but they will encounter traps, monsters and other Lovecraftian horrors as they descend deeper into the depths of madness. Topic Women in Tabletop Gaming Month has its own website, where you can see all the other partners, blog features, and a whole list of podcast episodes with women in the RPG realm. Check out Lynne Hardy’s series of blog posts about women who have contributed work for Chaosium over the years. And here is the official website for Women in Tabletop Gaming Month.]]>

In this episode, Jon and Chad chat with award-winning author, Stuart Boon, about Mythos and folklore fodder hooks for horror games set in the UK and many other topics along the way. But first, all four of the hosts jump in to go over Crier news and segments. The interview was recorded on May 6, and the Crier and introduction was recorded on May 10, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron <<   Campus Crier Squamous Studios has a couple of big announcements coming out. The first is an expansion for the Feed the Shoggoth card game! Final play testing is underway, art is in production, and a Kickstarter for this is expected in the Fall! And there is also a completely new game in the works! It’s called Arkham Relic Hunt, designed by Damon Gregory. In this game players move their Acolyte around Arkham collecting Relics and Cultists to add to their Cult and rack up points. It plays in about 30-60 minutes. 2-4 players. This is tentatively slated for a Kickstart in early 2019. You can look for them at Kublacon in Burlingame, California, this year from May 25th through the 28th. Lynne Hardy has a new scenario out called Scritch Scratch that will be available on the Cult Library on June 8th, just in time for FreeRPG Day. “Scritch Scratch is a one-sitting adventure, easily played in four hours. Perfect for an afternoon at the game store or an evening at your home (after Free RPG Day, of course). And we will have the PDF uploaded to the Cult Library on Friday, June 8th.” The list of participating games stores is here. There is a new short film from Boom Studios called Eldritch Code that is pretty sweet. UK Games Expo is having an all-star party line-up with a live audience adventure extravaganza! If you’re attending UK Games Expo on Saturday, June 2nd, you can be witness as Mike Mason, Benjamin Loomes of Syrinscape, John Kovalic of Dork Tower and Munchkin, Jason Bulmahn and Amanda Kunz of Piazo’s Pathfinder play Call of Cthulhu! This “Live RPG Plus” event is being hosted by Knightmare Live’s Paul Flannery. The audience members will also get to participate by offering up game twists and other suggestions to frustrate the players! The Kickstarter for the Miskatonic University: The Restricted Collection Board Game finished out very successfully with $106,994 pledged of $25,000 goal. A BIG THANK YOU TO SEAN for editing this episode! Feedback Cyaegha Episode Feedback – Hey guys, Yet another great episode. It was great getting information from the source material. I’ve never thought of using Cyaegha in a scenario before, but I am working on one with the Nagaae. In it, the PCs are a TV crew for a cryptid-hunter show. Their newest episode is on the “Loveland Frog” (which is an existing cryptid if you haven’t heard of it), and unlike their previous episodes that turned up nothing, this turns out to be real, and the “frog” is a Nagaae. Cheers, Danial – P.S. It’s true, my name is pronounced “Daniel” 🙂 Voicemail from Bret Kramer (posting Google’s transcription because it’s just too great not to): Hello, Miska tonic University podcast, it’s Brett Cramer from Sentinel Hill. Press I enjoyed episode 144 Darkness deliver my players into the just had a couple of days now. I wanted to mention one. Is that okay? And I think a little bit of other coverage of Tioga show up in the keepers companion to in the article on like Combs, I think and then monsters at the end of it over they have stats in the game. I think of course when the Mally it’s months program and also one thing I wanted to mention is this actually a fans in called kayak. I think it’s put out by I’m not sure actually who but it comes periodically mostly could do a Mrs. Fiction, very small numbers. I think if you were the 100 copies So you might want to check that out. I can shoot you a link to put in the show notes. So they are up to think episode 20 is Justin out if I recall correctly. I don’t actually own it, but it is something that might be of interest to complete your Kai a good discussion. Anyway, so thanks for the show and go pods. Segments Oscarius Tabularis has sent us the sixth and final episode in this “season” of Glimpses into the Empire. He’s taking a little vacation in idyllic Ravenna for a while, but plans to come back for another series later. So sit back, peel some grapes, recline in your comfy “triclinium” and enjoy Episode Six – The Heretic. For those of you lamenting the end of Season One of Glimpses into the Empire, don’t fret. Oscarios has agreed to keep in touch while he’s away and answer questions the audience might have for him. So, if you want to know more about just who is Oscarios Tabularius, hi

In this episode Dan, Jon, and Murph talk about the green eye in the sky, everyone’s favorite god of the caves, Cyaegha, and we also have some listener feedback to respond to. Plus, we have another addition to the Card Catalog, and two more listener submitted segments. This episode was recorded on April, 27th , 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier Call of Cthulhu Leather Campaign Journals The Kickstarter completed only hours before the recording of this episode. Classic Lovecraftian boardgame Mansions of Madness is coming to PC. Fantasy Flight’s award-winning board game Mansions of Madness is getting a video game adaption, which is due for release next year. Miskatonic University: The Restricted Collection boardgame FUNDED IN 16 HOURS, now graduating through Stretch Goals Hellboy: The Board Game Inspired by the visionary comics by Mike Mignola, Hellboy: The Board Game is a thrilling co-operative experience for 1 to 4 players. New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley 2ed for Call of Cthulhu ‘New Tales from Miskatonic Valley’ 2nd Edition produced under license for the Call of Cthulhu RPG by Chaosium Inc. A BIG THANK YOU TO MAX for editing this episode! Feedback: From: Justin The Darkhold ran as 9 issues for a comic book when they tied in the supernatural comics in the Marvel Universe into the Midnight Sons in the ‘90s. Each page of the book was a spell, and many of the spells had escaped as separate pages and a Group was trying to collect them together. It had a very Friday the 13th The Series feel and was a decent read, worth picking up since it was only a short run before being ended. Oh, and there was a dark little person associated with handing out the pages, this could be a servant of Nyarlathotep spreading discord. From: Keeper Michael Subject: Podcast and beginner keeper thoughts Hi everyone, I am a new keeper, though have had many years playing “that other medieval fantasy game” for over 20 years. A friend in my group turned me on to c.o.c. About a year ago and was instantly hooked! I listened to a few of your actual gameplays, and loved how taking a basic introductory adventure like The Haunting and turned it upside down on its head. Sadly you didn’t have time to finish it, but was curious about the table in Corbitts basement that had some random astrological stuff, books,etc. I am running this for the first time and would love to get some ideas as to how to spin what’s on the table into another adventure. I was thinking, if successful with this, to go either into dead mans stomp, or dead light, unless perhaps you think there may be something better to tie this into something just as creepy? Keep up the great work guys, I always look forward to each and every podcast! Regards, Keeper Michael From: Grotonomus Date: Wed, Apr 18, 2018 at 10:43 PM Subject: Sears Roebuck 1918 Hello Gents, Grotonomus here, Your friendly USFS Field Archaeologist with a secret weapon of mine when working on historic sites. The archive.org Sears Roebuck and Company listings with a few complete catalogs. https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Sears%2C+Roebuck+and+Company%22 1918 Catalog https://ia800209.us.archive.org/27/items/catalog1918sear/catalog1918sear.pdf Be mindful of the pdf load times. They are 1600 pages and about half a gigabyte. These catalogs are a treasure trove of consumer culture in the late 19th and early 20th century. Replete with some color art, prices, and shipping costs. You can find just about everything available at the time in these fine tomes. There are also home building plan catalogs and headstone/monument catalogs. Best wishes, and game on my good chums! Adam P.S. Yes, CoC helped me on my way to becoming an Archaeologist. Well, that and Indy of course. From: Danial Date: Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 10:48 AM Subject: Cop Talk Feedback Hey Guys, Great episode. I just wanted to throw in another option I don’t believe you covered (I listen while driving so it’s possible I just missed it), but what if the police recruit you? They show up after your misdeeds and realize you’re chasing the same people so they look the other way in the hope that you’ll do all the hard work for them. This could be handled as either a “we could really use your help on this one” type deal, or a “do this or we’ll throw you in the slammer!” type jerk maneuver 🙂   Segments: Oscarius Tabularis has sent us the next Glimpses into the Empire; Episode Five – Devotio Next up, we have another segment on horror folklore in Japan from Jonathan. This episode is about Hitobashira, or Human Pillars Topic: Created by Belgian sci-fi/horror writer Eddy C. Bertin in the story Darkness, My Name Is. Cyaegha is the god of caves that is worsh

In this episode, all four hosts are back together again to tackle a topic suggestion from “Uncle Tim” about how to use law enforcement without disrupting the flow of your game. Plus listener segments and more! This episode was recorded on April 12, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier A new 12-page Delta Green scenario by Dennis Detwiller called “Sweetness” is available via DriveThruRPG in both PDF and Print on Demand. Blurb: “The Bernier family of Tampa, Florida, has been terrorised by a fire and weird graffiti. Police suspect a hate crime. The mark on the door, carved with a horn or a claw and smeared with blood and effluvia, makes Delta Green think otherwise. One of their experts says it’s the symbol of Kore, queen of the underworld, goddess of an ancient mystery cult.” A new rules-lite Lovecraftian-style roleplaying game from Les Livres de l’Ours is available on DriveThruRPG. The makers say the system was inspired by Advanced Fighting Fantasy, Traveller and others. This version is 34-pages and “art-free” at a pay-what-you-want price. Promo copy “So grab a character sheet, 2D6, pick a profession and a reputation and go fight the Old Ones or die screaming.” The money made by this version will pay for the art of the final version. Syrinscape and Chaosium have announced a new partnership to release “official sounds” for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. Syrinscape is an app that creates movie-like, immersive sound for tabletop games. There’a a Kickstarter for Call of Cthulhu leather campaign journals to enhance your gaming experience. “Be the dread author of your own story.” A new edition of Alone Against the Dark: Defying the Triumph of the Ice is out now from Chaoisum. This has been revised and updated to 7th Edition and is by Matt Costello. Murph got his RPGCoaster of Cthulhu last week, and it is awesome…. From Michael O’Brien: “The launch date for our Miskatonic University: The Restricted Collection Kickstarter has been set—April 17th. And they say they are excited to be launching our first Lovecraftian board game since 1987!” A BIG THANK YOU TO EDWIN for editing this episode! Segments First up, strap yourselves in to the Wayback Machine, Sherman, we’re on our way to Ancient Rome for a tale from Oscarius Tabularis about…the worst dinner party ever. Then, get your paper footballs ready to snap through the goalposts of ennui, as we settle into Mr. Tyler’s detention hall – for some more thoughts on a Mythos minion we’ve covered here recently. To read more from Mr. Tyler check out Skullduggery in the Smoke. Topic “Hello Miskatonic University Podcast this is Tim McGonagle here, long time fan of the show and occasional minion for Golden Goblin Press calling you gents from New York City. I have an idea for a topic regarding the authorities and consequences in Call of Cthulhu and the role the police and similar types may play in scenarios. When do the police become part of scenario if a player character crosses an obvious line into blatant illegal activity? As a GM, how do you balance keeping the game realistic and grounded if a character goes overboard with an illegal action and gets busted? How does a Keeper not let realistic consequences stymie the game when say one or more PCs are picked up by the coppers and are looking at an extended stay at the old graybar hotel? This topic could also be expanded to authority figures in relationship to a player character’s profession, and the consequences for them breaking the rules as it relates to their “day job” when they are doing Mythos investigator work. Would love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Keep up the great work you guys and of course G-O P-O-D-S, GO PODS!” Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #451 Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #696 Scenarios where you can find info on crime and law include: King of Chicago – Secrets of Marseilles And here is a handy YSDC link for a list of scenarios where the players are criminals. Including: Toying with Humans The Eyes Between Worlds from Strange Tales of Dread & Wonder. Players take on the roles of Chinese Triads who have come to the Kingdom of Bhutan. The scenario in the Escape from Innsmouth book involves law enforcement in some interesting ways, including a potential jailbreak scene With Malice Aforethought from Arkham Country, there is a whole court case situation.]]>

In this episode, Dan, Jon and Murph dive into the old Special Collections vault to talk about tomes as story points. Plus, we have more audio segments from contributors, news and more! This episode was recorded on March 29, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron <<   Campus Crier The Campus Crier is Miskatonic U’s student paper. Here’s where we go through Mythos related news and feedback to the podcast. This episode was recorded on March 29, 2018. Chaosium announced last week that they will be Kick Starting a new board game by Reiner Knizia and Greg Stafford. Miskatonic University: The Restricted Collection is the company’s first foray into board games in 37 years. Thanks to Chaosium’s continued pre-launch updates we have also got some looks at the game mats in their final form. The Kickstarter is set to launch in April, and you can find links to everything in the show notes as always. This just in from Bret Kramer of Sentinel Hill Press: “The Arkham Gazette 2 has been raised up from its essential saltes and is now available on DTRPG. This issue was about Innsmouth and for $12 you get a pdf with over a dozen articles and a scenario. Print version coming soon” Also, Bret has a new $3 patron level on his Patreon page. “Vile Minions” will get all the lower level Sentinel Hill Press rewards plus an occasional post-card, short letter or possibly a few pages from an upcoming release. Links to find out more about both are in the show notes. Reports are coming in that the Raiders of R’lyeh RPG, which launched back in August of 2013 and we covered initially on Episode 38, has started showing up in people’s hands in the last few days. So if you are a backer be on the lookout. Congrats to creator Quentin Bauer for getting it out the door finally. Modiphius has released the next installment of their Living Campaign for Achtung Cthulhu. The scenario is called The Blessed of the Wind and is by Richard August, and centers around a Nazi troopship that is anchored in a nearby fjord. The scenario is free and available to members of the Living Campaign at Modiphius. A new kickstarter for Maximum Apocalypse: Gothic Horrors Expansion, for the popular card game Maximum Apocalypse, has been funded in two hours. The update will allow player to “[f]ace off against life draining vampires, ghouls and werewolves in a classic monster set or try and stop a bunch of cultists from summoning Cthulhu or other unspeakable Lovecraftian horrors.” They have already funded and are just chasing stretch goals for the remaining 27 days. Last episode Chris Spivey mentioned that a shop in Brooklyn called Anyone Comics was going to host a special game day for Harlem Unbound. Well, our very own Keeper Chad stopped by to check it out. He reports that the event was well attended, with two game tables set up in a basement room of the comics shop, with a total of about 15 players – their biggest attendance for “Indie RPG Day” yet since starting last year. Chad ended up playing a 4-hour session of a scenario seed from the book called “Blood is Blood,” and had a blast. There is even talk among attendees of a spinoff local group to keep playing Harlem Unbound. Shout out again to Anyone Comics for hosting! “Anyone” who wants to check for upcoming “Indie RPG Game Days” should check out the store’s Facebook page. A BIG THANK YOU TO SEAN for editing this episode! Segments: We have three episodes of ongoing segments from MU Nation. We open a window into Ancient Roman weirdness with another dispatch from Oscarius Tabularis. This time, we travel across the Mediterranean to Carthage for a parable of a….marine nature… Get ready to carve some heavy metal graffiti into your desks as we head back to detention hall for Part Two of Mr. Tyler’s gamer-eyed view of the story “Earth to Earth.” Here’s the for Mr. Tyler’s Blog, Skullduggery in the Smoke! We have another segment on horror folklore in Japan from Jonathan. This episode is about the legend of the “Slit-Mouthed Woman.” Card Catalogue: Hi Guys, I’ve stumbled across an archive site devoted to comic books that fell into the public domain, thought it might make a useful addition to the cardfile. The comics can be viewed online, but you need to register to the site if you want to download them. – Graham Topic Tomes: Are they simply diaries to impart knowledge, spells, etc, or can they be used in different ways? Can a tome be the central focus of a scenario (the tome is the source of the horror/mystery)? Also, what is a tome? How does language affect the tome? Along the way, we mention: Darkhold, a fictional grimoire appearing Marvel comic books. Flag Books, a thing you should just click on the li

This episode, we catch up with Chris Spivey of Darker Hue Studios to talk about Harlem Unbound and upcoming projects. Then we riff a bit on how to pull Mythos ideas from TV shows. This episode was recorded on March 15, 2018. Campus Crier Golden Geek Awards have been announced for stuff released in 2017, and Tales from the Loop got best RPG. It also got runner up for Best Artwork & Presentation. That’s the most notable horror-adjacent winner on the list. Check out the rest of the winners on the RPG Geek website – we’ll post a link in the thingy. Jon talks about a new ‘zine about Dungeon Crawl Classics that is available on DriveThruRPG called Crawl-thulhu. This ‘zine is written and produced by John Potts, and introduces a Sanity mechanic and DCC stats for 1920s firearms. It also includes an adventure titled “A Horrible Day at the Dunwich Fair.” This is all DCC compatible. If playing Call of Cthulhu with DCC rules interests you, then go check out this ‘zine quick. The advertised cover price is $8, but at the time of this recording it is on sale for $3. Chaosium has announced winners of the Cult of Chaos Scenario Writing Contest – there are seven of them and we’re not going to read them all, but there are two notable winners from MU Nation, including David Larkins for Wailing Woman for Down Darker Trails, and Shannon Mac for The Search for Brian Boru, Cthulhu Dark Ages scenario. Congratulations to all of the winners! There is a Kickstarter in progress for is a horror detective comic based on the works of HP Lovecraft called Hellcraft. The blurb reads: “Private investigator Hank Hellcraft must contend with a troubled family past, while becoming engulfed in mysteries that reveal indescribable horrors hidden just beneath the surface.” Check it out! Adam Crossingham posted some updates about SixtyStone projects on YSDC. The SixtyStone website is currently down, so after some speculation about the fate of the company, Adam posted updates on the forums. He says his top priority is getting the MONC KS finished, he’s still converting Colonial Mythos Country to 7e, the next two Investigator Weapons books have gone back to “Hans” for 7e integration, there are a lot of corrections to make on the Cthulhu by Arclight layout files, and he hasn’t decided whether to convert it to 7e or to DG. Other books will basically be done when they get done. More details are in the conversation thread on YSDC. Golden Goblin Press is holding a Spring Cleaning Sale, so you can get 20% off all physical items, an 30% off orders over $60 in for physical items. That includes RPG and fiction material. That sale runs until April 15th. The discount code is: G0blin$pr1n6. The Brazilian-Portuguese version of Call of Cthulhu successfully Kickstarted back on February 2 at about $71,000 (231,000 Brazilian Real). Behold: “Chamado De Cthulhu”! Chaosium has released Petersen’s Abominations in PDF and Hardback. As always, the PDF is free with a Hardback purchase. These are five of the modern-day con-games that Sandy Petersen runs at conventions each year. And a BIG THANK YOU TO MAX for editing this episode! Card Catalog We wanted to salute MUP’s resident librarian, Graham, and thank him for keeping the Card Catalog fully stocked. He recently sent in links to an amazing list of naval ships that are listed as fictional, though many are historical ships with fictional names. This is an amazing list of vessels broken down by nation and Year. Part I: Fictional Warships 1850-1899 Part II: Fictional Warships 1900-1945 – Section A-GB Part II: Fictional Warships 1900-1945 – Section Gr-Y Part III: Fictional Warships 1945-2020 Nations A-I Part III: Fictional Warships 1945-2020 Nations J-U Part IV & V: Fictional Warships Fictional Warships 2025-2100 & Non-State/Alternate Universe Warships 1850-2100 Appendix I/II/III: Fictional Aircraft/Weapons/Electronics Feedback Since we want to catch up on some of the lost feedback backlog we got over the last year, we’re going to roll the dice and read one now. Hi Keepers! I’ve been running Call of Cthulhu again after a year and a half off. My first few games have been for new to Call of Cthulhu players with other RPG experience. As they got more comfortable with the system, they began to make Sanity rolls all on their own when they encountered anything weird. It was a bit weird to me but not really annoying. That is until they reached the final portion of the scenario (Amidst the Ancient Trees) and had very little SAN left. Two of the three players went insane before (avoiding spoilers) the end was revealed. The other ran away. So I didn’t get to finish the scenario, really. I’ve also been listening to a lot of live plays where players are voluntarily losing SAN without rolls. I was just wondering your thoughts on player initiated SAN loss and rolls. Thanks for the great show! Goooooooo Pods! – Keeper Kent Segments Three listeners have graciously submitted segments for u

In this episode, all four hosts talked to Mike Mason about the Miskatonic Repository and all kinds of tips for beginning writers. We also ended up revisiting a certain kleptomaniacal monster. The interview portion was recorded on March 3, and the Crier was recorded on March 8, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron <<   Campus Crier First, a big apology. Back in late 2016, we switched our feedback email over from an old MU website address that wasn’t working to a gmail account. [email protected]. Due to a couple of tech glitches and a communication train wreck on our part, that address has gone unchecked since November 2016. We recently discovered – with complete dismay – that there were almost 40 unanswered feedback emails in the inbox. To all of you who sent something in only to hear resounding silence from us, we are very sorry. We have since contacted all of you that sent in an email, but if you think you have been overlooked, then please contact us again and let us know. Among the items we completely missed the boat on: From December 2017 Glenn emailed us and let us know about a Patreon for a Lovecraftian RPG that is currently in development called Journey to the Tree of Sorrows. A little more than a year ago RPG Coasters did a campaign to launch hardwood drink coasters themed specifically for Cthulhu RPG. These are pretty cool – they include investigator professions like parapsychologist and antiquarian so your game group can maybe have a special coaster for each party member. You can also have the text customized to say what you would like. I bought one of the Keeper coasters and will update us when it arrives. We also got a nice bit of feedback from a blogger who runs Brawl of Cthulhu, where they have a blog post about each of the monsters in the Malleus Monstorum. New News: The Masks expansion for Fantasy Flight Games’ Eldritch Horror is now out for general release. And has Chaosium announced that the Masks rewrite is behind schedule and is now expected “later in 2018.” There is a new Kickstarter out for Lovecraft Preparatory Academy, which seems to be a mash-up of Lovecraft, Miskatonic University, and Harry Potter. You can get the game in PDF for $15. The link is in the show notes. Yann Demange Enters “Lovecraft Country” for Jordan Peele! In his U.S. TV debut, British helmer Yann Demange is set to direct and executive produce the first episode of HBO’s high-profile straight-to-series drama “Lovecraft Country”, from newly minted Oscar winner Jordan Peele (Get Out) and his Monkeypaw Productions, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot and Warner Bros Television. Friend of the show Matt Puccio has released “A Light in Darkness” – A dark, survival horror scenario for Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition, set in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. Includes 8 pregenerated characters, special-purpose insanity cards and weapon cards, maps, and other player handouts. Designed to run in 4-5 hours for 3 to 6 players. Feedback: From Graham: There is a novel series (Two books at the moment…) by an author named D.J. Baldock on Amazon called ‘Ascendant Untempered‘ and the plot line is ripe for a Superhero/Mythos mashup (The superheros draw their powers from non-Euclidian entities but don’t know it.) even if the author is rather too enamored of zombies for my taste (Both novels have featured them, albeit non-standard types.) Topic: We talk with Mike Mason about what the big idea was with the Miskatonic Repository, and some tips for new writers to keep in mind – from an editor’s point of view. We also wander into the Bestiary to discuss how to make Dimensional Shamblers less one-dimensional.]]>

In this episode, Jon, Murph and Chad try a little mashup magic by randomly combining Lovecraftian horror with other RPG genres. This episode was recorded on February 15, 2018. Campus Crier Correction: In episode 137 Chad said that the DM’s Guild allows creators to write content for multiple versions of D&D. It doesn’t. It only allows 5th Edition. And (for now) it only allows the Forgotten Realms and Ravenloft settings only. Delta Green is releasing a book of six scenarios called “A Night at the Opera” in hardback. It’s now available for preorder. They are doing a kind of ransom model where they had to get 300 preorders before they would send the thing for print. The Fall of Delta Green, the Ken Hite adaptation of the setting to Trail of Cthulhu, set in “the blistering 1960s” is available in PDF to backers of the Kickstarter. The Fall of Delta Green will be available for further orders from Pelgrane Press “soon.” There is a Punktown update from January: Basically, they have character sheets to add to the book from Dean Engelhardt. Check out The Pallid Mask: King In Yellow tiki mug & RPG. Billy Joel meets HP Lovecraft – listen here! Feedback: iTunes review by drummerdave from USA on January 12, 2018: Fantastic and funny, Great conversation and in-depth analysis on Cthulhu RPGs and horror themes in general. Funny, unique and interesting. Must subscribe! Topic – The Genere-rator! Here is a table we used for generating mashups with Lovecraftian horror. Roll 1d12: 1. Superheroes (V&V, Marvel, Godlike) 2. Espionage (Top Secret, Nights Black Agents) 3. Martial Arts (Bushido, Feng Shui, Legend of the Five Rings) 4. Swashbuckling (7th Sea, Flashing Blades, 50 Fathoms for Savage Worlds) 5. Traditional Fantasy (D&D, DCC, 1 million others) 6. Conspiracy (Esoterrorists, Delta Green, Kult) 7. Cyberpunk (Cyberpunk 2020, Punktown, Corporation) 8. Space Opera / Space Adventure (Traveller, Star Wars, Star Trek, Star Frontiers, Star Star) 9. Post Apocalyptic (Gamma World, Car Wars, Mutant Crawl Classics) 10. Transhuman (Eclipse Phase, Nova Praxis) 11. Romance (Monster Hearts, Breaking The Ice, Kagematsu) 12. Western (Boot Hill, Deadlands, Down Darker Trails) And here is an extra D6 if you want to add a time period or tech level to the settings: 1. Stone Age 2. Ancient/Medieval 3. Contemporary/Post Industrial 4. Near Future 5. Far Future 6. Alien / Interdimensional]]>

Hello! As mentioned before, we’re making some minor changes to the Miskatonic University Podcast, with a shorter editor-friendly show format. Given the brevity of topic discussion, we’d love to add some little extra audio segments to the shows. So if you have any of your own ideas for 3 to 5 minute segments that you might want to contribute that cover something related to horror and Lovecraft-related game stuff or connections to the Mythos realm in general, please let us know! No need to pitch strictly self-promotional segments. We cover product news and would be happy to mention your work in the Crier if you have something to promote. But it would be excellent to stone soup this podcast and bring in other voices from MU Nation. Basically, we’re looking or finished pieces that we can drop into the episodes without a whole lot of extra editing on our side, so we can increase the richness of each episode. What kind of segment, you ask? How about a history snippet about something weird and game-able? Maybe you want to make a creepy 2 minute audio landscape with no words at all. Maybe you want to make a 5-part radio drama about a troupe of Deep Ones who join a circus! Or game book reviews! Or forgotten Mythos Fiction! If something pops to mind and you think you might want to contribute, get in touch with us if you, and we’ll work with you on how to shape the idea for our show format and help you get it recorded and set up for broadcast. The email to send ideas: [email protected]. looking forward to hearing what might surface from those who heed the call!]]>

  In this episode, Jon, Murph and Chad head back to an old favorite, the Bestiary, to put a little bug in your ears about certain space monster castaways with powers of persuasion. This episode was recorded on February 1, 2018. Thanks very much to Max for audio editing on this episode! Campus Crier There’s a new Kickstarter underway from Stygian Fox! “The Wild Hunt” is an ancient Celtic myth about a force that rampages through the countryside: killing evil-doers and causing havoc. It is a 1920s adventure framed around a hunt that takes investigators “From New York to Boston.” Chaosium has released a sheaf of stuff for the Miskatonic Repository called the Miskatonic Collection, which includes forms, images, play aids and documents. They can be used for props in your own Call of Cthulhu games, but these are also meant for creators to used to spice up submissions to the Miskatonic Repository. Forms in the collection from Dean Englehart include Arkham Sanitarium Forms, City of Arkham Forms, Medical Forms, Telegrams, and more. There are also maps by Stephanie Maclea. Harlem Unbound from Darker Hue Studios is in the hands of backers, and reviews have been excellent. The company has also officially launched a Patreon page! From Chris Spivey: “If you like our work and want to help make safe spaces for diverse voices to be heard, and want to see diverse creatives making beautiful, engaging and authentic pieces that feature people of color – please consider backing us!” Skype of Cthulhu posted its first session about 7 years ago. Jim posted some impressive numbers and an infographic to celebrate. “Since then we have released 445 actual-play sessions (with another 22 in the backlog) and have no intention of slowing down….The top six (Edwin, Gary, Jim, Jonathan, Max, and Randall) are all current, regular players – which is pretty cool. Our sincere thanks to each and everyone one of you.” Chad was on Legends of Tabletop with John Haremza and Oscar Rios and Bill Adcock playing Invictus, with a character born during an as-yet un-aired MU Podcast AP with y’all. Horatius the “retired grain inspector” (code for spy in the Second Century Roman empire) joins Iavolenus the bodyguard and Lucius the Centurion on a trek to a remote village in the Alps. Topic ]]>

This episode, the full crew is finally back after a long winter’s nap for a discussion about Chaosium’s launch of something called the Miskatonic Repository. This episode was recorded on January 11, 2018. Campus Crier Chaosium has introduced the Miskatonic Repository, a “way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content.” This is also our main topic, so see more below for extra links. Lynne Hardy has been named as Call of Cthulhu assistant editor at Chaosium. Congratz Lynne! Legends of Tabletop did an interview with Adam Scott Glancy that is well worth a listen. They cover Horrors of War as well as some interesting political territory. Kudos to John H and Leah for delving into touchy ground. Hudson and Brand has been released on PDF… Matt Sanderson is doing a sequel scenario to Call of Cthulhu in collaboration with propmaker Delphes Desvoivres. Pelgrane Press has released Ex Astoria, a scenario for Cthulhu Confidential – Spine-Tingling New York Mythos Noir from the Newsfiles of Vivian Sinclair. This is the Ruth Tillman creation for Cthulhu Confidential. Promo copy: “A brawl between picketers from the miner’s union and scab laborers working on the Winn Water Tunnel has turned into a riot, and Vivian Sinclair is on the scene reporting. But it seems the scab workers are the least of the miners’ concerns. Can Viv prevent further injuries and an environmental disaster?” The Dark Brood for The Cthulhu Hack – “The Dark Brood offers content about the Black Goat and its Thousand Young, creatures horrible and mindless, including six examples of the Dark Brood, two investigation seeds, Mythos spells and dozens of elements to add the essence of Shub-Niggurath to your game.” A PDF is $3.95. Cult of Chaos Convention Scenario Competition 2018 – a list of pitches has been selected for writers to turn their work into full-fledged scenarios. Round One Results: Seven new spider species from Brazil have been named after seven famous fictional spider characters. Including a Lovecraft creation! In other random weird science news, there’s a spider that looks like a pelican. Listener Feedback From Graham: Regarding those freshwater Deep Ones. I was re-listening to the most recent podcast episode and remembered that there is one scenario out there that has what could be freshwater Deep Ones in it. It was published twice, once in the late 80’s in a semi-pro fanzine called “North Coast Roleplaying” (Issue 7) and then in the early 90s in the first issue of “Vortext Magazine”. Entitled “Shadow Over Stockton” the scenario hook is someone catching a ‘strange creature’ (Deep One) on Lake Stockton in Missouri and then a sporting goods company puts up a huge reward for the next one captured. As an idea how this thing is supposed to play out, here is a small spoiler, the Phil Foglio illustration on the first publication depicts investigators coming across a boat-load of Deep Ones pretending to be ‘good old boy” fishermen complete with baseball caps, fishing rods and six-packs of beer. There is a writeup of the scenario on the YSDC wiki, based on the first printing, what if any changes were made for the second printing are unknown. – Graham From Dave Sokolowski: First, thank you so much for all of your great work. This year, which was rough and stressful for a few reasons, saw me spend a lot of time in my car, driving multiple hours from here to there. I decided to get back into podcasts, and ended up listening to a backlog of MUP that went back to mid 2015, more than two years ago — at least 50 episodes. I can be sentimental, and like many, memories tied to emotion grow deeper. I formed a connection with your podcast, and came to love your wacky but serious show on many levels. You’ve got a great thing going: topical and thoughtful conversation on game topics, intelligent and funny discourse about horror in general, and a congenial and friendly banter that is rare indeed. We, as a hobby, are much better off with you lot around, and I’m very thankful for all that you do. Here’s to many more fantastic episodes that I now listen to within a day of their release. With that done, I would now like to give you an exclusive release – I am currently working on another chapter in the Stygian Fox “Safehouse Series” called the Advocacy. Here is the elevator pitch for you: “The Advocacy is a modern day Safe House setting for Call of Cthulhu set in Washington DC. The PCs are fixers, soldiers and researchers who work discretely to solve problems in and around the home of the world’s largest bureaucracies. They have the best technology and resources in the world at their hands, which is important because their adversaries don’t play by the rules and often don’t even come from this world.” It’s in the same series as Hudson & Brand and i

Hello, MU Nation! So…you might have noticed a bit of a hiatus in our feed since late last year. Truth is, Dan and Murph both had computers blow up, Dan is now keeping vampire hours for professional reasons, and time has gotten away from all of us. Plus, Dan has been accepted to Robot School. Congratulations, Dan! But with all this going on, we’ve been talking about how to resurrect the podcast once again and how to keep it afloat in stormy seas. For one thing, we’re talking with some generous volunteers who may be able to help share the burden of audio editing, which is the most time consuming part of this little Mythos circus. We haven’t podfaded. It was just a pod-hibernation. But spring is coming, the glaciers are melting, and we’re all starving for berries and marmots. So stay tuned. And thanks for hanging in there!]]>

In this episode, Dan, Jon, Murf, and Chad take some recent weird headlines and sow them as scenario seeds. This episode was recorded on December 4, 2017. Campus Crier Sandy Petersen’s scenario book is available on PDF   CoC 7E won another award! This time from Beasts of War!   Cubicle 7 and Chaosium have announced that the two are severing the longstanding Call of Cthulhu license agreement at the end of this year.   Fantasy Grounds has added Pulp Cthulhu to their list of plugins for the system. Dark Trails – the weird western DCC game by David Baity Listener feedback- Voicemail from Ritterton Hey, this is Ritterton. Just calling and saying appreciated the campus prior shore episode. It was great listening to some neat things coming out. Just had to call though to make one suggested pronunciation correction. It’s Helena Montana. That’s a pretty common test out here in the west. So again great presentation and great information, always appreciate it. Looking forward to the full show when it comes here in the near future. Take care. Bye. Bye. Speakpipe message from Lee Williams of the Dark Times Fanzine   Topic RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES Jon – Sharks in New York basement: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sharks-found-in-basement-pool_us_59b19819e4b0dfaafcf67219?section=us_weird-news Chad: fake corpses https://www.livescience.com/61089-syndaver-synthetic-humans.html Murph: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article187442003.html https://www.wired.com/2016/05/soundself-vr-ego-death/ https://www.inverse.com/article/38980-psilocybin-mushroom-playlist-research Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum.]]>

In this episode, Dan, Jon and Chad talk with guest Blake Smith from the Monster Talk Podcast! We talk about cryptids as well as other monsters and Forteana. This episode was recorded on November 20, 2017. Campus Crier Carl Ford, editor of the 80s fanzine DAGON, has died. Read this excellent post with some backstory on the magazine here. Extra Life update: The New England Gamers Extra Life team wants to thank all of its many supporters and sponsors for their help in raising over $7,000 in 2017 to support the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Gamers participated in fundraising events at multiple conventions, including an exciting multi-Keeper event at NecronomiCon. At the 24-hour Twitch-streamed gaming marathon, over $1,800 in donations came in from around the world. Donors won 49 prizes valued at over $1000 total from our wonderful sponsors: Frog God Games, Kobold Press, Chaosium, Gallant Knight Games, Pacesetter Games, Squamous Studios, and the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. In addition, Frog God Games is providing $945 in matching PDFs for donations of $50 and up. The Cold Warning PDF is now on sale via the Golden Goblin Press website, and will soon (a few days) be available as Print on Demand via DriveThruRPG.com A reminder that the 2018 Chaosium Convention Scenario Contest has been announced – Submit adventure pitches to the Cult of Chaos on the BRP Central forums: https://basicroleplaying.org/ Topic Blake has dropped Part 1 of a multi-part look at grimoires with the guest, Jerry Drake, who Blake says is probably as close to a Lovecraftian protagonist as he’s met in real life. Blake has been published in Fortean Times, Weird Tales, Skeptic and Skeptical Inquirer. He’s working on a book now called The Invention Fallacy which is about how technology works, ancient aliens and why people don’t understand Innovation. Links to sites that allow newspaper article creation for gaming. https://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp https://newspaper.jaguarpaw.co.uk/ Blake mentions The Beyond as a great Lovecraftian film (Trailer). The Bell Witch Jack Parsons (rocket engineer & wizard) Noirlathotep: Tales of Lovecraftian Crime Flatwoods monster Apophenia Ultraterrestrial– Interdimensional hypothesis Pangboche Hand The Mysterious Monsters The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society – The Whisperer in Darkness. Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum.]]>

Keeper Chad gives a Campus Crier insert for the feed to keep the content rolling while we put the next episode together. We’ll be back next time with a full show. This episode was recorded on November 13, 2017. ● The Delta Green Shotgun Scenario Contest has been announced – This year once again the requested length is 1500 words. The last day for submissions is Saturday, December 9, 2017. You can submit as many Shotgun Scenarios as you wish, by the way. You can also write longer than 1500 words, but if you go over that amount, when the community votes, each vote only counts as half a vote. It’s not worth it, folks. Learn how to write to spec. It makes your editors happy. ● Speaking of writing contests, Chaosium has put out the word on its Cult of Chaos mailing list that that they are seeking scenarios for the 2018 Cult of Chaos Convention Scenario Competition. They want, and I quote engaging and dramatic convention scenarios dreamt up by the mind of the Cult of Chaos. This is your opportunity to share your experience and writing skills, and get your scenario played around the world as official Chaosium convention games. They are looking for scenarios that can can be run in a 3.5 to 4 hours slot and playable by up to 6 players. Ideally, scenarios should be set in the 1920s, 1930s, or modern day, but we are happy to see other time periods too. Pre-generated investigators should also be included with the scenario. Length wise, each scenario should plan on approximately 8,000-12,000 words maximum. The deadline for submitting pitches is December 1st, 2017. ● From Modiphius, a new Achtung Cthulhu supplement: Code of Honour: Zero Point 1942 – this takes us to Istanbul in 1942. At that time the City of Seven Hills is a neutral city, packed with spies. Nazis, Soviets, the Brits and the Yanks, the Japanese and a host of other nations, all waging a deadly war of wits against a backdrop of cocktail bars and polite smiles. While Turkey desperately tries to stay out of the war, the Führer’s armies mass less than a hundred miles away. ● Also from Modiphius – their Entertainment department is presenting a FREE short teaser from its forthcoming Achtung! Cthulhu Audio Adventure series. The full 30 minute pilot is due to be released shortly, followed by a ten part series of World War Two audio adventure! ● The Delta Green: Handler’s Guide is out now in PDF. ● Plus three new standalone scenarios for Delta Green have been released since the last Crier 1) “Kali-Ghati” “The Agents are soldiers, intelligence officers, federal agents or civilian contractors among the U.S. forces in Afghanistan.” 2) “Music From a Darkened Room” — a horrifyingly haunting scenario for Delta Green 3) “Extremophilia” — a terrifying scenario for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game ● For Pelgrane’s one-on-one Gumshoe game Cthulhu Confidential, “High Voltage Kill” a Spine-Tingling L.A. Mythos Noir from the Casefiles of Dex Raymond, by Robin Laws. ● Streets of Arkham, an expansion for Mansions of Madness ● Sandy Petersen’s scenario thing is out (sorry, can’t find link, but it’s probably in Ab Chaos) ● Dave Sokolowski’s “Sun Spots”: Chaosium is pleased our friends at Weird8 have recently released the licensed Call of Cthulhu adventure Sun Spots in PDF on DriveThruRPG. Funded last year via Kickstarter at nearly $16k with 533 backers, Sun Spots was originally written by Dave Sokolowski nearly ten years ago under the editorial guidance of Cthulhu-maestro Keith “Doc” Herber. This was for an Old Ones-themed Call of Cthulhu supplement Herber was planning to bring out through his imprint Miskatonic River Press. ● YSDC has announced its Secret Shoggoth gift exchange, and you do not have much more time to jump in on this. If you are a YSDC member jump on the site, find out how to participate, and do it by this Friday, November 17. ● Backers of Golden Goblin Press’s Cold Warning Kickstarter have received their print copies, those who backed at that level. The stretch goals for that campaign are in the works, with Riot at Red Plank in the editing stages and Riding the Northbound undergoing rewrites and expansion. ● Sentinel Hill Press is editing text of THE DARE, in part based on some feedback from backers who got to look at a preview. Ian MacLean is busy art, including a final version of the cover. ● EXTRA LIFE brought in a tidy sum of 2300 in donations for the Children’s Miracle Network at CarnageCon in the first weekend of November. There was a raffle and a high-rotation gaming session, and a Star Wars LARP. Coming up on November 17, they will be streaming live on twitch.tv/froggodgames from 6 PM EST on Nov. 17 until 6 PM on Saturday. Between midnight and 6 AM EST, during a Down Darker Trails scenario, they will be giving away three PDFs from us: HPL’s CoC for Beginning Readers, a 7th Ed. Rulebook, and S. Peterson’s Guide to Lovecraftian Horror. Every donation of $1 or more enters you to win one of these prizes. In addition, they h

In this episode, Jon, Chad, and Dan stay in the realm of Pulp Cthulhu with a little brainstorming on machinery that could be created by Mythos entities for PCs to then get their grubby little hands on. And Chad has a complete fangasm while recording. It’s pretty great. This episode was recorded on October 23, 2017. Campus Crier Praxis Black Monk The Black Monk is a series of five games set in a strange fantasy world where time means nothing anymore. Each game is set in a unique part of a desolate world, with strange characters passing the time until the Black Monk visits. In between these visits, the character’s lives are interrupted by sometimes trivial and other times confusing events. Everything seems to fit together like an elongated jigsaw puzzle, but no one can see the starter pieces stretching across the horizon. Then one evening, the sun stayed in the sky all day. When there should have been night, the sun remained. And now it feels as though it’s been years since the Black Monk came. But perhaps it was yesterday. Nothing is right…   (Chad) In Episode 132, I mentioned – barely mentioned – that I was a guest on Legends of Tabletop during their NecronomiCon recap. I failed to mention any other guests and I want to do that now: http://www.legendsoftabletop.com/?p=348& (Travel blog) http://www.legendsoftabletop.com/?p=2949& (episode) John Haremza, one of the regular hosts. Leah Bond, regular host on LoT Jesse from the Dragon Fisters podcast Jef Wilkins from Into the Darkness Ash Darrow: Gothic studies graduate student and NCon panelist Brett Miller, Musician and composer Peter Rawlik, weird fiction author Also, they just dropped an episode with Niels Hobbs where they talk about a lot of topics including the two big controversies in 2017 and 2015. Also, the panel we were on with the Legends guys about gaming is now posted. While we’re at it, let’s post a round up of all the gaming panels we can find from the Good Friends feed and others here in the show notes! Good Friends of Jackson Elias recorded panels: Call of Cthulhu Campaigns Panel Pulp vs. Pure Panel – with Keeper Dan! Favorite Call of Cthulhu Scenarios Panel – with Keeper Chad!   (Jon) AetherCon VI – November 10-12, this is an online RPG convention. The convention features a number of live panels that fans can attend via YouTube. I’m hosting two panels and running one game at the con. If anyone wants to try out the Yellow King RPG, my table is currently wide open. No one has signed up for it as of this recording. My game is scheduled for Saturday the 11th starting at midnight US Central Time. http://www.aethercon.com Panel: Dem Dry Bones Panel: Balancing Magic & Technology Game: Yellow King RPG – Dark Alley Deals   IGN has purchased Humble Bundle. Humble Bundle last month announced that it had raised a total of $100 million for charity since the first Humble Bundle went on sale in 2010. Cthulhu Dark – Update 25 – If you check your BackerKit account, you’ll find As Good As A Feast, Mo Holkar’s wonderful mystery set in the 1930s Dust Bowl, which we unlocked as a stretch goal. I think you’ll enjoy it.   From Edwin: Nov. 17 starting at 6 PM EST and running live for 24 hours on www.twitch.tv/froggodgames Our goal is to raise $5000 for www.extra-life.org. Edwin Nagy will be running Rappan Athuk and some material from Kobold Press for a Bangor, Maine-based group of gamers. The event is being sponsored by Frog God Games and Kobold Press, and they will have prizes available during the entire affair. In addition, audience donations will control the game and allow the PCs to level up. New monsters can be added, plots can be twisted, health can be restored, all for the asking (and the giving). At midnight, Sean Murphy will run a scenario from Down Darker Trails sponsored by Chaosium and the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. Fabulous CoC-related prizes from them will be available to people who donate during the game. The crew will be on the chat the entire night. Please help them make it through the night with your donations and chatter. All this gaming goodness is in support of Extra Life, which gives the money directly to hospitals in the Children’s Miracle Network. That’s right—playing games to help save children’s lives. The New England Gamers team page is at https://goo.gl/bU82Ja or search at Extra Life for Team NEG   D20 CoC now available on RPG NOW   Halloween Sale on Spectrum Games stuff (Macabre Tales, Stories from the Grave and Slasher Flick) – PDFs for crazy cheap: io9– All-Time Masterpiece RPG Call of Cthulhu Will Never Die   The ‘Necronomnomnom’ Is a Horrific, Lovecraft-Inspired Cookbook Food and Wine’s article   Bloody Disgusting- Someone Made a Necronomicon Pop Up Book and It’s Amazing Order it here!   Card Catalog A Deep Background Item for the Card Catalog Hi Guys, I

In this episode, Jon, Murph, Chad, and Dan are joined by Christopher Smith Adair to talk about Chapter 6 of Pulp Cthulhu, Pulp Magic, Psychics, and Weird SCIENCE! This episode was recorded on October 9, 2017.                 Campus Crier The Dare has funded and wrapped up. 667 backers. Over $10,400 raised. Met nearly all of its stretch goals, the last one of which I am helping with – Mythos and notable pulp writers and figures in child form as pregens. The Haunted Clubhouse is a lethal and harrowing Call of Cthulhu Role Playing adventure. Devil’s Swamp funded and only has three days left (will be closed by air time). 608 backers, +$21,400 raised. For the Love Of is available for download, and has been >745 times! Dark Times is out! Fantasy Flight Games has announced a Masks on Nyarly expansion for Eldritch Horror… Mythos Horrors during the French Revolution! Reign of Terror Focus Home Interactive’s Call Of Cthulhu has been delayed until 2018. From Edwin– A little something that you might want to share with the listeners (if you haven’t already), Reckoning of the Dead One of the hosts of site, Matt, ran an excellent game at NC that I played in.0p   Correspondent report: Christopher went to the HPL film fest in Portland, Oregon http://www.hplfilmfestival.com/ Lovecraft Christmas Cards https://www.facebook.com/soundfromthedeep/ Listener feedback– 5-Star in iTunes by odder2100 from Denmark on September 14, 2017 Great source of (dark) knowledge “This is a fantastic podcast. I have learned so much, while being entertained at the same time. A special thanks to Jon Hook, as my first game as a keeper was with his terrific scenario “For the love of”, which is free on their website. Go Pods!” Topic – Pulp Cthulhu Chapter 6, Magic, Psychic Powers and Weird Science! Christopher talks about his experiences using these rules in his playtests of A Cold Fire Within, the Pulp Campaign he wrote for Chaosium.   Discuss this episode on the Campus Forums.]]>

In this episode, Murph and Chad have drafted a couple of guest hosts to fill out the ranks, with Bret Kramer from Sentinel Hill Press, and Mythos veteran and Arkham Gazette contributor (and Chad’s Cthulhu Maker) Nick Bresinsky. This episode was recorded on September 11, 2017.             Campus Crier The Dare, a single-scenario Kickstarter project that Bret Kramer talked about in this episode, is now live. (Full disclosure: Charles Gerard/Keeper Chad is helping with the project and edited the Kickstarter intro video – which he had way too much fun doing.) Dustin Wright, a resident of Rockport TX and longtime Chaosium employee is currently dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. A Go Fund Me account has been set up to help support him. This will help ensure Dustin’s immediate needs are met and offset costs associated with temporary living arrangements. Please feel free to donate what you can! Chaosium released a number of statements on fallow Kickstarter projects licensed under the company’s name. Horrors of War from Adam Scott Glancy, Punk Town from Miskatonic River Press and two Writhing Dark Kickstarters – all as-yet unfulfilled. Horrors of War: “Chaosium met with Scott at Gen Con and discussed the Horrors of War license. We have confidence Scott can deliver on this project in the revised time frame he has put forward, and that he will give backers timely updates about progress until it is done.” Punktown: “Because a 50% preview of the book has been recently shared with backers, and the second half is in the final stages of layout, Chaosium has decided to keep the Punktown license in place and hopefully see this much delayed project through to completion in the coming months.” Writhing Dark: “We are well within our rights to terminate [Shane Tyree’s] agreement. But we don’t want backers to be prevented by Chaosium from getting what they paid Shane to produce. Because he has the actual product in hand and sincerely states that he still wishes to deliver, we have instead issued Shane a special license extension. This is strictly limited to fulfilling the original Writhing Dark and Extended Edition Kickstarter rewards and expires on completion. No additional or new material of any kind is permitted under this license. We have also encouraged Shane to reopen channels of communication with Kickstarter backers who have yet to receive their rewards.” Pelgrane has released two products for Trail of Cthulhu: Out of The Woods – from Pelgrane Press is a new scenario anthology for Trail of Cthulhu with a woodsy focus. Features five scenarios by Adam Gauntlett, Lauren Roy, Chris Spivey, Ruth Tillman and Aaron Vanek, containing extensive handouts, maps and pre-generated characters for each adventure. Cthulhu City – “Cthulhu City is a setting for Trail of Cthulhu, usable for a full campaign in its own right or as a nightmarish intrusion into an existing game. The Investigators find themselves in a strange, corrupted Arkham, a ghastly metropolis. People – humans – live in the city, and seem bizarrely normal on first encounter – their concerns are the same mundane, day-to-day passions and trials of anyone in the modern world – but scratch the surface, and the Mythos spills forth. Motorcars drive down streets lined with sullen-eyed basalt cyclopean buildings raised by no human hand; at night, loathsome and titanic shapes move behind the clouds.” Andrew Leman is reading a retelling of Lovecraft’s The Picture in the House with famed Italian horror composer Fabio Frizzi providing the soundtrack. The release will also feature liner notes by weird fiction scholar S.T. Joshi with composition notes by Frizzi. Cadabra Records is releasing this for $32 on their website. There is also a “Liquid Blood-Filled Version” available fr $195. Cadabra has also released a number of other readings of Lovecraft accompanied with beautiful scores on their website, it’s worth checking out. Keeper Chad appeared on the Legends of Tabletop podcast for the NecronomiCon wrap-up. There’s a nice review out for the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion by Paul St John Mackintosh. Chaosium fiction line editor James Lowder was interviewed extensively on the BAMF podcast. YSDC has released all of its actual play recordings for free to celebrate 12 years of play. They played 10 adventures, many of them campaigns, between September 2005 and September 2017 Topics The Dare, kids and horror RPGs Monsters and Other Childish Things on RPPR Tales From the Loop Rachel Watches Star Trek, “Miri” Children of the Corn: (here is a copy of the movie on Blu-ray, and here is a copy of Night Shift, a collection of Stephen King’s short stories that includes Children of the Corn and I Am the Doorway, also mentioned during the show) https://www.amazon.com/Children-Corn-25th-Anniversary-Blu-ray/dp/B0026ICAOS https://www.amazon.com/Night-Shift-Stephen-King/dp/0307743640 The Broo

Keeper Dan here. Deepest apologies for the lateness of getting this out on the feed. The combination of schedule, tech issues, and personal needs really made this a slog to edit. It is now done though. There is a part about halfway through where I have no audio for 12 minutes. No idea what happened there. Also, if there are folks who listen with kids present, you may want to don the headphones for this one. I didn’t bother cutting out all the cursing because there was a lot of it, and there was a creature called a Shit Weasel that just wouldn’t be the same without the full moniker. Enjoy the show! This episode, Murf, Chad, Jon and Dan get together to talk about the amazing time it was at NecronomiCon Providence 2017! This episode was recorded on, August 28, 2017. Campus Crier Horrors of War — Adam Scott Glancy made an update to the Horrors of War Kickstarter on Aug 15th, the day before most of us went out to Necronomicon. In it he is apologizing for being mostly absent from the project and letting it linger this long. He also gives some very personal reasons for his absence. Scott suffered a devastating loss in his close personal family in late 2016. This unfortunately spiraled him into a depression that he himself didn’t realize he was in until he suffered another loss. The death of a close personal friend earlier this year brought the fact that he might have a mental illness to the forefront and he sought professional help.   It is his full intention to complete this project in its entirety, but realizing his mistake he is offering a full refund on the project to any backer that might want it. He does not give a hard date on when the project should be finished now that he is better and refocused, but he does say it should be done by GenCon 2018.   Pulp Cthulhu fans! The Dhole’s House generator for Call of Cthulhu investigators now supports creation of Pulp Cthulhu investigators! Go peruse it before I run out of exclamation points! https://www.dholeshouse.org/   Christopher Smith Adair’s Pulp campaign, A Cold Fire Within – a campaign that is shrouded in mystery wrapped in enigmas swaddled in NDA.   Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Masks of Nyarlathotep to feature an all-new chapter: Peru! https://www.chaosium.com/blog/call-of-cthulhu-7th-edition-masks-of-nyarlathotep-to-feature-an-allnew-chapter-peru https://www.chaosium.com/blog/a-new-edition-of-masks-of-nyarlathotep-for-call-of-cthulhu/   The final scenario for Horror on the Orient Express has been released! https://www.chaosium.com/blog/-horror-on-the-orient-express-kickstarter-ends-with-all-backers-receiving-free-bonus-20th-scenario/   Dan O’Bannon’s Lovecraft Adaptation ‘The Resurrected’ Gets Scream Factory Treatment Now Available for Pre-Sale http://bloody-disgusting.com/home-video/3452493/dan-obannons-lovecraft-adaptation-resurrected-gets-scream-factory-treatment/ https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/the-resurrected?product_id=5188   Someone Wants LEGO to Make an Official Call of Cthulhu Set! https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/245761/someone-wants-lego-make-official-call-cthulhu-set/   Dark Cult Games (Ben Burns) Star on the Shore We will be launching a new book in a month,or two, so keep an eye out for our next Call of Cthulhu project ‘Devil’s Swamp’. Which is now live! Devil’s Swamp – A Call of Cthulhu RPG Adventure Investigate ancient terrors in the heart of the Bridgewater Area during the 1920’s. Dare you enter the Hockomock?   Expedition: The Horror The first expansion for Expedition: The Roleplaying Card Game. New mechanics, enemies and abilities inspired by Cthulhu!   Bret Kramer is teaming up with Paul of Cthulhu for a podcast – called Sentinel Hill. An occasional podcast from SHP and YSDC. Not replacing the presscast. Available to patreon backers of either of those accounts.   Ennie Winners – Best Cover Art – Call of Cthulhu Investigators Handbook = GOLD Best Interior Art – S. Petersen Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors = SILVER Best Cartography – Call of Cthulhu Keeper Screen Pack = GOLD Best Production Values – Call of Cthulhu 7th ed slipcase set = GOLD Best Aid/Accessory – Call of Cthulhu Keeper Screen Pack = GOLD Best RPG-related Product – Call of Cthulhu – The Colouring Book = GOLD Best Adversary/Monster – S. Petersen Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors = GOLD Best Adventure – Doors to Darkness = SILVER Best Supplement – Pulp Cthulhu = GOLD Fan Favourite Publisher – Chaosium = SILVER   Jon- Jon is running Yellow King for Skype of Cthulhu! Hypergraphia! Topic NecronomiCon! https://zombiequadrille.deviantart.com/gallery/ https://www.etsy.com/shop/DrVonDrachen http://www.magpiegames.com/category/bluebeards-bride/   Extra Life – Edwin “Thanks to you all, and many generous players, we raised $734 for the Children’s Miracle Network Hos

Here it is! The epic live show from NecronomiCon Providence 2017! This is a never-before performed degenerate hybrid mashup Frankenpodcast about Call of Cthulhu and other weird horror gaming things. We are proud to have this be a co-production with the Good Friends of Jackson Elias! We have a live History Segment from Dr. Gerard on the topic of: Eclipse Monsters.   This episode’s main topic is: “What makes your game Lovecraftian?” Finding and drawing out the Lovecraft in: Setting and Era, Themes, Monsters,  and More generally, how do you bring the Lovecraft? We also have questions from the fantastic live audience. Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum.]]>

Campus Crier Our thoughts go out to Joe Pulver, who has had some health problems recently and won’t be able to attend NecronomiCon. There has been some pretty good news on that front, it’s not as serious as feared, but he’s still out of commish and he and his wife could use a boost if you’ve got something to donate to help while he’s in recovery. Katrin says “a huge huge thank you” to those in the community who have helped defray some of the medical bills. https://www.gofundme.com/2jk9g5w   The Shape of Water   Down Darker Trails Call of Cthulhu in the Old West!   Call of Cthulhu document wallet, handmade from real leather, equipped with multiple pockets and embossed with one of 3 designs.   Lovecraftian horror creeps into AMC’s The Ballad of Black Tom   Achtung! Cthulhu Living Campaign! https://www.modiphius.net/collections/achtung-cthulhu Yog-Sothoth article on the campaign   MUP Fundraiser! Thanks to everyone who has donated to the Con fund. We have reached to nearly $800, and the scenario by Keeper Jon will be released once the final touches are complete. Here’s a preview of the scenario! Card Catalog And from the Graham Annex of the Orne Library, we have this wonderful resource for historic menus and recipes. http://www.theoldfoodie.com/ The translations of the menu from the Ceylon Dinner are particularly good. Topic We talk about our expectations of the con, and the panels that we’ll either be on or intent to attend. Murf mentions a poster by artist Nick Gucker that he wants to get. Behold, The Cats of Ulthar   Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum.]]>

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Miskatonic University Podcast Actual Play Presents a Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Scenario: The Derelict by Sandy Petersen with Mike Mason, released by Chaosium for RPG Day 2016 Groenland Tropisch, Atlantic Ocean Thursday, July 20, 2008 Dramatis Personnae: Andrew as professional football player, Matthew "Dodge" Grantham Magnus as writer Charles "Mac" McQuinlan Mark as lawyer Daniel von Hollisander Pam as actor Ashley May Bethell Cory as the Keeper of Arcane Lore The investigators turtle into their base, but the more curious of our investigators try to find out more about the creature. The inevitable battle between man and horror reaches it's climax. “Evening of Chaos”, "Lamentation" and “Floating Cities” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 creativecommons.org/licences/by/3.0 ]]>

This episode, all four hosts are back to continue the expedition into Pulp Cthulhu, with a closer look at Pulp Talents. To help shed some light on Pulp gaming in general, we’re bringing in another ringer, Tyler Hudak (a.k.a Trevlix)! This episode was recorded on, July 24, 2017. Campus Crier Masks of Nyarlathotep update: By agreement with Chaosium and the MoNC creators, the PDF version has now been put on sale, and the profits from those sales will directly benefit Yog-Sothoth. The Companion is available directly (and exclusively) from Chaosium’s web site. UPDATE: The Yellow King RPG from Pelgrane Press – the Kickstarter closed with a whopping 2,288 backers for a grand total of about $218,000. Other Hasturian RPGs already exist: YELLOW DAWN – The Age of Hastur by David J Rodger And there is a setting supplement for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess RPG Here’s a whole forum for lovers of Carcosa as a setting >> New Shoggoth minis for Feed the Shoggoth! are available! They come in four colors: Baleful Black, Putrid Purple, Blasphemous Bronze, and Grotesque Green! $10 each, or get all four for $30! For sale at www.feedtheshoggoth.com. The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft – an Audiobook from the HPLHS **Currently Only Available for Pre-Order. Release Date: August 20** For the first time ever, the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society has produced an audio recording of all of Lovecraft’s stories. Old Ones Rising, an Unspeakable Oath collection, releases this August Arc Dream Publishing announced today that Old Ones Rising, a collection of issues 18–21 of Ennie Award-winning magazine The Unspeakable Oath, will hit shelves this August. This 280-page paperback (ISBN 978-1-940410-23-4) retails for $39.99 and will be available to the book trade from Ingram and Brodart, and to all major hobby distributors from Arc Dream’s partners at Studio 2 Publishing. Old Ones Rising includes full scenarios, extensively-researched feature articles, scenario seeds, campaign tools, reviews, Delta Green columns, and more. Abandon Ship will feature large, Lovecraftian sea monsters too In its mix of FTL and Sunless-Sea gameplay, Abandon Ship won’t just have you facing off against fellow ship captains, you’ll also have to ward of the tentacle’d grasp of sea monsters which look like they’ve been pulled right out of Lovecraft’s pages. News fresh from Darker Hue Studios! The digital version of HARLEM UNBOUND (digital) is upon us! After very successful Kickstarter earlier this year, Chris Spivey, the CEO of Darker Hue Studios, has announced that the digital version of HARLEM UNBOUND will be available this Friday, July 28 on Amazon, The Darker Hue website (www.darkerhuestudios.com) and RPGNOW! Don’t miss out on a dive into the rich mythos laden streets of the Harlem Renaissance, and explore Lovecraft in a whole new way. HARLEM UNBOUND is written for both the sanity shattering 7th edition Call of Cthulhu or the sleuthing powered Gumshoe OGL. Oats Studios – Amazing studio of short films by Neil Blomkamp on YouTube. One of the Masters of Horror has left us. RIP George Romero MUP Fundraiser! Thanks to everyone who chipped in. As of recording we are $200 away from the “release goal” the ransom. Once we reach that goal, a scenario by Keeper Jon will be released. We’ve seen a preview of the layout, and it looks amazing. Also, there are a few games on offer. Check out the fundraiser page to learn more. Here’s a preview of the scenario! Card Catalog A smattering of cool sites from the irrepressible Keeper Murph: Public Domain Review Atlas Obscura BibliOdessey Topic Pulp “Talents” in Pulp Cthulhu, and the meaning of “Pulp” gaming, other game systems. What is Pulp Horror-Adventure vs. Pulp Adventure? Lapham’s Quarterly http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/ Check out this photo of Tyler’s puzzle prop for his globe-spanning pulp campaign: Tyler also mentioned his involvement in the upcoming online convention, Virtuacon, which kicks off this October 6th.   Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum.]]>

In this episode, a skeleton crew of Dan and Chad start to pour through the Pulp Cthulhu book, piece by bare-knuckled, cliffhanger-loving piece. This episode was recorded on, July 10, 2017. Campus Crier ♞ Big YSDC news: It sold as a set! Paul’s CoC collection has in fact sold to a single buyer. And what’s better, it’s someone that Paul knows, so he knows it’s going to a good home. While we feel the loss of the treasured collection, this did end with the best possible outcome. Note: sold for “four figures.” Now comes the dimensional origami that comes with packing such a tremendous trove of items. ♞The Yellow King RPG from Pelgrane Press is now as $157,590 pledged of $29,657 goal, with 10 days of this recording. (Check out a live update in the widget below.) KIYRPG on KARTAS Murf sent this cool find from Reddit – The Awakening – a challenging stand-alone investigation role-playing scenario loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Call of Cthulhu and set in a near future dystopia. The players assume the roles of law enforcement agents tasked to investigate the death of Thomas Angell, professor emeritus of computational linguistics. Soon they discover that the late professor was publishing a blog detailing sinister findings, a massive conspiracy hiding in plain sight and that nothing is as it seems. Here’s a Lovecraftian Monster from Xavier Gens’ ‘Cold Skin’! Cold Skin takes place on the edge of the Antarctic Circle, in the years after World War I, a steam ship approaches a desolate island far from all shipping lanes. On board is a young man, on his way to assume the lonely post of weather observer, to live in solitude for a year at the end of the world. But on shore he finds no trace of the man whom he has been sent to replace, just a deranged castaway who has witnessed a horror he refuses to name. The rest is forest, a deserted cabin, rocks, silence, and the surrounding sea. And then the night begins to fall… Call Of Cthulhu From Cyanide Studios may eventually get VR support. Chris Spivey of Darker Hue Studios has put the call out for diverse creatives. ENnie Voting is Open! Call of Cthulhu and related items are all over the place this year! Best Adventure – Doors to Darkness Best Aid/Accessory – Call of Cthulhu – Keeper’s Screen Pack Best Art, Cover – Call of Cthulhu – Investigator Handbook Best Art, Interior – S. Petersen’s Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors Best Cartography – Call of Cthulhu – Keeper’s Screen Pack Best Monster/Adversary – S. Petersen’s Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors Best Production Values – Call of Cthulhu – 7th Edition Slipcase Set Best RPG Related Product – Call of Cthulhu: The Coloring Book Best Supplement – Pulp Cthulhu Best Electronic Book: The Things We Leave Behind from Stygian Fox Product of the Year: Doors to Darkness ENnies Voting takes place from July 11 – July 21. Here is the voting page: http://www.ennie-awards.com/vote/2017 MUP Fundraiser! We’re doing a little fundraising of our own to help with the NecronomiCon expenses. This will be exciting things like food, hotel, cab fares, etc. We set a goal of $700, with a ransom model of we’ll release a scenario written by our own Keeper Jon to the public when we reach that mark. There is a graphic on the website that shows the progress of the donations as they come in. Every dollar counts, and if you don’t want to use the levels I have set in the post on the topic, then using the PayPal button on our home page will also count to the goal. To those who have already donated, thank you all so much. It was amazing that literally minutes after posing the page, we had a donation other than us testing it to make sure it was working. >>Read More About the Fundraiser<< Card Catalog From the irrepressible Graham, two YouTube Channels for the Cardfile: Hi, I have located two YouTube channels devoted to public domain (I think) movies. Including examples of silent films from the classic era. The first is called The Video Cellar, the second is called Pizza Flix. The films could either be used as props, or they can be watched and dismantled for plot ideas or NPCs. – Graham Topic Archetypes in Pulp Cthulhu! Here’s an interesting review of Pulp Cthulhu by Kurt Wiegel on Game Geeks. Dan brings up Forbidden Kingdoms for D20 Modern. The Phantom Creeps! https://youtu.be/ndqPS5ULNmM]]>

As part of our NecronomiCon fundraiser, Oscar Rios is generously offering to run two online games for donors. For the price of $100, Oscar will run a 3-hour online demo of Cthulhu Invictus for up to a total of 4 players. This reward comes with one completely original pre-gen Invictus investigator for a team member. Only one such game is available. The 3-Hour Demo has been sold! Thank you so much for the support! For $250, he will run an original never-before played Cthulhu Invictus adventure set anywhere in the Roman Empire the donor chooses. The game session will last 4 hours. This game is also for a team of 4 players, and all will be provided with pre-gens. The donor will also get a preview draft of the “Tour of the Empire” chapter in the unreleased Cthulhu Invictus book to help them pick the province where they want the adventure set. Only one game at this level is available. These funds will also add to the total to meet the goal to release Jon’s scenario. The number selector above the checkout button is disabled. It will only select 1 regardless of the number in it. [purchase_link id=”5560″ text=”Add to Your Cart” style=”button” color=”green”]   Our own lovely Keeper Jon is also offering up online games! For $50 he will run a one-on-one online Age of Cthulhu game with the buyer. He has several one-on-one adventures that he has written, and the buyer can choose any one of them to play with the author. Buyers can choose from any one of these Age of Cthulhu One-vs-One adventures: Pickpocket – It’s the end of a long day, and as you thread your way through the heard of work-weary people, you feel a tug on your pocket. Quickly, you check, and your wallet has been lifted. You look up, and your eyes lock with a kid whose about to duck into a nearby alley. Thief! In this adventure, you meet a young man desperate to stay alive on the streets as he looks for his missing brother. Do you have the courage to help him? Picture in a Silver Frame – It’s been another difficult day. Your frail uncle desperately clings to life as his weakened body continues to break down. In one of his few moments of clarity, he’s asked you to clean out some of his belongings from his attic. As you do so, you come across a remarkable silver frame, and an old photograph that you’ve never seen before. You’re taken aback. The ancient photo in this beautiful frame is of you, full of life and vigor, as you are now! You’re standing in front of a home you’ve never seen before. What is this? Where did this picture come from, and what can it mean? In this adventure, you’ll question the flow of time as you seek to discover the secret of the silver frame. The Silent Clowder – Something strange is going on over at your neighbors house. Night after night, his yard hosts more and more cats. They’d be a damn nuisance if they were screaming all night, but not a single cat is making a sound. They just sit and stare at the house. What could they be doing? And come to think about it, it’s been a while since you’ve seen your neighbor. In this adventure, you discover how far you’d go for your neighbor. Suicide in the Stacks – It’s a fine day to browse through the library. It’s right as you round the corner into the next isle in the stacks when you find her. A beautiful young woman has taken her own life! You stand in horror as the last of her life ebbs from her open wrists. In this adventure, you seek to discover why this woman committed suicide. It is a dark day, and there is little hope of light returning anytime soon. And, depending on when Jon finishes writing it, you could be the first to play test a brand new Age of Cthulhu One-vs-One adventure titled The Smothering Black. The Smothering Black – You are recovering well after a car accident three months ago. It was pretty bad for a while, you were in a coma for three days, but you’ve pulled through and are on the mend. Unfortunately, your close friend just lost her father, and you have come to his visitation to pay your respects and give your friend, Dorothy, your condolences. As you approach the coffin, you look inside, and Dorothy’s father lays in repose, but his flesh seems to be covered in some kind of black stain. Every inch of his flesh and hair is covered in this stain; the black is so absolute, that you have a difficult time seeing the details of his features. What is it, and is this what killed him? In this adventure, you seek to discover the secret of the deadly “black” before it can kill again. There is no limit to how many of these are available, so if you want to sample every one of Jon’s One-on-One Call of Cthulhu scenarios, then you can buy this multiple times! We asked Jon if he wasn’t sure he wanted a cap, and his response was “I double dog dare the public to buy &

This little show of ours is done on a shoestring budget, and those strings tend to get frayed from time to time. We intend to get Murf, Chad and Dan to NecronomiCon Providence 2017, and we’re hitting the financial wall in a couple of areas. So we could use a little assistance from listeners who wish to help us get there. Many of our trip expenses are covered out of pocket, but we could use some help to make the trip easier on tight budgets. And here is what you get in return for your contribution! We’re doing this as a “ransom” fundraiser. We have a goal of $700 set. When that goal is reached, then we will release as a free download to the public (not just backers) a scenario written by our own Keeper Jon Hook. Here’s a preview of “For the Love Of”: Please note that this is not a part of the Patreon system. Being a Patron there does not go towards this as it is separate from costs for running the site itself. All prices are in US dollars. At this time, we are only able to take PayPal payment Thanks in advance to all who are able to contribute! [purchase_link id=”3331″ text=”Add to Your Cart” style=”button” color=”green”] As part of the NecronomiCon fundraiser, Oscar Rios is generously offering to run two online games for donors. For the price of $100, Oscar will run a 3-hour online demo of Cthulhu Invictus for up to a total of 4 players. This reward comes with one completely original pre-gen Invictus investigator for a team member. Only one such game is available. The 3-Hour Demo has been sold! Thank you so much for the support! For $250, he will run an original never-before played Cthulhu Invictus adventure set anywhere in the Roman Empire the donor chooses. The game session will last 4 hours. This game is also for a team of 4 players, and all will be provided with pre-gens. The donor will also get a preview draft of the “Tour of the Empire” chapter in the unreleased Cthulhu Invictus book to help them pick the province where they want the adventure set. Only one game at this level is available. These funds will also add to the total to meet the goal to release Jon’s scenario. The number selector above the checkout button is disabled. It will only select 1 regardless of the number in it. [purchase_link id=”5560″ text=”Add to Your Cart” style=”button” color=”green”]   Our own lovely Keeper Jon is also offering up online games! For $50 he will run a one-on-one online Age of Cthulhu game with the buyer. He has several one-on-one adventures that he has written, and the buyer can choose any one of them to play with the author. Buyers can choose from any one of these Age of Cthulhu One-vs-One adventures: Pickpocket – It’s the end of a long day, and as you thread your way through the heard of work-weary people, you feel a tug on your pocket. Quickly, you check, and your wallet has been lifted. You look up, and your eyes lock with a kid whose about to duck into a nearby alley. Thief! In this adventure, you meet a young man desperate to stay alive on the streets as he looks for his missing brother. Do you have the courage to help him? Picture in a Silver Frame – It’s been another difficult day. Your frail uncle desperately clings to life as his weakened body continues to break down. In one of his few moments of clarity, he’s asked you to clean out some of his belongings from his attic. As you do so, you come across a remarkable silver frame, and an old photograph that you’ve never seen before. You’re taken aback. The ancient photo in this beautiful frame is of you, full of life and vigor, as you are now! You’re standing in front of a home you’ve never seen before. What is this? Where did this picture come from, and what can it mean? In this adventure, you’ll question the flow of time as you seek to discover the secret of the silver frame. The Silent Clowder – Something strange is going on over at your neighbors house. Night after night, his yard hosts more and more cats. They’d be a damn nuisance if they were screaming all night, but not a single cat is making a sound. They just sit and stare at the house. What could they be doing? And come to think about it, it’s been a while since you’ve seen your neighbor. In this adventure, you discover how far you’d go for your neighbor. Suicide in the Stacks – It’s a fine day to browse through the library. It’s right as you round the corner into the next isle in the stacks when you find her. A beautiful young woman has taken her own life! You stand in horror as the last of her life ebbs from her open wrists. In this adventure, you seek to discover why this woman committed suicide. It is a dark day, and there is little hope of light returning anytime soon. And, depending on when Jon finishes writing it, you could be the first to play tes

This episode, Chad and Dan are joined by Sean, a Keeper and Captain for an Extra Life team last Autumn. We talk about a slurry of topics that have been simmering in Sean’s mind lately. This episode was recorded on, June 26, 2017, and is dedicated to the progenitor of MUP, Yog-Sothoth.com! We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier ♞ Big YSDC news: Some disappointing news on the Masks of Nyarlathotep Kickstarter campaign. The good news is that all backers are getting the stuff they were promised. Bad news: Paul unexpectedly had to give up a whopping 10,000 pounds of profit that was meant to keep YSDC running so that the rewards of the Kickstarter could be 100% fulfilled. It was due to a “miscalculation.” So only 3,000 pounds was left to actually benefit the site, after 10 years and tons of volunteer effort. Because of this, Paul of Cthulhu is selling off his entire Call of Cthulhu collection to raise funds to keep YSDC going. (He has stated a touching sentiment that since the joy he gets from the game is about friends and players and playing instead of “stuff,” this move is a positive way to focus his passion where it matters most.) ALL OF THAT SAID, Paul of Cthulhu has announced that to keep the website in good stead, he is selling off his entire Call of Cthulhu collection – which includes nearly everything ever made for the game, including rare editions and original manuscripts. As of release of this episode a week after recording, Paul has now sold his entire collection to a single buyer! He said he know it is going to a good home, and is please with the amount agreed upon. http://www.yog-sothoth.com/articles.html/_/main/the-fall-of-the-wall-the-greatest-call-of-cthulhu-sale-in-history >>Become a YSDC Patron<< >>Give to the YSDC Collection Box<< >>Let Us Know You Pitched In!<< ♞The Yellow King RPG from Pelgrane Press. Inspired by Robert W. Chambers’ influential cycle of short stories, YKRPG pits the characters against the reality-altering horror of The King in Yellow. This suppressed play, once read, invites madness. Or a visit from its titular character, an alien ruler intent on invading and remolding our world into a colony of their planet, Carcosa. Four books, served up together in a beautiful slipcase, confront your players with an epic journey into reality horror. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1721105501/the-yellow-king-roleplaying-game-from-robin-d-laws And they discuss the game on KARTAS.   ♞New Lovecraftian drama from Chris Lackey, and usual suspects, called Quiet and Bold. Said to be Kickstarted for an episode called “Bride of Innsmouth.” Below is The Scorned House. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6DKcDnFXXE   ♞Lovecraftian Horror Has Never Looked More Adorable Than It Does in This Animated Short (held over from E125)   ♞ Cthulhu Dark campaign concluded at a total of £71,835 (or $91,384) – with 1747 backers! Dorward’s campaign did not get unlocked, but Graham says it’ll be revived in some way down the road.   ♞New web and TV series re-tells the story of H.P. Lovecraft’s Re-Animator   Chaosium News- ♞CHAOSIUM APPOINTS LILLIAN COHEN-MOORE AS DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & MEDIA Writer, journalist and editor Lillian Cohen-Moore has joined the Chaosium team as director of marketing and media, it was announced today. “Lillian’s professional experience extends across the game industry and fiction sphere, particularly in the genres of horror and weird fiction. So she’s an excellent fit for what we do at Chaosium”, said Michael O’Brien, Chaosium vice president. Lillian’s extensive RPG writing and editing credits include releases for White Wolf, Paizo, Atlas Games, Catalyst Game Labs, and many others.   Listener Feedback We received a new Speak Pipe voice message from DM Cojo! Sanekdotes- Paladium: Beyond the Supernatural https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Supernatural http://palladium-store.com/1001/category/Beyond-the-Supernatural.html DM Cojo appears as a guest on this podcast, called THAC0’s HAMMER DM Cojo on G+ Topics Saying “Yes” in a Mystery: I try very hard to say “yes” to players in most games I run but I have a bit of trouble doing so in CoC or similar games because there is an endpoint that has to be reached. It is even more problematic at a convention where time is a limiting factor. I’d be curious how others have handled this in games. The genesis of this musing is that I’m preparing to run the Dracula Dossier for my group, which is improvisational at its core – it isn’t a direct apple-to-apples with CoC but it got me wondering how much you could stretch Call. Immersion: W

This episode, Jon and Chad talk to Max (a.k.a. Mahaffa on the forums), a regular Keeper and player on Skype of Cthulhu who also serves as President of Promethean Games Inc. We discuss a mélange of topics, including Chaosium’s new licensing structure, thoughts on Call of Cthulhu sanity mechanics, and the search for new ways to get investigators involved in scenarios. This episode was recorded on, June 12, 2017. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier Chaosium launches new licensing policies. The licenses fall into three tiers: Fan-generated material for non-commercial use. A Limited License, which allows small publishers and individuals to sell fanzines, convention scenarios, and one-off books if the gross sales revenue does not exceed $2,000 per year. Significant: “You cannot crowdfund (e.g. Kickstarter) products covered under the Small Publisher Limited License.” Commercial License. This is for established companies with a proven track record, and is “very rarely” given to individuals. A change was made to the posted language for clarity: In general, Chaosium collects a percentage of gross sales as a royalty, and under certain circumstances may also require an advance on royalties. The exact percentage and dollar amounts are only negotiated after we have seen what a company is proposing to do,” the text now reads (bold added to emphasize what’s new). And a further clarification was made on YSDC and sent to us to share: “We have the advance on royalties as an option for licensees we haven’t worked with before, and for foreign language translations, particularly fiction. For crowdfunding e.g. Kickstarter, we require our royalties to be paid 10 days after the projects funds come through.” Some people we spoke with mentioned that Chaosium’s licensing specifications are more stringent than other publishers, and this could mean projects are taken to other companies. Some have also said that these conditions seem fair and appreciate the clarity. Not allowing small creators to do Kickstarters could mean less commercial experimentation in Call of Cthulhu, but also more control over quality. Dean Englehardt of Cthulhu Reborn has been vocal in airing concerns about how the new rules affect small publishers who would not qualify for a commercial license. In a YSDC thread, Dean argued: “The reason I find this an unusual policy decision is that it somewhat goes against the entire reason that Kickstarter and similar platforms exist — which is to allow people who don’t have a lot of starting capital to get a start. By taking that option off the table for people starting out in publishing, Chaosium are basically making people put up their own starting capital, get established as a company, and get a few titles out. After they are already established, KS is an option — but by that stage, the company should already *have* capital, so would have less need of it.” In the discussion, Chaosium President Rick Meints made this statement: “Most solicitations for licenses are simple emails that basically say “hey, I want too publish X, can I get your permission (or do I need your permission). They are mainly from individuals we have never heard of, nor worked with before. A few have good ideas, and many don’t. Chaosium only has so much time and resource to spend on licensing those sorts of things. We’re fine with individuals who want to do very limited things for little money, like a low priced PDF on DTRPG, or something they want to share for free. We make it simple for them to get a license. For more commercial efforts, we are investing our time and resources, mainly because we want our commercial licensees to be a success, and we have to pick and choose those more carefully.” You can watch Jeff Richards discussing the point about not allowing Kickstarters for small publishing license during his recent interview on ‘Legends of Tabletop‘. Cthulhu Dark update: New stretch goals:: a Cthulhu Dark mini-campaign in London 1851, by Scott Dorward, one of the writers for Call of Cthulhu Seventh Edition. It’s called Now We Are The Sons of God and it has three parts, all exploring different parts of Victorian London. Between Twilight and Dawn – did not fund. A post-script from Oscar on the updates thread: “What will happen to this collection? At the moment we’re not entirely sure. We’re taking two weeks to step back, work on other projects, and let the dust settle before making any decisions about the collection. We have every confidence that this is a great collection and one that deserves a moment in the sun, but the fates have spoke

In this episode, the MU crew takes a closer look at Sanity mechanics in Call of Cthulhu and a whole slew of other other horror and Lovecraft related roleplaying games. Plus, sanecdotes and more. This episode was recorded on, May 29, 2017. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier CORRECTIONS: Sean, who got a hat tip for the topic suggestion last time, is not officially a member of Skype of Cthulhu at this point. Chad said he is “of Skype of Cthulhu fame.” But he’s not. He is famous, however, because Jon interviewed him and Edwin about Extra Life charity events he was involved with last year. Speaking of Skype of Cthulhu faux pas(es) – remember when we talked about how we wished there was an Actual Play of Gatsby and the Great Race out in the world somewhere? Welp, there is. Skype of Cthulhu – you know, our sister podcast? Well they did one. A big one. To celebrate their 300th episode, in fact. Back around February 2016. Skype guys, we are terrible. Links to the four-part series are in our show notes. Gatsby and The Great Race Game One Gatsby and The Great Race Game Two Gatsby and The Great Race Game Three Gatsby and The Great Race Game Extra [caption id="attachment_5433" align="alignright" width="150"] Alan Bligh[/caption] Call of Cthulhu writer Alan Bligh passed away on May 26 after a brief battle with cancer. His credits include Edge of Darkness, Dead Light and Crimson Letters. Mike Mason posted a nice note about his passing: “Alan loved creating stories, be it fiction or roleplay, whether it involved storming a stronghold with a multitude of tanks on a battlefield or populating dark gothic worlds with which to terrify his friends (in a good way). Over the next few days, weeks, and years, if you find yourself reading or playing through one of Alan’s many works, please raise a glass to his memory. The world is a smaller place for his loss.” [caption id="attachment_5432" align="alignright" width="150"] Joan Stanley[/caption] Catching up on news we missed, Joan Stanley, the author of Ex Libris Miskatonici, passed away last year at the age of 71. She has an incredible career bio, was one of the first black female US federal prosecutors in the 1970s, battled arthritis for most of her adult life, and somewhat mysteriously penned this incredible catalog of “pseudobiblia” from the Cthulhu Mythos. She served on the Convention Committee of NeconomiCon back in the 90s, and on the back cover of Ex Libris Miskatonici, it says she “fell in love with Lovecraft’s writing by reading At the Mountains of Madness in 10th grade.To a life-long resident of Boston, those shoggoths pouring out of the cave resembled nothing so much as a speeding MTA streetcar coming out of a Tremont Street tunnel, or a subway train screeching through the Park Street Under.” She was also one of the early members of the Boston Star Trek Association and traveled as far as Australia to attend the World Science Fiction Convention. Friends quipped that she was as logical as a Vulcan in her approach to life.” Hat tip to Bret for the lead and some great background materials. Boston Globe article NecronomiCon 1997 details Speaking of Bret, thanks to the audio intervention of Keeper Chad, Sentinel Hill Press Patreon backers can now hear a long-lost interview with scenario author Ben Wenham. In the interview Bret and Ben talk about Ben’s scenario “The Bosworth House,” as well as his inspirations, and future plans, including his campaign “Stranger Still”. The interview will be part of an upcoming episode of The Sentinel Hill Presscast. The Cthulhu Dark Kickstarter is now underway! Hero Lab, a character management system, has added CoC 7th Edition to its list of supported systems. The HP Lovecraft Historical Society has a freaking storefront in Glendale, CA?! And they put out a call for people to play Call of Cthulhu with them on May 11?! They inaugurated their new Glendale headquarters earlier in May with a Call of Cthulhu game night. They played ‘Dead Light’, and Chaosium contributed some extra Call of Cthulhu swag for the players. The HPLHS’s new digs are at 1644 Victory Blvd., Glendale CA 91201\ Jordan Peele to Produce HBO Series ‘Lovecraft Country’ With J.J. Abrams, Misha Green Lovecraft-ian Cosmic Horror Conarium Arrives on June 6, 2017 The Call of Cthulhu video game will be shown at E3 …But behind closed doors.   Topic – Sanity Mechanics (Jon) Does anyone else think many of the suggested Sanity losses in Call of Cthulhu should be higher? (Chad) Command and control: totally random sanity outcomes vs. Keeper-dictated outcomes vs. player-driven outcomes. How do you guys do it? (Dan) Lost Expedition Sanecdotes? O

In this special report, Keepers Chad and Jon chat with Graham Walmsley, the creator of the rules-light Lovecraftian horror game Cthulhu Dark. He is currently running a Kickstarter for a new hardback print and PDF version of the game with lots of advice on creating and running investigative horror scenarios as well as four new settings that are specifically tailored for the Cthulhu Dark rules. NOTE: Jon’s audio drops out abruptly around the 50 minute mark. Just so you know he’s not rude or painfully shy. He just stopped existing after that point. For a taste of what playing the new Cthulhu Dark is like. Look for an upcoming Actual Play in Skype of Cthulhu with with Graham running the game for the SoC crew! Check it out on Facebook >> ]]>

In this episode, all four hosts talk about some of our favorite so-bad-it’s-good movies and tropes to winnow for game inspiration. This episode was recorded on, May 15, 2017, and is sponsored by Golden Goblin Press! Campus Crier Cthulhu Mythos Books from Dark Regions Press Graham Walmsley is going to launch the Cthulhu Dark Kickstarter on Monday, May 29. It’ll last for about a month. We have an interview with Graham that we will release during the campaign. Bagthulhu – The diabolically adorable Cthulhu Dicebag Pax Cthuliana – A Cthulhu scenario Srsly another MiniDisc release?? At the Mountains of Madness, by Allicorn! Oh, by the way, Ken Hite is doing the 5th Ed of Vampire the Masquerade Cthulhu Confidential is actually in print: Masks of Nyarly Companion is actually in print: The back-issue archive of Protodimension Magazine is available online again. http://www.darkconspiracytherpg.info/protodimensions-issues/ Chaosium News: Fiction editor announced – James Lwowder! Chaosium New Fiction Submissions Guidelines Released Big News! Chaosium releases new RPG submissions guidelines We’ve been missing these new items from Dean Englehart from Cthulhu Reborn, who is posting a lot of material for the Australian setting Convicts & Cthulhu. Podcast Promo Tangent…Brian Posehn’s Nerd Poker (On iTunes here). Dad DND podcast. (On iTunes) Winners of the Cult of Chaos scenario writing contest have been announced! Of the 11 finalist scenarios, Chaosium picked 6 that to further develop into fully laid out convention scenarios, to make available at conventions in 2017 and 2018. These winning entries are: Weekend in the Woods by Matt Ryan The Kids are Alright by Jason and Ann D’Angelo Those Within by Freddie Folds Midnight Masquerade by Ed Possing W00t! Searching for the Rhinegold by Benjaim Constantineau and Jean-Sébastien Boisvert Dansereau As the Leaf Withers on the Vine by Charles Perryman Congratulations! Runners up: Mark Platt, Morgan Hua, Jay Jong, Aaron Eskenazi, and Jason Michal. Gatsby and the Great Race at Nexus Game Fair on May 26th! Ed Possing, Jen Martin, her husband Mark Martin and Cory Welch are going to run Gatsby and the Great Race at Nexus. It’ll be a three table game with 18 maximum seats – we only 8 players right now, but we’d love to try and have it as full as possible. If it works for you to do a PSA, we’d love to get it on the MUP. 😉 Nexus Game Fair is at the Hyatt in Milwaukee, WI, Memorial Day Weekend, May 26-29th – the whole holiday weekend. We’re going to run Saturday, May 27th from 6 PM until midnight. Listener Feedback Voicemail from Ritterton regarding episode 120. iTunes Reviews StormsEnd from USA on April 12, 2017: Awesome Podcast These guys do a great job. The format is great, its just like sitting around with your friends talking about RPGS. I love listening to the debates and bouncing ideas off each other. My games have gone from ok to spectacular. Keep up the good work. The Farquhar from Canada on April 7, 2017: Greeting from the Great White North I was recommended this by someone on the Yog-Sothoth website and I’m very glad they did. Currently trying to catch up from ep 85. Keeper Dan’s laugh is so infectious I can’t help but join in. I don’t play Call of Cthulhu RPG (unfortunately) but I do love the mythos itself and its other game variants. I’ve been listening to your podcast as I write for our horror/mystery games using the old Supernatural RPG system (by Margaret Weis Productions); its helps to keep me in the right frame of mind as I take a break here and there or hit a snag. Please consider a Go Pods! Fighting Cephalopods car decal. Keep up the great work and GO PODS! Harbaugh87 from USA on March 29, 2017: So Awesome, You Will Need To Make a SAN Check! This podcast is the real deal. If you like CoC or are even remotely interested in Lovecraft, you will love this podcast! Keep up the great work, guys. Go Pods!! Topic “Breaking down bad horror movie tropes and mining them for good scenario ideas” – Hat tip top Sean for the suggestion. Here is a great site for exploring tropes: TV Tropes A link to a list of horror movie survival rules as outlined in Scream. Chad Category 7: The End of the World Dark Night of the Scarecrow Dan Avalanche (1978) The Descent (2005) Island Of Terror (1966) (Trailer here) Sharktopus Aberration (1997) Mutant– 1984 Strange Things – 11 Movie Collection Murph Frankenhooker (1990) Blood Sand (Here on IMDB) The Host Dreamscape Darkman (1990) Pontypool Cabin Fever The Green Inferno (2013) Avenged (2013) Landmine Goes Click Jon The World Beyond (1978 TV movie) Tropes: Psychic Sensitive person, & magically created mindless monster Trilogy of Terror (1975 TV movie) Tropes: Animated doll, & solitary victim The Stuff (1985 movie) Tropes: alien monster, & human transformation into monsters   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olEbwhWDYwM https://youtu.be/kGTJ4

Miskatonic University Podcast Actual Play Presents: Ebon Eaves, a semi-improvised adventure for Tremulus, the Lovecraft-inspired horror role playing game based on the Apocalypse World engine. The game and playset are by Sean Preston. This is a behind-the-scenes post script with some of the background discussion players had about the rules and the challenges of a system that is based on improvisation. We begin with a chat that immediately followed our first session (Episode 1), which mostly covered character creation and world building. Then we skip ahead in time to a discussion that followed the conclusion of the scenario in Episode 3, when Randall gives us a peek behind the veil to discuss what it was like to use the Tremulus mechanics to unfold the semi-improvised plot. Learn more about Tremulus here >> Our players: Randall as Keeper Jim as Doctor Franklin Woodward Max as Travelin’ Jason Freeley EddyPo as Detective Tommy Stone Chad as Antiquarian Peter Strand And Rob as Professor Grant The theme song, “Come Out And Play,” by DesperateMeasurez, is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.]]>