Miskatonic University Podcast

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. 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.]]>

In this episode, Dan, Jon and Chad are joined by Beast of Editing Brian Sammons to discuss an upcoming Golden Goblin Press fiction anthology “Between Twilight and Dawn,” a collection of Lovecraftian horror stories that begin at twilight and end at dawn. We discuss the book and ways to use horror fiction to inform your horror gaming, plus some other projects underway and a few questions from listeners. This episode was recorded on May 1, 2017 and is sponsored by Golden Goblin Press. Campus Crier An update on Into the Cold Waste, a new album by YSDC musical virtuoso Allicorn on…minidisc. Why minidisc? Because Paul is a silly. You can hear more about it on a recent News From Pnakotus Check out this article about Guillermo del Toro on ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ and a Hard Lesson Learned. There’s a new teaser out for “Call of Cthulhu – The Official Video Game.” Mike Mason was a guest author at Fantasy Grounds’ FG Con Listen to guest author Mike Mason of Chaosium talk about Call of Cthulhu, Chaosium and Pulp Cthulhu at FG Con 10. The Bloop: An Underwater Mystery That Took Nearly 10 Years to Solve The sound of bursting of glacial bubbles, or “Breath of Ages” was also mentioned. Here’s a first look inside the printed Grand Grimoire of Cthulhu Mythos Magic, new supplement for Call of Cthulhu Ongoing Campaign Updates: A Forest: Lovecraft based “choose your own adventure,” where half the profit will go to cancer research. A Cthulhu based interactive horror novel that develops differently based on your decisions. Here’s a look at the hallucinogenic text the Scott Dorward found promoting a fake PF copy of The Two-Headed Serpent. Westminster is the Arab. Thereby viscid settee was being authentically Pulp Cthulhu about the stockholder. Signwriter uncloaks through a joannie. Togs is the epichthyolite. Family is munificently The Two-Headed Serpent toward the bane. In posse aforethought license is the nicholle. Thrillingly afghani slowpoke is a intension. Arabick enoch extremly implacably gets around snarkily for the stagnantly unsophisticated furfur. Sootflakes were the modishly jurassic episcopes. Transrhenane frazzle was decadently boring. Personable jana can round up. Misleading arman can mingle. Serial methadone must plead from the splintered possessorship. Neoprenes can bloat. Pulp Cthulhu is the handsomely deplorable gaiety. Unspoilt reselection infixes. Bearably unvarnished jarrod has quipped from the gastronomic foraminifer. Superfluous aborts were the threnetic multivalves. Concussive spaniel can unfetter per the synthetically drony yardage. Sigil & Sign update – the Cubicle 7 game where you play a cultist. Sweet Dreams Cthulhu: A Lovecraftian Bedtime Board Book The Book of Contemporary Magical Things from From Stygian Fox – 100 pages of modern, seemingly mundane, items that are imbued with magical power. Archive: Historical People, Places, and Events for RPGs – Archive is the sequel to a book successfully Kickstarted five years ago: The GM’s Real-World Reference. Between Twilight and Dawn – A collection of Lovecraftian and cosmic horror stories that begin at twilight and end at dawn. This episode is sponsored by Golden Goblin Press with an eye to getting the word out about this fiction Kickstarter, though it is still covered as Crier news). Topic In light of the upcoming Kickstarter for Between Twilight and Dawn, we talk with Brian about how to use fiction or films to spur horror gaming ideas. “We are interested in having Brian Sammons on to talk about the project and other things, such as the difference between fiction and scenario authors and authors who do both, and our fiction companion line (fiction collections supporting RPG projects). Kingsport scenario he is about to start Writing for us, part of the 1 week kingsport themes KS we are running next year as a Sequel to Cold Warning.” A Year In Kingsport – Brian’s scenario is tentatively called- Prisoners of the Escape Tails of Valor – Cat stories RPG book Tails of Terror fiction anthology Next Anthology book will be Lovecraft Country- Then and Now. Sam Gafford- The House of Nodens – Dark Regions Press Questions from listeners and MU luminaries: Bret: Why is Kingsport awesome? Sean: Best non-Cthulhu book you read in the last year. A Head Full of Ghosts Bret: What movie would you like to see make into a scenario? The Taking of Deborah Logan Max: What is your best horror gaming moment? He took the novel “The Scream” and made a campaign out of it. Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum.]]>

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. 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.]]>

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. 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.]]>

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 Live Play was recorded in April 2014 (!), and held in cold storage for several years due the highly sensitive nature of the material and also because lazy. All delays in getting these episodes released are the sole responsibility of Keeper Chad. In this prologue episode, the players discuss character generation, the network of trust between characters, and world building. This is a great way to begin learning how the mechanics of Tremulus work, but if you just want to find out what happens, skip to Episode 1 now. 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.]]>

In this episode Chad, Jon and Murph convene – like a coven of Shakespearean Weird Sisters – to talk about the use of “foreshadowing” techniques in games. Plenty of double, double toil and trouble to go around. Most of this episode was recorded on, April 18, 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 Into the Cold Waste – a new album by YSDC musical virtuoso Allicorn on…minidisc…? It’s 14 tracks inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands, comes with a full color companion booklet and album download code. Out of the Woods – 5 scenarios for Trail of Cthulhu based on … the woods. Authors: Adam Gauntlett, Lauren Roy, Chris Spivey, Ruth Tillman and Aaron Vanek. The Void – a new Lovecraftian movie, available in very select theatres, but is widely available on Video On Demand with many providers. Jon wants everyone to see it. -Completed Mythos Kickstarters- Call of Cthulhu Metal Dice Set by Q-workshop & Chaosium has wrapped up with 2,723 backers pledged for a total of $283,207. There have been no further updates on Adam Scott Glancy’s Kickstarter Horrors of War: A Covenant With Death. We tried. Topic – Foreshadowing… Here’s a link mentioned in the show to an article on foreshadowing in RPGs from The Alexandrian blog.   [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="385"] Here is a snake with a glove.[/caption]   [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320"] Snake with snakes for hands.[/caption]   [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="465"] SNAKE BORN WITH HAND SHOCKS SCIENTISTS: “Shocked,” say scientists. (Click on Hand Snake image to read more from Dangerous Minds)[/caption] Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum.]]>

In episode 120, Murf, Jon, Chad and Dan continue the Monster Bash Bestiary concept. Chad and Dan bring their picks to the table, and we think of ways to take unwieldy monsters to a game with gusto! This episode was recorded on April 3rd, 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 Quick correction: The Legacy of Arrius Lurco was never a Chaosium property. It was a campaign from Miskatonic River Press. Murf apologizes. This episode is sponsored by Feed the Shoggoth!             -Completed Mythos Kickstarters- Elder Dice – Cthulhu Mythos themed dice for tabletop gamers $261,885 pledged of $27,000 goal 4,751 backers Cold Warning – A Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Adventure A 1920’s Call of Cthulhu 7th edition scenario by Golden Age master Scott David Aniolowski set at a remote Maine hunting lodge. $21,425 pledged of $7,000 goal 706 backers   Do It With A Deep One Sandy Petersen demonstrates we’ll buy anything he wants to sell us. Even a rock. $2,339 pledged of $25 goal 131 backers   -Ongoing Campaigns- Call of Cthulhu Metal Dice Set by Q-workshop & Chaosium Now with all of the additional monster-themed dice sets added. So now $69 gets you 5 sets of dice, or $13.80 per set! $120,875 pledged of $50,000 goal 1,349 backers Ends Sat, April 15 2017 Rise of the Elders: A Cthulhu World A Cthulhu’s theme based Tabletop Game with RPG, Modular Board and a rich Storytelling for 1-4 Players $506 pledged of $181,542 goal 5 backers Tue, April 25 2017 The Unspeakable – new Lovecraftian RPG New publisher Make Believe Games, founded by Mark Rein-Hagen, is partnering with Cubicle 7 Entertainment to produce The Unspeakable, an RPG inspired by the work of H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth, expected later this year. The first book for the new game, Sigil & Sign, will introduce the game setting, core rules, and themes. The project is planned to be funded through a Kickstarter campaign in April. Dark Times Fanzine “Many thanks for putting out the word about the demise of Protodimension. Myself and a couple of mates are now working on a new free publication that will cover similar ground, called simply The Dark Times Fanzine. We are always open for fan-created material for Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green and other horror games besides. Interested parties can look us up on the various social media platforms or email here: darktimesfanzineATgmailDOTcom These are the games that will be covered over the run of the ‘zine. Not necessarily per issue. Atlas Games (Feng Shui 1&2, Over The Edge, Unknown Armies all editions) Cakebread & Walton (Dark Streets, Clockwork & Cthulhu) Chaosium (Call of Cthulhu all editions) Delta Green (all editions) Eden Studios (All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Army of Darkness, Conspiracy X, Witchcraft) Little Fears & Little Fears Nightmare Edition Pelgrane Press (Esoterrorists, Fear Itself, Night’s Black Agents, Trail of Cthulhu) Popcorn Press (D6xD6 RPG, D13 RPG, Wolfman’s Curse card game)   Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion for Call of Cthulhu Proofs have been spotted in the wild. 700 + pages of things and stuff. 1d4Con 2017 Is schedule for May 5-7, 2017. The HPL Statue project is still in progress. The Lovecraft Arts & Sciences Council is planning an event at the Providence Athenaeum, one of the author’s favorite places in the city. http://www.providencejournal.com/entertainmentlife/20170309/lovecraft-fans-raising-money-for-providence-statue https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/the-lovecraft-providence-statue-project https://store.hplhs.org/collections/frontpage/products/hplhs-raffle-ticket   Jon briefly talks about Gary Con– Jon got to game with a couple of his favorite comic creators, including Bill Willingham.   Listener Feedback!- We got a couple of messages via Speakpipe from Joseph Outram in NZ! He is expressing his frustrations regarding the Horrors of War: A Covenant With Death Kickstarter. We reached out to Adam Scott Glancy for updates or response, but he hasn’t gotten back to us by the time of release. Also a note that Joseph sent in two voicemails where he clarifies his thoughts. The one played in the show is an edit of them both together for clarity.   Topic – Least Favored Monster least favored monster Dan — Star Spawn Chad — Tzulcha Things mentioned in the discussions- Sigmund and the Sea Monsters RPPR Actual Play scenario U-Boote Heraus   Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum.]]>

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 Boston, MA Wednesday, July 19, 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 crew of the Delilah hunt for radio components while the beast preys upon them, stretching the nerves of the crew paper thin. “Evening of Chaos” and “Floating Cities” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0]]>

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 Boston, MA Wednesday, July 19, 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 Delilah crew frantically search for radio components while the mind-twisting, inconsistently visible creature continues to prey them. “Evening of Chaos” and “Floating Cities” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0]]>

In episode 119, Murf, Jon and Dan take a different look at the Bestiary concept. Jon and Murf each chose a Mythos creature that they just don’t care for, and we riff on them to see if we can make the creature seem more useful in game play. I think we were successful on both counts. This episode was recorded on March 20th, 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 Invictus Final Results Call of Cthulhu Metal Dice Set by Q-workshop & Chaosium Ends Sat, April 15 2017 Satanic Panic – a horror RPG about how evil RPGs are…   The Lovecraft Arts & Sciences Council is planning an event at the Providence Athenaeum, one of the author’s favorite places in the city. Here is the campaign page to donate to the HPL Statue Project Here is the page where you can get raffle tickets from the HPLHS, benefiting the statue.   H.P. Lovecraft’s “Cool Air” DVD/Blu-ray release Bryan Moore’s stellar film adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s classic tale “Cool Air” is finally coming to DVD/Blu-ray in “Duo-Chrome”!!!   Elder Dice – Cthulhu Mythos themed dice for tabletop gamers Lovecraftian designs consist of: The Great Cthulhu, Star Elder Sign and Lovecraft Elder Sign. Also includes magnetized spell book boxes   Golden Goblin Press is running a short 1-week Kickstarter at the end of this month from midnight on Friday, March 25th Midnight, Friday Cold Warning is a 7th Edition Jazz Era Call of Cthulhu Scenario set in Arkham Massachusetts and Hudson Maine. What begins with the a dubious suicide of Joseph Sutton and the strange behavior of his widow Marilyn leads investigators to Winter Haven, a remote hunting lodge in rural Maine. Here they experience mysterious goings on, encounter suspicious lodge guests and staff, learn of ancient legends, and confront strange and frightening creatures before finally witnessing the awesome power of a Great Old One. The Author Scott David Aniolowski – . We had a nice chat with Scott about this Kickstarter, and various other things Cthulhu in a special report that was released on Monday evening. http://www.mu-podcast.com/special-report-one-week-kickstarter-cold-warning/   Protodimension Magazine / Dark Conspiracy III are closing doors… This was sent direct to MUP via Chad/KeeperAnt: “Kinstaff Media, publishers of Dark Conspiracy III and the free horror gaming magazine Protodimension, have ceased operation. Plans are already under way for a replacement magazine covering the same genres and systems as Protodimension and made by creators who worked on that publication, but it appears that no more Dark Conspiracy III material will be forthcoming from Kinstaff. When the new magazine is ready to go live we will let people know. Thanks MUP!” – Lee Williams, former PDM editor Lil splainer: Protodimension WAS a free PDF publication focusing on modern and near-future horror and conspiracy genre roleplaying. Call of Cthulhu, Dark Conspiracy, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Little Fears, other more obscure horror games. Website is already down!   The Crow Report Eric Grundhauser is writing the news from Washington as Lovecraftian horror in his new website, The Crow Report. Eric is the head writer and editor at Atlas Obscura, and occasionally writes for Slate.   Jon pointed us to his friend Bryan Fyffe – fine artist Be sure to check out these Mythosy pieces- Yog-Sothoth and Arkham House   Card Catalog- Lovecraft Country Resources from Bret: The New England Folklore Blog Lots of ideas, leads. Updated weekly The places that inspired HPL. Listener Feedback!- iTunes 5-Star– Nicoreon from USA on March 4, 2017 A maddeningly good podcast After tiding thru the dark ocean mankind was not meant to know, that is the MU back catalog. I can safely say if you can make your san rolls its well worth the lessen. iTunes 5-Star– Elfremi from Canada on February 27, 2017 Some things you just can’t unlearn I’m not a Call Of Cthulhu keeper/player, but I love this podcast. Hearing the guys talk about Cthulhu horror gaming gets my creative juices flowing. Maybe some day I’ll take the plunge, play some CoC and watch my sanity slip away, but even if I don’t, I’ll always listen to one of the best podcasts out there. Thank you for the great reviews! Topic – Least Favored Monster Jon chose Dholes Murph has it in for The Great Race of Yith   Things mentioned during the conversations- Weird Detective: The Stars Are Wrong TPB The book that turned Murf around! Here’s an Amazon Associate link if you want to toss us a few of Amazon’s pennies. The Creeping Terror

In this special interview with Scott David Aniolowski, all four hosts are on deck to ask about his scenario “Cold Warning,” for Golden Goblin Press. That scenario (apparently 25 years in the making) will be the central focus of an experimental one-week Kickstarter to be launched on midnight on Friday, March 24 (the early hours of Saturday, in other words) and will run until 11:59 on Friday, March 31. If the Kickstarter reaches $12,500, Cold Warning will be paired with a stretch goal for “Riding the Northbound,” a scenario where players play hobos on an epic journey. A group of hobos, tramps, and bums undertake a journey in the early winter to attend the wedding party of one of their own. Rumor has it that Bottlecap Bob married a rich widow and is throwing a party for everyone he rode the rails with, and giving them a pair of new shoes and a set of new clothes to boot. However, the route is a dangerous one. If something seems too good to be true you can be sure that’s the case. Bob never was that lucky for a tramp. Art by Rueben Dodd, layout by Mark Shireman, maps by Stephanie McAlea. This scenario is already written, and will be paired with an updated version of “Raggedy Clothes and Worn Out Shoes,” the optional hobo rules from GGP’s 1st publication, Island of Ignorance – The First Cthulhu Companion. It will automatically come with “Those Who Wander,” a bonus PDF of seven pre-generated fully detailed Hobo, Tramps, and bum investigators. – Oscar Rios Check out the Golden Goblin Press Facebook page for updated info on the project, or check here for a link to the KS page once it’s launched. Here’s a preview of the KS video: More background on Scott: Check out an interview on Dean Englehart’s Cthulhu Reborn from 2013 >> And this extensive interview with YSDC from 2010 >>]]>

In this episode, Dan, Jon and Chad catch up with the irrepressible Mike Mason and the goings on at Chaosium. This episode was recorded on February 25th, 2017 – with news updates from March 12th. This episode is sponsored by Feed the Shoggoth! Buy this thing or regret will forever eat at your insides like a shoggoth. 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 (recorded on February 25) Love Cthulhu III 18 X 24 Limited Edition Print Dreamhounds of Paris limited edition Campus Crier, Supplemental (Recorded on March 12) Here we are in the future! We had some time to record a little extra crier – this is recorded on the day of release, March 12th. Cthulhu Invictus – ONLY 3 days to go! Ends on March 15th at midnight! It Just passed the 32, 000 mark. So: STRETCH GOAL FOUR, A SECOND BONUS SCENARIO ($30,000 / UNLOCKED) -An original scenario by Chad Bowser (co-creator of Cthulhu Invictus) STRETCH GOAL FIVE, INVESTIGATORS OF THE EMPIRE 18 pregns with original ($31, 500 / UNLOCKED) STRETCH GOAL SIX, DE HORRORE COSMICO 7th EDITION CONVERSION PDF – Unlocked! And yet to be unlocked: STRETCH GOAL SEVEN: CTHULHU INVICTUS LOGO STICKER ($32,500) – for all physical reward backers. STRETCH GOAL EIGHT, THE LEGACY OF ARRIUS LURCO ACQUISITION AND 7TH EDITION CONVERSION NOTES ($34,000) Golden Goblin Press is also running a short 1-week Kickstarter at the end of this month from midnight on Friday, March 25th to midnight on Friday March 31. Cold Warning is a 7th Edition Jazz Era Call of Cthulhu Scenario set in Arkham Massachusetts and Hudson Maine. What begins with the a dubious suicide of Joseph Sutton and the strange behavior of his widow Marilyn leads investigators to Winter Haven, a remote hunting lodge in rural Maine. Here they experience mysterious goings on, encounter suspicious lodge guests and staff, learn of ancient legends, and confront strange and frightening creatures before finally witnessing the awesome power of a Great Old One. The Author Scott David Aniolowski. Look at MUP socmed feeds for the link! YSDC’s The Whisperer in Wax – returns. The Whisperer in Darkness cylinder is available to purchase once again in very limited numbers. See the wax cylinder in action, courtesy of The British Library: https://youtu.be/jKGI6-UaYDc Gongrats to Stygian Fox for the funding of Fear’s Sharp Little Needles! Satanic Panic – a horror RPG about how evil RPGs are. The Lovecraft Arts & Sciences Council is planning an event at the Providence Athenaeum, one of the author’s favorite places in the city. Read more here. Here’s an Arkham Gazette update – AG #2, the one focusing on Innsmouth, is approaching the halfway mark in its revision, Ian McLean is hammering out some NPC art and the re-issue is expected to be done in a few weeks. Free RPG Day – Chaosium is a Gold Sponsor for Free RPG Day this year, which means there will be ten copies of our offering in each retailer pack (Spoiler: it’s Runequest, not CoC.) H.P. Lovecraft’s “Cool Air” DVD/Blu-ray release Bryan Moore’s stellar film adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s classic tale “Cool Air” is finally coming to DVD/Blu-ray in “Duo-Chrome”!!! Elder Dice – Cthulhu Mythos themed dice for tabletop gamers Lovecraftian designs consist of: The Great Cthulhu, Star Elder Sign and Lovecraft Elder Sign. Also includes magnetized spell book boxes Topic- Mike Mason fills us in on Chaosium happenings Storm Doris was a thing. They name storms in the UK. And here’s why. 1. Two-Headed Serpent 2. Greater Grimoire of Cthulhu Mythos Magic 3. Tales of Sandy Petersen 4. Down Darker Trails 5. Alone Against the Dark 6. Chaosium convention schedule – Origins, GenCon, Necronomicon, UK Games Expo, Essen, Kraken, Concrete Cow   Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum.]]>

In this episode, all four hosts are on deck to spitball Dan’s par-baked scenario pitch involving a mysterious abandoned building. This episode was recorded on, February 20, 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 Check out the things! Rise of the Elders: Cthulhu – a tactical computer RPG inspired by the work of HP Lovecraft, for mobile and PC. A new expansion for the board game Eldritch Horror, “Cities of Ruin.” Vampyr and Call of Cthulhu releases scheduled to release in late 2017 Cyanide: Call of Cthulhu – an computer RPG meant to last 10-15 hours of gameplay. More on the horror computer RPG Call Of Cthulhu. Chaosium Corner: “As we roll into the core spring and summer convention season, we are rolling out new demo and full-length scenarios intended specifically for convention play. Read the following scenario descriptions to see what we have on offer for our Keepers to run this year: What’s in the Cellar? – Arthur Blackwood’s wife has disappeared while on vacation. Can you solve the mystery or is he truly guilty? This mystery set in the classic H.P. Lovecraft 1930’s.(1 hr; 4 players) Necropolis – A stone slab shifts unexpectedly, trapping the investigators in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Only then do you discover you aren’t down here alone. Set in the classic H.P. Lovecraft 1930’s. (2 hrs; 6 players) The Dreaming Ward – Paid $5 a night for a three-night dream study, you are under the care of a university hospital. What could possibly go wrong? Set in the classic H.P. Lovecraft 1930s. (4 hrs; 6 players) Camp Sunny – College students take an off-season vacation staying in cabins on the Great Lakes. Time to relax, enjoy the wilds, interact with the locals. Set in Modern Day. (4 hrs; 6 players) — Exclusive to conventions Chaosium is attending! Scenario Contest Winners – As you know, The Cult of Chaos is running a contest to seek new adventures intended for convention play from you. The winners of this contest will be appearing at events throughout the summer, fall and winter. (4 hours 6 players) You can run these scenarios at your convention. Just contact [email protected] to get support for your event. Chaosium Conventions You will be able to find Chaosium at GameStorm in the Portland, OR area (March 30th-April 2nd). And at the end of spring we’ll be at the UK Game Expo and Origins Game Fair. (And many more after these, running through the whole year!) We are actively recruiting GMs for these events to run games of Call of Cthulhu and run demos of the upcoming RuneQuest. Running games will get you a free badge. Just contact [email protected] to volunteer as a GM for our game tables. And with GameStorm just two months away, please contact us about joining our team right away! Cult of Chaos Convention Scenario Competition 2017 Round One Results Since launching the scenario competition in early January we’ve been bowled over by the number and range of entries coming from the steadfast members of the Cult of Chaos. By the first round deadline, we had over 100 pitches submitted! Many with amazing ideas, cunning schemes, and diabolical events! We’d like to thank everyone who submitted a pitch. Our aim was to find a handful of scenarios that could be played within a 4 hour slot at a convention, so keeping the plot sharp and to be point was essential. We were also looking for cool ideas and set ups that would translate well to convention style play. Of course, many of the entries delivered these things in spades! Working down the entries to a short list was difficult and then deciding which would go through to the second round was even harder. Nevertheless, here are the entries we’d like to see fully written up for the second round: “As the Leaf Withers from the Vine” by IbnSchacabao “The Kids are Alright?” by JasonDAngelo “Midnight Masquerade” by eddypo (PULP) “Inner Demons” by FrancisThurston1926 “A Tainted Spectrum” by FatBuddha “A Weekend in the Woods” by Matt Ryan “Search for the Rheingold” by Skye666 “Back in the G.D.R.” by AcolyteMark ‘When Pigs Fly” by morganhua “At the Cowtowns of Madness” by JasonMical “Those Within” by xthawx Congratulations to all! Mike also wanted gave special mentions to the following pitches and their authors: “The Lonely Coastal Route” – Orsson “Bryn Y Ddraig Du” – Mark Durston “Devil’s Cave” – trevlix “A Cold Wind Blows” – serquet “Sure and Certain Hope” – keepermurf &#82

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     Boston, MA Wednesday, July 16, 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 accompany Mac McQuinlan on a summer cruise from Boston to Liverpool in the lap of luxury. “Evening of Chaos” and “Floating Cities” by Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0]]>

In this episode, the whole cavalcade of MU keepers is back for news updates and a Festival of Audio Horrors. We listen to all of the submissions from last year’s One Minute of Horror contest, and riff on ideas to make them game-able. This episode was recorded on January 24, 2017. Apologies for the lateness of this release. Illness, work schedule, and crappy audio files work together well to kill one’s enthusiasm for editing. Given how long it was to get this out, I hope you can forgive no show art for this one. 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 Yog Radio’s News from Pnakotus coming back! Another Kickstarter for Props of Nyarlathotep, you say? Yes, props are in production for the London and Cairo chapters of the Masks of Nyarlathotep. Update on the The Star on the Shore Kickstarter: The Star on the Shore is a Call of Cthulhu sandbox style adventure for the classic 1920s era. It’s already reached the funding goal of $4,000, but there are only a couple of weeks left to pledge! New CALL OF CTHULHU Game Trailer Embraces Lovecraftian Madness – review by Nerdist. Direct link to the trailer: here. Shout Factory is making an animated ‘Lovecraft’ film with Mark Hamill, Jeffrey Combs and Doug Bradley! The Sans-Detour edition has been released for Goodman Games’ Age of Cthulhu #6, #7, #8, and a couple of smaller adventures. The material in the book was written by Jon Hook and Branden LaSalle. Someone posted a data experiment on YSDC to collate info about the “Most Recommended Scenarios Evar.” Chaosium makes a call for convention scenario pitches! Call of Cthulhu is in massive demand at gaming conventions and we seek more scenarios to offer at these events to meet that demand. A wide-release version of this message went out, so join the Cult of Chaos and submit! Card Catalog From the Graham wing of the Orne Library: A YouTube channel that hosts old public domain/declassified films. though there are a few such channels, this one stands out for the host’s efforts to clean-up the footage and sound wherever possible. The time period covered is 1918 – 2000s and includes old TV adverts, documentaries, and also some 1970s CIA/FBI training films. The Channel is linked here. And here are a selection of videos: Colt 45 Malt Liquor Commercial (Skydiving Waiter) 1970s CIA Training Film (Made by MI5) ‘Land of the Giants’ 1935 California Travel Documentary And a little something for laughs… Topic Here’s some randomness inspired by the 2016 One Minute of Horror Audio Contest, plus credit for public domain or Creative Commons sound files used in the pieces: “3-Messages,” Keeper Ant All original. No audio files were harmed in the making of this submission. “Daughter of Horror Hotel,” Will S. Audio from this piece was pulled from a film called Horror Hotel or The City of the Dead. City of the Dead/Horror Hotel by John Llewellyn Moxey, Published 1960, Usage Public Domain: https://archive.org/details/Horror_Hotel Daughter of Horror aka Dementia: Published September 1, 2014, Usage Public Domain Mark 1.0, https://archive.org/details/daughter_of_horror_201701 Some quotes from the film that were cut from the US version in 1960: “I have made my pact with thee O Lucifer! Hear me, hear me! I will do thy bidding for all eternity. For all eternity shall I practice the ritual of Black Mass. For all eternity shall I sacrifice unto thee. I give thee my soul, take me into thy service.” “O Lucifer, listen to thy servant, grant her this pact for all eternity and I with her, and if we fail thee but once, you may do with our souls what you will.” “Make this city an example of thy vengeance. Curse it, curse it for all eternity! Let me be the instrument of thy curse. Hear me O Lucifer, hear me!” Flutes of Azathoth,” Cole Y All original. No audio files were harmed in the making of this submission. “EAS_Activation,” Canageek All original. No audio files were harmed in the making of this submission. “Lymerics,” Max All original. No audio files were harmed in the making of this submission. “WXXT,” Will S. Voiceover: Will S. reading from Matthew M. Bartlett’s “Gateways To Abomination” Thunderstorm sound effect: Recorded by Mike Koenig | License: Attribution 3.0 – http://soundbible.com/1908-2-Minute-Storm.html Sony Battery AM Radio Tuning: License: Public Domain | Recorded by SailorMoonFan – http://soundbible.com/2099-AM-Radio-Tuning.html Radio Tuning: License: Personal Use Only – http://soundbible.com/722-Radio-Tune.html Thunder: License: Attribution 3.0 | Recorded by Mik

This is a special roundup episode with four Cthulhu newsmakers who have ongoing projects right now. We’ve got short interviews coming up with Oscar Rios of Golden Goblin Press on the live Cthulhu Invictus 7th Edition Kickstarter, Jeff Moeller from Stygian Fox talks about the short scenario collection Fear’s Sharp Little Needles – that Kickstarter only has a few days left – Scott Dorward talks to Murph about Chaosium’s Two Headed Serpent Pulp campaign and other projects, and finally Bret Kramer of Sentinel Hill Press talks about the status of the refurbished Arkham Gazette issues and other stuff coming down the old Aylsebury Pike. This episode was cobbled together from interviews during the week of February 13 to 17, 2o17. Check out the links below for more info on these projects… Golden Goblin Press: The 7th Edition Guide to Cthulhu Invictus Stygian Fox: Fear’s Sharp Little Needles Chaosium: The Two Headed Serpent Sentinel Hill Press: Buy Arkham Gazette issues on DriveThruRPG… The Arkham Gazette #0 The Arkham Gazette #1 The Arkham Gazette #3   Check out the SHP Website Support Bret via Patreon  ]]>

In this first MUP episode of 2017, we have all four members of the crew in to go over the news that’s happened since last time, as well as to put down some gaming resolutions for this year! This episode was recorded on January 9, 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 Professor Grownup: Cthulhu Album For Kids Support the creation of a full-length children’s album based on the works of 1920s horror and science fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft. $4,000+ pledged of $10,000 goal 2 days to go (from this posting)   The Star on the Shore – A Call of Cthulhu RPG Module The Star on the Shore is a Call of Cthulhu sandbox style adventure module for the classic 1920s era adventure, licensed by Chaosium. $16,000+ pledged of $4,000 goal 16 days to go (from this posting)   Cyanide’s Call of Cthulhu teases eerie new screens The locals and locales of Darkwater Island. Miskatonic River Press’ CoC titles have been acquired by Stygian Fox, making these MRP books available into the future, updated and reformatted. “From today, Stygian Fox will be the owner of New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, More Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, Our Ladies of Sorrow, and Tales of the Sleepless City. We intend to update them to 7th edition Call of Cthulhu rules, add new art, make them colour, and release them in PDF, softcover, and hardcover formats over the next year.”     Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition has come to Fantasy Grounds, the popular virtual tabletop where you can play your favorite RPGs with your friends online! Harlem Unbound, a Cthulhu roleplaying game sourcebook RPG sourcebook set in 1920s NYC, the Harlem Renaissance, delving into Mythos mysteries for either Call of Cthulhu or Gumshoe system. Chris Spivey, Darker Hue Studios The campaign ended with $38,698 pledged of $5,000 goal. Congratulations Chris! Swords Against Cthulhu By Rogue Planet Press Price: $6.16 Swords against Cthulhu, an anthology of sword and sorcery/Cthulhu Mythos crossovers. Mighty thewed barbarians battle alien wizardry and cosmic terror in a blind, unreasoning universe where only the strong survive.   Video review of Sans-Detour Edition of Goodman Games’ Age of Cthulhu #6, #7, #8, and a couple of smaller adventures. The material in the book was written by Jon Hook and Branden LaSalle.   Cold War Cthulhu Kickstarter has shipped! It is also available for PreOrder on the Cubicle 7 website.   Chaosium makes the call for convention scenarios! Call of Cthulhu is in massive demand at gaming conventions and we seek more scenarios to offer at these events to meet that demand. Cult of Chaos Convention Scenario Competition 2017 Each year Chaosium is attending more and more conventions and Call of Cthulhu convention games have never been more popular. To help meet the demand for good Call of Cthulhu games we are launching the Cult of Chaos Convention Scenario Competition 2017. We are looking for 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. What are we looking for? We are seeking pitches for writing a full Call of Cthulhu 7th edition convention scenario with a running time of 3.5 to 4 hours maximum, 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 February 3rd, 2017. What do the selected pitches get? First, after submitting the full scenario you get the credit for writing an official Chaosium convention scenario. Second, your scenario would be eligible to be part of a professionally published Call of Cthulhu book or PDF, if selected the author will be offered a standard publishing contract.Third, each pitch that becomes a fully written scenario submitted to Chaosium will receive a $40 voucher for the Chaosium webstore. The deadline for submitting full scenarios is April 28th, 2017. What do you need to do? Write a short (no more than 300 words) pitch and post it to the Cult of Chaos forum at BRP Central. The pitch should outline the scenario, describe the nature of the mystery and/or threat, and how the investigators become involved (whether it starts in media res or more traditionally). Do not consider the pitch to be a spoiler-free zone. In judging these scenarios, we need to know what actually occurs during the scenario from the GMs perspe

For this special report, Keeper Chad, Keeper Jon and Christopher Smith Adair dig in to a topic that has been simmering in the background for a year and a half. The conversation was recorded on July 27, 2016. The airing of this episode was delayed for reasons explained in the introduction, which was recorded on January 7, 2017.   On the opening night of NecronomiCon in August 2015, Mythos scholar and editor Robert M. Price delivered a keynote speech. It included comments that were controversial, provocative, and offensive to many audience members, including the convention organizers. In Episode 104 of the MU Podcast, Oscar Rios mentioned those comments as part of the inspiration for his Heroes of Red Hook fiction anthology, which focuses on characters from underrepresented backgrounds including people of color, women, LGBTQ people, intellectual disability (among others) in Mythos fiction. We thought this would be a good opportunity to explain a little more about what Oscar was talking about. Thank you to those who have been asking for a discussion about this for so many months. There’s no good excuse for taking so long to get around to this, but thank you for your patience. We did try to handle it with sensitivity and depth, and it took us a long time to get there. Please note that none of us on the show imagine that we have the final word on what Price meant or how it should be taken. Please do share your thoughts on the subject in the forum thread. Below is a transcript of Robert Price’s comments and a video clip, as well as links to some of the material we discuss during the show. “If we can manage to look past [Lovecraft’s] racism, we will manage to see something deeper and quite valid. Lovecraft envisioned not only the threat that science posed to our anthropomorphic smugness, but also the ineluctable advance of the hordes on non-western anti-rationalism to consume a decadent, euro-centric west. “Superstition, barbarism and fanaticism would sooner or later devour us. It appears now that we’re in the midst of this very assault. The blood lust of jihadists threatens Western Civilization and the effete senescent West seems all too eager to go gently into that endless night. Our centers of learning have converted to power politics and an affirmative action epistemology cynically redefining truth as ideology. Logic is undermined by the new axiom of the ad hominem. If white males formulated logic, then logic must be regarded as an instrument of oppression. “Lovecraft was wrong about many things, but not, I think, this one. It’s the real life horror of Red Hook.” Three blog posts from Christopher on Lovecraft’s racism: Lovecraft in His Grave, Pondering Race A Brief Addendum Digging Up Lovecraft and Sifting Through His Remains A 2012 blog post from Robert Price seems to be lay the foundation for his comments in 2015: Rock the Kasbah >> A blog post (date unknown) from Price entitled “Affirmative Action Comics” >> Price writes about creationism and fundamentalist Christians >> Reactions Here is a round up of various reactions to – and coverage of – Price’s comments at the convention. Price’s Facebook thread >> RI Future: Lovecraft’s racism a tough issue at NecronomiCon Providence >> ST Joshi’s blog >> (I’m posting ST’s relevant reaction paragraph below, because it’s not so easy to find on the archive page) Well, NecronomiCon Providence (August 20–23) has come and gone, and it was a tremendous event. I fear, however, that it didn’t get off on a very good start, as the opening ceremonies featured a surprisingly lifeless and mechanical summary by Leslie Klinger of the basic facts of Lovecraft’s biography (do we really need such a recitation at such an event?), followed by a rather windy and confused polemic by Robert M. Price in which he suggested that Lovecraft would by some miracle be aligned with contemporary conservative thought and be opposed to affirmative action and political correctness! Whatever the validity of Price’s remarks (and to my mind they don’t have much validity, given that Lovecraft had become a socialist by the end of his life), this was surely the wrong place and time to air them. Silvia Moreno Garcia >> Post Scripts to Darkness >> Discuss this topic on the Campus Forums. This episode’s theme music is “Spy Glass” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License]]>

In this episode, Dan, Jon and Chad are joined by Oscar Rios from the Goblin Lair to talk about the future of Cthulhu Invictus — and other mysteries! This episode was recorded on November 28, 2016. 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 Badger is now offering a Feed the Shoggoth turn counter via the game’s website! It was previously only available to Kickstarter backers, but he has made available to the public the extra copies left over from the KS. It’s $5 (plus $1 shipping), you can get one of these turn counters, minted by Campaign Coins. There are also rumors of a mini mini-shoggoth in the works by Jason McKittrick. Smaller than the one in the Kickstarter, will retail for about $10 plus shipping. Also, Badger has generously offered a special code for MU Podcast listeners – if you want to buy a copy of Feed the Shoggoth at a $5 discount, you can use the code shoggydec16 to buy the game for $15 instead of $20. Website here: http://www.feedtheshoggoth.com HP Lovecraft : Cthulhu Mythos, the Great Old Ones II – a Kickstarter for cool sculptures And by the same artist as the above campaign, comes Adventure Heroes – miniatures in 30mm inspired by Robert E Howard, including the man himself! Osprey books – the nerdy history for miniatures company – has come out with a new book for their Cthulhu Wars line – Roman-era Mythos! Pelgrane’s Fear Itself 2nd Edition is now available, as is Ken Hite’s The Thrill of Dracula. That Poppy is freaking creepy. Check out these hypnotically disturbing videos here, here, here and here. Adam Scott Glancy GM’ing a live-stream Call of Cthulhu game along with Cody Goodfellow and Ken Hite via Legends of Tabletop! – The Last Flight of the L58 NICTONOMICON Bestiario sobre Lovecraft / a Lovecraft bestiary Tales from The Loop Edwin cooked up tables to demonstrate the variable effect of penalty dice as used in CoC. Thank you Edwin! “Graphs based on Monte Carlo simulations with 50,000 rolls with each level of penalty. It’s interesting that the max penalty is at a different skill level with one die (at 47%) than with two (at 62%). Your 15% is about right. The average penalty over all skill levels based on this simulation is 17%. Two dice provide a 25% average penalty. The analysis ignores fumbles.” MUP News Just a reminder, we’re using [email protected] for…feedback. Card Catalog A hat tip to David Jacobs, who posted this thing on Google Plus, learned about on the 99% Invisible podcast… The Roaring ‘Twenties – an interactive exploration of the historical soundscape of New York City Using Municipal Archives of the City of New York, cataloging over 600 unique complaints about noise around 1930 while reproducing over 350 pages of these materials. It also includes fifty-four excerpts of Fox Movietone newsreels, early sound experiments that at once captured and technologically remediated the sounds of New York City, as well as hundreds of other photographs and print materials. http://vectors.usc.edu/projects/index.php?project=98&thread=AuthorsStatement It’s at this point where we lost Keeper Jon, as he was feeling under the weather and just couldn’t stay up any longer. Topics – CTHULHU INVICTUS! 7th edition guide to Cthulhu Invictus. New KS starts on Feb, with a March 15 end, the ides of March This is a new book from the ground up, not just a rules update to the existing Invictus core book. GGP is allowed to re-issue and update all existing Invictus books with author permission. There will be three regional Invictus books: North Africa; Britannia & Beyond; and The East. They are not dropping their Jazz-era projects though. There is a Pacific sourcebook being worked out, and other projects coming down the line. Discuss this episode on the Campus Forums.]]>

In this episode, all four hosts convene to share more thoughts on investigator groups. Plus, we announce the winners of our One Minute of Horror Audio Contest! This episode was recorded on, November 14, 2016. 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 Someone called nonhumanuser on the MU forums launched a website on Halloween that purports to be a trove of stories, articles, resources and actual plays focusing on horror and the Cthulhu Mythos. It’ll be “weekly additions for your reading pleasure and resources for the Call of Cthulhu RPG.” The 2016 Shotgun Scenario contest has been announced. That’s a contest for short Delta Scenario seed ideas. Entries can be of any length, but entries longer than 1500 words will only get half a vote during the judging. Deadline is Saturday, December 10. MU thread on the Shotgun Scenario Contest >> Previous examples here >> One of Chaosium’s old-school supplements — Keith Herber’s The Fungi From Yuggoth — has been adapted into a fully dramatized 1930s-style radio drama. And, inspired by the game upon which it is based, this production features four different endings! Dark Adventure Radio Theatre’s THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BEAST is available now as a 3 CD set or digital download. And there’s the incredible Deluxe Edition, featuring six pounds (!) of props… Experimental music maker Brian Lavelle is offering a special code for MUP listeners to get a 50% discount off of his downloads – check out his website and use the code “gopods” to redeem this offer at checkout.                 Chad unleashed “Mayor McPain” and his pet conch “Tickles” to Edwin Nagy (see photo below) and a group of unsuspecting players as part of an Extra Life charity event (along with a donation from MUP) at CarnageCon in Vermont. See the block at the end of these notes for full Dungeon Crawl Classics stats from Jon.   Chaosium News A Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed update on Kickstarter—TLDR summary: – Pulp Cthulhu and Doors to Darkness will start shipping *soon! – The 4 Keeper Decks (phobias, characters, events, and weapons) will also start shipping to backers this week. Depending on location, they will come with Pulp and Doors, or separately. – Pulp Cthulhu, Doors to Darkness and the Keeper Decks will be available to order on Chaosium.com later this week (NOTE: backers will get their rewards shipped to them before we ship any regular new sales.). Call of Cthulhu 7e 1000% Backer T-Shirt MUP News After a huge kerflustersnafu with the MU email system, we have launched two new show email addresses. For feedback, please send everything to: [email protected]. And for future contest entries, we’ll be using: [email protected]. Card Catalog From the Graham Special Collections Wing of the Orne Library: “Airplane Photography by Herbert Eugene Ives” (1920) Topics One Minute of Horror Audio Contest Results: 1st Place — “Straight To Voicemail” by John F Rauchert (Credits: voice generated by CWSpeak) 2nd Place — “Playtime Daddy” by Trevlix (Credits: Hammering-J_Blow-2014925903.mp3 | License: Public Domain | Recorded by J Blow | http://soundbible.com/2028-Hammering.html Creaking Door Spooky-SoundBible.com-1909842345.mp3 | License: Public Domain | Recorded by stephan | http://soundbible.com/1717-Creaking-Door-Spooky.html 50725__rutgermuller__footsteps-on-tiles.wav | License: Creative Commons | Recorded by RutgerMuller | https://www.freesound.org/people/RutgerMuller/sounds/50725/ 320376__yadronoff__axe-chopping.wav | License: Creative Commons | Recorded by yadronoff | https://www.freesound.org/people/yadronoff/sounds/320376/) 3rd Place — Cohesion5 by Ben, a.k.a. “Spiggy” (Credits: all sounds are original.) Amazing work. We’ll be in touch soon about prizes! And thank you to all of our contestants! This was an amazing pool of submissions, which made judging a blast and yet extremely difficult. We are well aware of how much work went into these pieces, so thank you for all of your efforts! We plan to play them all, festival-style, in an upcoming special side episode. Investigator Groups, Part II Here’s a good thread on YSDC with some general categories for investigator groups. The 7e rulebook also outlines some categories and examples. A few groups from RL history surfaced during the discussion, including the Priory of Sion, Thule Society, the Black Hand, Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Foresters and the Galleanists.   Discuss this episode on

Chad, Murf and Dan have a chat with Chris Spivey, experienced Call of Cthulhu Keeper, a writer on Gumshoe One-2-One, and his numerous other projects. We also have a Bestiary about the Dimensional Shambler. This episode was recorded on November 1, 2016. Campus Crier An update on the MUP 2016 “One Minute of Horror” contest: The mu-podcast.com email address was not bringing in contest submissions, so we reached out to anyone who has submitted to re-send them to Dan’s gmail account. If you did not hear back from us, let us know!   The final PDF for The Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion has been released to backers. (This fan-driven project has been in the works for nearly a decade.) Chad got his copy of Mythos Tales in the mail. And it’s amazing. (KS Mentioned way back in Episode 96, kind of an RPG in a box.) On the less connected, but still geeky-cool, is Manos, the cards of Fate, a card game based on the terrible movie Manos: The Hands of Fate. (Now on Blu-Ray!) There is a Kickstarter for Leagues of Cthulhu, a Victorian Mythos RPG sourcebook powered by Ubiquity (Hollow Earth Expedition)   Chaosium News- Chaosium has announced a new licensing arrangement with Golden Goblin Press for Cthulhu Invictus. This is a multi-year deal that will see Golden Goblin Press producing a number of Cthulhu Invictus releases annually, including a Cthulhu Invictus 7th Edition guide, a series of setting books for regions of the Roman Empire, at least two more collections of scenarios (De Horrore Ulteriorie and De Horrore Ultimo), and a new Cthulhu Invictus campaign. The Dhole’s House: a free ‘online toolkit’ for Keepers and players of Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition, developed by long-time fan Lee Carnell. Members can create investigators that are fully compatible with Call of Cthulhu 7th edition and print off a PDF character sheet, all in a matter of minutes. All Investigators are saved and can be updated via the ‘Character Control Panel’ as the campaign unfolds. Site members can also contribute to a Character Library, allowing anyone to download PDF character sheets for Call of Cthulhu investigators for use as PCs or NPC’s. The Library is searchable by occupation and gender.   Card Catalog Gleaned from the Graham Special Collections Wing: The blog ‘Whispers from the Ghooric Zone‘ whose creator has decided to count down “Lovecraftian Thing A Day” for all of 2016. There is a wealth of material on display. And don’t forget about the Sentinel Hill Press Octoberganza, with an entry related to last show’s investigator groups topic- The Watch and Ward Society.   Listener Feedback (Hilarious transcription courtesy of Google Voice!) From Canageek– Hello, Kennedy care. I was listening to emphasize 1:11 on my way to work and something stretch me about your discussion of carnivals back in my dungeons & Dragons live in Gray Hawk organized play campaign in Ontario, Ontario the cat region. We’d often have what we know as interactive sort of tabletop our begin, but with a little bit of like mixed in so we’d have for the first half of it every all the players were gathering a big room and all the dm to take on the roles of Mp. C’s and they’re be very stations. You could go around 2 and participant the activities there and carnivals was a comma 1 if you could go to the archery contest 9th Roller the strong man interact with each MPC and game favors or Advantages or insight into what was to come and then in the second part every with divine off in the tables by mission, so the carnival was at. Dora portal opened or something because the there was no call just at the carnival one group might try and go into the portal one group would deal with the monsters coming out and the third one would go evacuate the refugees and living gray hawk. This would be sorted by level, but include could Sorted by remaining sanity, or just randomly or whatever so I gave you serve a collective experience, and you could hear reports so cajun someone would come over to a table and say you know we really need reinforcements over here is can you spare anybody or you know you’d here yeah, there’s a giant explosion over there, and you can see a smoking crater, and you know Dave was real good for when you went out to the bar afterwards cuz you don’t participate in the same adventure, but all seem different things and by talking to each other you guys greater sense of you know. What was going on. Why did we see 100 magic missile strike a flying guy over that way, and I thought you know. It’d be cool if you did. Something similar for that for Costco hulu where you know one really connected MPC calls and everybody he knows answer your convention is a big invested it invested of things 30 people it after be on more of the pool side, but I thought it might be an interesting experience anyway, that’s all so if there’s pompano is

The MUP had a great interview with Whitney “Strix” Beltrán, one of the three designers of Bluebeard’s Bride, a horror tabletop RPG in which you play aspects of the Bride’s psyche investigating your husband’s haunted manor.   Chad, Murf, and Dan have a great talk with Strix about the game, how it plays, and some of the other aspects of life that contributed to the design of this new take on the roleplaying game. During the conversation, other topics and game are referenced. Among them are an RPG called Witch: The Road To Lindisfarne. Another game Whitney brings up is called DEAD SCARE – An RPG of blood-splattered white picket fences. Also explained is the Tulsa Race Riot, an event that was not in any of the Tulsa historical records for a long while.                ]]>

In this episode, a skeleton crew of Dan and Chad talk about a couple of our favorite investigator groups and how to use them. This episode was recorded on October 17, 2016. Campus Crier An update on the MUP 2016 “One Minute of Horror” contest: No submissions yet. Sad trombone. (Actually, since recording we have gotten one submission.) Send yours in now! Announcing prizes: 1st Place: Print copies of Island of Ignorance and Nameless Horrors (equivalents negotiable). 2nd Place: Print copies of Arkham Gazette #3 and an Age of Cthulhu book of your choice. 3rd: A print copy of The Things We Leave Behind (any previous offer to give away Murph’s Unwashed Fez is retracted and / or never happened and you can’t prove it). All three places will get cool swag including MUP dice AND a Dropbox link that will include downloadable copies of old history segments, some re-mixed, along with other audio terrors. Five Points is available for purchase – Five Points is a game of urban horror in America’s first melting pot, the Five Points neighborhood of New York City. Set in the 1840s and 50s against a backdrop of the Cthulhu Mythos, Five Points is powered by Dark Streets from Cakebread & Walton. Players take on the roles of runners or advisors for the Bowery Street Runners, an homage to the Bow Street Runners from London’s past, fighting against the terrors of the night. Can you stop them before the stars are right? Hudson & Brand, Inquiry Agents of the Obscure – Kiskstarter has only a few days to go! Sun Spots Kickstarter is done, reaching all stretch goals! $15,972 pledged of $5,000 goal Canageek sent in this cool arcticle from Nerdist: Watercolor Horror Movie Posters Are a Nightmare of Awesome Extra Life 24-hr game-a-thon interview – check it out if you haven’t already. Chaosium News: The license was cancelled for the ill-fated Masks of Nyarlathotep Prop Set Kickstarter. There is also a mention of the failed Cthulhu for FATE campaign. Plans to fulfill the rest of the 7e Kickstarter have been announced, with apologies. Backers will not receive several of the items originally promised, including dice and dicebag, bookmarks, backer pins and t-shirts and Innsmouth Gold coins. A PDF copy of Doors to Darkness has been offered instead. Chaosium has learned the difficult and painful lesson of straying from its core strengths. We are a game company, and need to focus on the games we make, not producing t-shirts, jewelry, mugs, and other similar items.     Card Catalog From The Graham Special Collections wing of the Orne Library: Stumbled across a site that covers Radioactive Quack cures of the Classic era, all the pills, potions, water ‘energizers’ and toothpaste(!) that’s good for what ails you. Topics Investigator Groups – or how to manufacture plausible reasons for characters to do all this crazy stuff! Investigator companion- page 122 of the 7th Edition rulebook. Here is an excellent thread on YSDC about general classes of investigator groups. Here’s a bit about “Humbug,” the X-files circus episode mentioned during the show. The circus off-season towns of Peru, Indiana and Gibsonton, Florida are mentioned.   Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum.]]>

Keeper Jon spoke with Sean Murphy & Edwin Nagy about the gaming for charity event called Extra Life. The page for team Extra Carnage is found here. Sean Murphy – Captain Orono Extra Life Team Tadpole, Edwin Nagy – Captain Extra Life at Carnage Royale 19 Killington, VT November 4-6, 2016]]>

In episode 110, Murf, Jon and Dan get together to head back into the Bestiary to take another look at the dark-dwelling Ghast. This episode was recorded on October 3, 2016. 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 is launching an audio contest for the 2016 Halloween season! Submit by midnight US Eastern Time on October 31, 2016 for our “One Minute of Horror” contest. Whatever you can do with one minute of audio is fair game – reading a very short story, a poem, fake newscasts, history, maybe a spectacular minute of an actual play? Or submissions can be totally wordless: audio landscapes, sound effects, playing an instrument, any combo of the above – whatever your dark imagination cooks up! There will be First, Second and Third place prizes. All material must be copyright free, and any Creative Commons material must be credited appropriately. Keep language clean enough to play on the show without bleeping. Submitting your piece also gives us permission to play it on the show whether you win or not. Send your one-minute audio files as attachments to: [email protected]. Please put “One Minute Horror” in the subject line so we can tell which messages are contest entries. If you want to go with quick and raw, you could also submit using the Speakpipe link on the right of our home page. Winning Criteria: Creative, Original, Creepy. Check the MU forum for a thread on this topic – we’re happy to help! Hudson & Brand, Inquiry Agents of the Obscure. Hudson & Brand is a Call of Cthulhu book for the Gaslight era and details a ready-made anti-Cthulhu Mythos Victorian organisation. Gecco Corp Announce CTHULHU statue Price: US$259.00 The Sun Spots Kickstarter completed! Congratulations to Dave for hitting all of the stretch goals! Fantasy Flight begins selling the Mythos minis- From Arkham Horror, Eldritch Horror, and Mansions of Madness in individual blister packs.   Sentinel Hill Press’ blog is having their annual ‘October-ganza’ post-a-day series this October. And previous October-ganza entries. It runs through Halloween. Extra Life 24-hr game-a-thons– There are a couple of charity events happening in the very near future. Both are 24-hr game-a-thons in support of the Extra Life charity that raises money for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Event #1: 24-hours of gaming at Carnage Con Nov 5. We have a series of events at this con in Stowe, VT. Big events include a DCC horror tournament using Carnival of the Damned, an overnight running of the unpublished Mike Mason & Sandy Petersen scenario Hotel Hell, a Carnival-themed LARP and an event for kids using No Thank You Evil. In addition, such industry luminaries as Oscar Rios and Dr. Nik will be running special games in support of Extra Life Event #2: Frog God Games presents 24-hrs of Rappan Athuk and other RPGs Nov 18. A hardy group of six or seven players will sit down at a table at 6 PM and get up 24 hours later having been led by me through the FGG dungeon delve Rappan Athuk using 5e D&D. We expect to take a palette cleanser part way through for some Call of Cthluhu run by Sean and FGG’s author Matt Finch will guest GM an hour or so of a soon-to-be revealed special project from the Frogs. The entire event will be broadcast live on TwitchTV and audience members are invited to donate money to mess with the game.   Card Catalog: Here is a great resource for Jazz-era ship plans for gaming, courtesy of Graham.   Main Topic: Bestiary- Ghasts We also discuss K’n-yan, the underground location mentioned in The Mound, which has ghasts living in it. Along with weird telepathic aliens that use the gasts as mounts?   A couple of sites with great ghast art- The Lovecraft Mythos Bestiary by K.L. Turner Drawing is Neat- Ghastly Ghouly : H.P. Lovecraft’s Ghouls and Ghasts   Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum]]>

In this episode, we’ve skyjacked Dave Sokolowski as co-host to talk about his new Kickstarter-in progress for the Lovecraft Country scenario “Sunspots.” We also riff on juicy listener feedback ideas from Brian in Mass and Canageek. This episode was recorded on September 19, 2016. 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 is launching an audio contest for the 2016 Halloween season! Submit by midnight US Eastern Time on October 31, 2016 for our “One Minute of Horror” contest. Whatever you can do with one minute of audio is fair game – reading a very short story, a poem, fake newscasts, history, maybe a spectacular minute of an actual play? Or submissions can be totally wordless: audio landscapes, sound effects, playing an instrument, any combo of the above – whatever your dark imagination cooks up! There will be First, Second and Third place prizes. All material must be copyright free, and any Creative Commons material must be credited appropriately. Keep language clean enough to play on the show without bleeping. Submitting your piece also gives us permission to play it on the show whether you win or not. Send your one-minute audio files as attachments to: [email protected]. Please put “One Minute Horror” in the subject line so we can tell which messages are contest entries. If you want to go with quick and raw, you could also submit using the Speakpipe link on the right of our home page. Winning Criteria: Creative, Original, Creepy. Check the MU forum for a thread on this topic – we’re happy to help! Lovecraft Tales episode 1 – a point-and-click horror in development. Re-Animator: Evolution Is Legit… Sort Of Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition has won at the inaugural Dragon Awards in Atlanta for “Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures/Collectible Card/Role Playing Game.” Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies NYC is now in session ‘CONGO’ Historic Fantasy Miniatures Game Golden Goblin Spotlight The forges are burning hot at the Goblin Lair right now, with two projects in pre-production and two projects going to the printer. All of the artwork for Heroes of Red Hook – 18 illustrations from Ian MacLean – is now in hand, and that book is going to the printer this week. Also, hopes are high that Tales of the Caribbean will go to the the printer next week. The cover for a mysterious undisclosable upcoming KS project is in the works already. That project will Kickstart from mid February to mid March. It’s a book of scenarios with a fiction companion as one of the various stretch goals. The next fiction book, Between Twilight and Dawn, is underway. About 40% of the book filled. That KS should run in May. Topic: Sun Spots! Check here for Kickstarter updates. Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum]]>

This is just a short Crier hosted by Jon and Dan. Murf and Chad had some work commitments that prevented having a more complete crew, so we decided to keep it simple. This episode was recorded on September 12, 2016. Campus Crier Dark Regions Press- The IndieGoGo book campaign has 13 days as of recording, and they added another level- The Lovecraft Box $95 USD Surprise signed limited edition hardcover + trade paperbacks & ebooks of the first six Dark Regions Weird Fiction titles + Cthulhu Mythos Ebook Bundle + Sneak Peek at New S. T. Joshi Great Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos Anthology! The first six Dark Regions Weird Fiction titles include World War Cthulhu, Dreams from the Witch House: Female Voices of Lovecraftian Horror, A Mountain Walked: Great Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, Return of the Old Ones, The Children of Gla’aki and an unannounced novel. Since the recording of this episode, there have been additional packages added to the campaign as well. Take a look and see what’s over there! **Also as an addendum, I now see that shipping is NOT included in the campaign. I would swear I saw that somewhere, but they have clear shipping costs listed now.   Lovecraft Colouring Book WIP Simon Cardew is drawing a coloring book based on HPL stories. He shares some of his pages on his Imgur account. His Twitter is @SimonCardew for other updates.   Chaosium joins Bits and Mortar Chaosium has joined Bits and Mortar, the pro-retailer, pro-brick-and-mortar, pro-PDF, pro-ebook initiative. Cult of Chaos News- The Chaos Library, the repository of Call of Cthulhu scenarios, is now live and available for Cult of Chaos members! You can access it via the forums at BRP Central, in the special Cult of Chaos section. The library has the same password as the Cult of Chaos section.]]>

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In this episode, all four hosts are in that house to review derived characteristics, alternative ways to determine characteristics, and a few of the “Lovecraftian” occupations to choose from. If you like tangents, random riffing and a complete lack of focus – this is the episode for you! This episode was recorded on August 29, 2016. Campus Crier Murph and Chad had a Cephaloparty in Boston! [caption id="attachment_4853" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Murph and Chad tuck in to a plate of octopus in Boston.[/caption] Check out the three new books from Dark Regions Press, as discussed by Brian Sammons in MUP Episode 107. Sun Spots – the new project by Dave Sokolowski, is slated to launch on September 13. HPLHS’s Dark Adventure Radio Theater is turning a Call of Cthulhu campaign The Fungi from Yuggoth into a 30-s style radio drama! It’s set for release this Halloween. Another Lovecraftiana Kickstarter: a Lovecraft-themed gaming cafe in Providence (but it seems like it didn’t really get off the ground). Innovativ Media (INMG) launches premium online channel, HPLovecraft.TV. The channel’s page is here. Age of Cthulhu 9 printed books should be shipping soon. Jon and Dan got their copies. Print versions of Call of Cthulhu 7th edition are now available from the Chaosium shop! These books all come with the PDF free. Chaosium’s Cthulhu Coloring Book will available for Christmas preorder later this year. Card Catalog HP Lovecraft’s Advice on Writing Golden Goblin Spotlight The official bookmarks for the Heroes of Red Hook Kickstarter supporters have arrived at the Goblin Lair! “We have a new updated cover, with all our our authors listed, for Heroes of Red Hook,” posted Oscar Rios. Topics First, we review derived stats: Damage Bonus, Build, Hit Points, Movement Rate and Aging. We also talk about alternative ways to determine characteristics, including: starting over from scratch, modifying low rolls, rolling values and then placing them where you want them, point buying, and Sandy Petersen’s “quick fire” method. We also talk about all the different kinds of Batman. Finally, we delve into some of the traditional occupations from Lovecraft’s fiction, including Antiquarian, Author, Dilettante, Doctor Of Medicine, Journalist, Librarian, Police Detective and Professor. By the way, the only additions and subtractions in the whole occupation list from 6th Edition to 7th Edition are Librarian (new to 7th Edition) and Spokesperson (dropped in 7th Edition). There is also the story of Chad’s first reaction to seeing a room with people sleeping with CPAP machines. Discuss this episode on the Campus Forums.]]>

In episode 107, Jon, Chad and Dan are joined by Brian Sammons to talk about some upcoming book projects he’s involved in, as well as Dan’s GenCon 2016 recap. This episode was recorded on August 15th, 2016. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/2/communities/116018663909122117898 By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Become a Patron! (please): mu-podcast.com/patron   Campus Crier Herald: Lovecraft and Tesla RPG (for Savage Worlds) Punktown updates Backers of The Things We Leave Behind – from Stygian Fox – have been sent a final chance (via Kickstarter message) to let us know of any changes to the mailing address or email. If this is you, then let them know asap! The Cthulhu Wars: Kenneth Hite & Kennon Bauman, Darren Tan (art) Amazon link Jon reminds us to visit used book stores! Card Catalog From Graham (forum post dated Jul 29, 2016): A trio of websites covering the many Merchant Ships (Freight/Passenger) built under the United States War Emergency Shipbuilding Program in WWI. Steel Shipbuilding under the U. S. Shipping Board, 1917-1921 by Norman L. McKellar The Hog Islanders by Daniel H. Jones The Ferris wooden cargo ships of World War I by Jan Henri Cocatre-Zilgien Feedback: Canageek shares a tip regarding a great resource, The great detectives of old time radio. Jaymz Clemens left us a really fun liner that mentions the Mysterious Universe Podcast. Golden Goblin Spotlight Heroes of Red Hook- Formal layout for this project is complete! Ian MacLean is working on our interior art, and while progress is good, it will take time to draw eighteen quality interior illustrations. As the illustrations are completed they’ll be dropped into the first page of each story, depicting a scene from early in that story’s narrative (so there won’t be any spoilers) Another item that might be of interest, we decided quite last minute to add a little extra content to the book. At the end of each story is now listed a From The Author note, where each author talks a little bit about the story they’ve written (their inspiration, the history behind it, their process, etc…). I’d like to thank the authors for agreeing to share their thoughts with us, and for getting these back to us as quickly as they did. We hope you’ll enjoy this addition to the manuscript.       Tales of the Caribbean First off, interior art is now 100% complete and in house. LAYOUT HAS BEGUN! Lisa Padol is making great progress on setting these scenarios up for layout and emailing them to Mark Shireman. Mark has just completed laying out a fiction project for us as well, so momentum is high. Currently two of the seven scenarios are in layout, with a third being sent to him later today. What makes this truly amazing is that this is the VERY FIRST TIME this project is ahead of schedule. Jon points out the availability of Legends of New Orleans- PDF extra for Tales of the Crescent City Topics Brian’s book project- Dark Regions Press soon to participate in group IndieGoGo “Grab-Bag” campaign, including the two that Brian edited- Return of the Old Ones: Apocalyptic Lovecraftian Horror The Children of Gla’aki: A Tribute to Ramsey Campbell’s Great Old One The campaign will also include You, Human: An Anthology of Dark Science Fiction Edited by Michael Bailey The IndieGoGo campaign will launch on August 23rd.   Dan’s GenCon recap Chaosium: All CoC books in hardcover, full color All books will come with PDF codes Tales of Sandy Peterson For the curious, the young woman on the right of the show notes image is Grace, Dan’s friend that was mentioned in the show. Discuss on the Campus Forum]]>

This is a recording of Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu panel held at GenCon 2016 on August 12.         We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/2/communities/116018663909122117898 By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Become a Patron! (please): mu-podcast.com/patron  ]]>

This is a recording of the ‘What’s happening at Chaosium’ panel held at GenCon 2016 on August 11.         We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/2/communities/116018663909122117898 By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Become a Patron! (please): mu-podcast.com/patron  ]]>

In this week’s episode, the whole gang is on tap to cover the last of the characteristics. LUCK be a lady? Don’t mind if I EDU! Is there and APP for that? This episode was recorded on July 25th, 2016. We want to hear from you! By email: [email protected] By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/2/communities/116018663909122117898 By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Become a Patron! (please): mu-podcast.com/patron Campus Crier Necronomicon 2017 has been announced! Dates: August 17-20. Legendary TV has been working on an anthology series based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, including “The Call of Cthulhu”, “The Dunwich Horror”, and others. Stranger Things – the Netflix series everyone is talking about, is a thing! Keepers Jon and Murph approve. Keeper Jon says: “Stephen Spielberg meets H. P. Lovecraft (though many say “meets Stephen King”) Best Lovecraftian story on television… ever.” Mansions of Madness – 2nd Edition – is out from Fantasy Flight Games. Now the game is run by an app, there is no “Keeper” player, and it is a fully co-op game. Blah… Where’s the fun without a Keeper? Viewscream 2nd ed. From Rafael Chandler has been delivered. Jon’s Lost Expedition has been released to backers in PDF format! Puppetland – the proto-indie game by John Scott Tynes of that combines Mr. Rogers with House of 1000 Corpses – is now publicly available in PDF form. Hardcover is printing. Lovecraft Film Festival is slated to get underway in Providence this Aug. 19 to 21. Check out these musings from the desk of the Lovecraft Arts & Sciences Council regarding the HPL statue in Providence… More information >> Card Catalog From Graham: Pulp Magazines Project, described as an open database of Pulp Magazines devoted to those that carried only fictional works. Feedback: Bill from Niagara Falls, Ontario calls to talk about splitting parties (send NPCs to do the boring bits). Canageek of the Suppressed Transmissions G+ group (which, again, we love) asks about gaming in the 1960s and Renaissance eras, among other things. Golden Goblin Spotlight The Heroes of Red Hook Kickstarter has concluded! Eight stretch goals were unlocked. Congratulations to all involved! Topics The owls are not what they APPear. Without further EDU…. Are you feeling LUCKy, punk? Discuss on the Campus Forum]]>

In this episode, the whole crew is back to discuss why you should DEX the halls, why POW corrupts and why SIZ matters. We can’t wait to stop making puns about characteristics. This episode was recorded on July 11th, 2016. Campus Crier The Campus Crier is brought to you by our sponsor: Golden Goblin Press! The Section 46 Field Manual from Cubicle 7 is now available to backers of the Cold War Cthulhu Kickstarter. It’ll be available for general sale “in a few weeks.” This is basically a player’s manual for the espionage plus Mythos setting, which takes place in the madcap 1970s during a lot of upheaval in the global intelligence community. Section 46 is the fictional department within the British SIS used as cover for fighting the Mythos. Officially, it is a department for coordinating intelligence with other allied governments. Czech out the Section 46 post on YSDC Or just go to the Cold War Cthulhu Kickstarter page You put politics in my Mythos! Check out Chaosium’s Cthulhu for President RPG. We are so curious. Part 4 of A Time To Harvest comes out this week (7/15) Cassilda’s Song was named as finalist for the World Fantasy Awards Golden Goblin Spotlight: We are happy to share that the Heroes of Red Hook KS has reached its funding goal with a couple weeks to spare. Oscar posted an update that details what the stretch goals will entail, and the order they’ll be found in. Listener Feedback We have a voicemail left by what sounds like it could be “Vitterman?” “Ritterven?” “Slenderman?” “Hey, this is *Blah Blah* calling from a classroom way out west. Just wanted to say the Oscar interview was awesome and your guys’s recommendation when the Kickstarter went live is the reason I jumped in and I’m glad I did after listening to the interview so – Go Pods!” And another voicemail from Keeper George, with a question on how we would handle a situation in a published scenario. A scenario says to split the party. One will be more active than the other. Advice? Topics SIZ Advice from Keeper Jon: Don’t run, you’ll only die winded. In 7E it matters more than ever: affects Hit Points and Damage Bonus, plus Build and Movement Rate. POW Watch out for eyes appearing on your hands. DEX It’s the One Stat to Rule Them All. ]]>

For Episode 104, we have guest Oscar Rios! We take this opportunity to discuss his new Kickstarter project, Heroes of Red Hook, and some things that are yet to be announced. This episode was recorded on June 27th, 2016. Campus Crier The Campus Crier is brought to you by our sponsor: Golden Goblin Press! Did Google Earth Accidentally Photograph The Kraken Or Even Cthulhu? Howard Lovecraft and The Frozen Kingdom coming to Blu-ray Lynne Hardy to write new Call of Cthulhu campaign ‘Children of Fear’ Miss your copy of The Derelict? Chaosium didn’t participate in Free RPG day to create a collectable or scarce scenario only available to a small subset of our fans (we did it to show our support for bricks & mortar game stores all over the world!). But we appreciate that some people went to a FLGS on the day, only to find all the copies of Sandy Petersen’s ‘The Derelict’ had been snapped up. And many of you simply aren’t in an area with a participating local game store. So, if you really want a copy of Sandy and Mike’s ‘The Derelict’, this is what we can do: Everyone here in the Cult of Chaos got a free PDF download of ‘The Derelict’ on July 1st. If you also want the physical version, it is now available via Lulu.com at cost price – $2.99 + postage. Weird Detective – This is a five issue limited series. It is published by Dark Horse Comics; it’s written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Guiu Vilanova. I have the first issue, and it is freaking amazing. It is very well steeped in the Cthulhu Mythos! I want to talk more about it, but I don’t want to spoil anything. Trust me when I say that it doesn’t just lightly brush up against the Cthulhu Mythos… no, this series fully embraces it in a most fantastic way. It is Call of Cthulhu the role-playing game meets Law & Order. Chthonian Highways – This role-playing game is currently free to download from Drive-Thru RPG. I just downloaded this, and I’ve begun reading it. This is also freaking awesome! This game is Mad Max: The Road Warrior meets Call of Cthulhu! The players are all part of a road warrior gang with a small fleet of souped-up and armored-up cars as you brave the wastelands between pockets of civilizations in a post-apocalyptic world. The mechanics seem easy to learn and fun to play. I am already planning on starting a game of Chthonian Highways with some of my co-worker gamers. The company, Ironspine, is calling this an alpha playtest, so go download this free game… learn it… run it… and give ’em some feedback. I anticipate them getting a lot of positive responses. MUP News- As the weekly thing kinda blew up on the launch pad, I think that bi-weekly is the best way to continue on with 105 forward.   Topics The Heroes of Red Hook Kickstarter. In the talk about the origins of the Heroes of Red Hook, Oscar mentions the GGP party at NecronomiCon 2015. This was also mentioned in episode 88. We mention the Tales of the Caribbean project from GGP. Oscar briefly goes over a couple of upcoming projects, the next Call of Cthulhu campaign, and the next fiction anthology.   Discuss on the Campus Forums.]]>

This week, Keepers Dan, Jon and Chad INTerrogate and INTerpret our INTuitions about a certain INTeresting characteristic. Plus, like a wrecking ball through a tenement wall, we’re also continuing our look at lesser used skills and what they can bring to the game. This episode was recorded on June 13th, 2016. Campus Crier The Campus Crier is brought to you by our sponsor: Golden Goblin Press! Check out this trailer for Cyanide’s official Call of Cthulhu video game! Anouncing the successful end to the Kickstarter for Age of Cthulhu 9: The Lost Expedition – Funded at more than $15,000, which means lots of stretch goals were met. (Incidentally, Jon mentions a doppelganger plot in one of his scenarios that makes us ponder the timey-wimey mysteries of Jimmy Fallon and Nicholas Cage.) Feedback Jason King in Milwaukee sends an uplifting note about MU’s role in bringing him back to the gaming table. Messages like this give us feels. Topics Character Creation: Intelligence This week, we’re covering the Intelligence characteristic – what it means, its various roles in the game and what happens when you fail an INT check. Forgotten Skills: Operate Heavy Machinery Moving ahead with our series on lesser-used skills in Call of Cthulhu, we talk about the infamous Operate Heavy Machinery skill. Is it too broad? Does it come up in the game? And a call to listeners: do you have any horrific industrial accident stories to share? Let’s add to the folklore of pain and dismemberment, shall we? Along the way, we mention this 1982 article from Sandy Peterson that mentions the Operate Heavy Machinery skill and how it shows a bias toward academic-minded players in Call of Cthulhu. (The rest of the article is a great read, too.)   Discuss on the Campus Forums.]]>

Episode 102 has Keepers Chad and Murf (AKA Frick and Frack) continuing our conversation about the Statistic Rolls in Call of Cthulhu Player Character generation. This time they hit on Constitution, and then they go into the not-very-often used Swim skill. This episode was recorded on June 6th, 2016. Campus Crier The Campus Crier is brought to you by our sponsor: Golden Goblin Press! Fred Lubnow has released the next Kickstarter of his Journal of Lovecraftian Science vol. 2 Call of Cthulhu won Best RPG at the 2016 UK Games Expo!     Topics Character Creation: Constitution This week, we’re covering the Constitution characteristic – what it means, its various roles in the game and what happens when you fail a CON check. Forgotten Skills: Swim Moving ahead with our series on lesser-used skills in Call of Cthulhu, we talk about Swim. During the chat, there was an unexpected third chair, in that Max called up Chad on Skype, and so they brought him into the show. Discuss on the Campus Forum          ]]>

Friend of the show and MUP Sponsor, Oscar Rios and Golden Goblin Press have released the companies first Kickstarter for a fiction anthology. Previously, the fiction books released were as support products to game books that the company has released. This time though, it’s all about the stories. And this is looking like quite the collection. Containing an expected 17-18 stories this is expected to be roughly twice the size of the prior two anthologies they put out, Tales of Cthulhu Invictus and Dread Shadows in Paradise. Both of which are also available as add-on items in this campaign. Like the other GGP anthologies, this is edited by Brian Sammons, no stranger to Mythos fans or listeners to this podcast. Anyone who knows Oscar knows that this is a passion project for him. He, like many fans of Lovecraft, deal with the conflicting drives of the amazing story content, and the man’s deplorable and misguided racist views. That’s why this book is here, to represent characters doing their part against the Mythos who are not the average white male protagonist. This is “a collection of jazz era cosmic horror short stories featuring immigrant, minority, female, LGBT, and other outsider protagonists.”, and it’s long overdue.        ]]>

This week, Keepers Dan, Murf and Chad test their Might on the Bend Bars/Lift Gates chart to see if they have to muscle to pull off this episode. We also begin our look at lesser used skills and what they can bring to the game, starting with Accounting. We also have a fun time when Dan shares his one complaint about 7e and apparently blows Chad and Murf’s minds. This episode was recorded on May 30th, 2016. Campus Crier The Campus Crier is brought to you by our sponsor: Golden Goblin Press! Convicts Have Broken Loose at Cthulhu Reborn! Convicts & Cthulhu, the Australia as a penal colony source book has just been released for download via RPGNow. This is a huge 96 page volume that gives Keepers all they need to bring their players to a setting not addressed in Call of Cthulhu before! Bundle of Holding had a Pulp Adventure bundle. Apologies for the delay in the episode, resulting in this bundle already being finished. Cover artist for the upcoming Golden Goblin title, Heroes of Red Hook, Ian MacLean, mentioned that the image we had of the cover was a little off on the color spectrum. He sent in a more accurate version of what he created for the book.             Topics Character Creation: Strength This week, we’re covering the Strength characteristic – what it means, its various roles in the game and what happens when you fail a STR check. Forgotten Skills: Accounting Moving ahead with our series on lesser-used skills in Call of Cthulhu, we talk about how to apply Accounting In the conversation, Chad brings up the long running radio show, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. A program about the adventures of “the man with the action-packed expense account, America’s fabulous freelance insurance investigator, Johnny Dollar” Discuss on the Campus Forum]]>

Episode 100 has finally arrived! In this episode we have Call of Cthulhu Line Lead for Chaosium, Mike Mason. We talk about all the great new stuff that has been coming out, from 7th Edition reaching doorsteps around the world, to Pulp Cthulhu blowing up the digital venues. This episode was recorded on May 22, 2016.   Campus Crier The Campus Crier is brought to you by our new sponsor: Golden Goblin Press! 7th Edition backers have gotten access to the Pulp Cthulhu PDF! We cover both of these huge release with Mike in the main topic. There are about two weeks left at the time of recording for the Kickstarter for Age of Cthulhu 9: The Lost Expedition. Two stretch goals have been cleared: Backers will receive a special PDF booklet with guidelines for running The Lost Expedition with the upcoming Pulp Cthulhu rules from Chaosium. Plus they’ll receive a PDF with DCC stats for 10 Cthulhu mythos creatures. The very first round of delivery for World War Cthulhu Cold War is complete backers have received a copy of the core setting book in PDF.   In other news, The Miskatonic University Podcast celebrates its 100th episode, just 4 years after the show launched in March, 2012. Congratulations, Pods! And to mark the beginning of a new chapter in the show, we’re making a few minor changes to our program. For one thing, we’re going to try going to a weekly schedule. The plan is to make the shows shorter, around an hour long, but densely packed with news and topics. Yes, and speaking of topics, we’re going to need your help. A weekly schedule means we’ll burn through a lot of ideas fast. Please help us out, MU-Nation – and suggest scads of topics for us to tackle. We’ve got some in the pipeline, but listener ideas always tend to be top shelf stuff. Golden Goblin Spotlight- Dread Shadows in Paradise, Digital Stretch Goal Release! The day has come to receive your very first reward for this Kickstarter, the digital version of the fiction collection Dread Shadows in Paradise! Available in PDF, ePub and Mobi   Cryptocurium Spotlight- The contents of the June Parcel of Terror Creepshow box have been revealed.   Feedback We play voicemails from the following community members- Doctor Bob, EddyPo, Gladius, and “Gary in Vermont” Thank you all for calling in your thoughts! Card Catalog- Graham- Hi Guys. Found this art blog which features a number of interesting drawings of Lovecraftian beasties. The image of an Elder Thing solving Rubik’s cubes is well worth seeing. http://kurt-komoda.blogspot.com.au/ This page may be Dan’s favorite Nightgaunt ever!   Topic 1 7th Edition – what’s it like to see this thing in print? How has response been? The Good Friends of Jackson Elias reveal the secret history of Call of Cthulhu 7th edition in episodes 78 and 79. A Time to Harvest How did you react to the geek and sundry articles about Chaosium and then announcing that Call of Cthulhu was the best RPG of all time?   Topic 2 Pulp Cthulhu – holy crap, it’s (kinda) finished!   Questions from listeners for Mike: Sean wants to know if Mike fanzine “The Whisperer” might ever be available for public consumption. Is there anything in 7e that came out of those writings? Badger wants to know about plans for re-releasing the old Lovecraft Country series, and what kind of changes or additions might be included?   Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum]]>

This Campus Crier Catchup has all four hosts on it! Why is it only a Crier then? Well, episode 100 is featuring Mike Mason, Line Editor for Call of Cthulhu at Chaosium, and scheduling everyone with such large time-zone gaps has been an issue. This episode was recorded on May 16, 2016.           Campus Crier Friend of the show Brian Sammons and his long-time partner and cohort Jamie Jenkins got married on this past Friday, May 13!               Joshua Hoffine Horror Photography Book on Kickstarter Two new outdoor images and player character info from Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game. Geek and Sundry asks- The Best RPG of All Time Is… Call of Cthulhu? Lovecraft Tales is an upcoming adventure game set in Lovecraftian universe From Beyond The Beyond- YouTube short film by Chris Lackey and Greig Johnson https://youtu.be/MUuJ9RSViZ4 Keeper Jon’s Age of Cthulhu 9: The Lost Expedition now live on Kickstarter! From Oscar Rios of Golden Goblin Press regarding Heroes of Red Hook- The book is now 65% filled, with seven stories accepted. Budget and stretch goals are set. More are coming in all the time too. We hope to have at least 50K in accepted stories before the Kickstarter launches. Stretch goals include bookmarks, b/w interior illustrations, and 4 original novellas. If all four novella stretch goals are unlocked they will be bundled into a whole new book, with an original cover by Ian MacLean. We expect to have the book written by the time the Kickstarter launches, and out before the holidays. So far we have… (in alphabetical order by author’s last name) Lords of Karma, by Glynn Owen Barrass Beyond the Black Arcade, by Ed Erlac Crossing the Line, by Tom Lynch A True Telling of the Terror that Came to Red Hook, by William Meikle A Gentleman of Darkness, by Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire The Guilt of Nikki Cotton, by Pete Rawlik Men and Women, by Oscar Rios The cover art is attached, and it’s by Ian McClean. We hope to have it mocked up as a rough cover soon, and to include an ad for it in the back of Dread Shadows in Paradise. I am hopefully that book (Dread Shadows…) will be released to backers of Tales of the Caribbean next week, and available for purchase to non-backers before the end of the month.           A Time to Harvest month two has been released from Chaosium for the Cult of Chaos members! World War Cthulhu- Cold War has started releasing PDF versions to Kickstarter backers. Ep 100 did get recorded on May 22, so expect that next weekend! Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum]]>

Episode 99 features Keepers Jon, Chad, and Dan this time. People all around the world are getting their 7th Edition books, and Jon opens his on the air! We also discuss contacts that Investigators can use in scenarios, both pre-established and made up on the fly. This episode was recorded on May 2, 2016.   Campus Crier The Campus Crier is brought to you by our new sponsor: Golden Goblin Press! Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition book sets are arriving to backers all over the world! Keeper Dan got his on Friday, and it’s an amazingly well crafted book set. Keeper Jon unboxes his on the air! During the unboxing, Jon mentions a post by MOB that shows a beautiful leather satchel being produced by Pegasus Speil in Germany. With the CoC 7e books included € 299.00 Just the bag by itself. € 199.00 Building a Lovecraftian Video Game with Frogwares’ The Sinking City Article from Geek & Sundry- Cthulhu Company Kickstarted Itself to Death, Then This Happened. “Issue 0” of the Arkham Gazette is available on DTRPG, now with update CoC 7e stats! More Sentinel Hill Press news: Mike Mason Q&A about A Time to Harvest   Golden Goblin Press Release! Our next RPG Kickstarter is slated to launch in early February 2017. It will be the company’s first campaign, seven scenarios set in 1932, with chapters in Arkham, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, the wilds of Hungary, and beyond. Entitled Children of the Black Stone (based on the classic story by R.E. Howard, The Black Stone). Authors attached to the project are Jeff Moeller, Dan Harms, Brian Sammons, Oscar Rios, and Adam Scott Glancy.   Cryptocurium Spotlight- The June Parcel of Terror will be the Creepshow box!   Topic – Use of investigator contacts. how to create them, use them, turn them against the player, etc. In both the 6e & 7e Investigator’s Handbooks, every profession has a list of common professional contacts. Contact rules are located in the 7e Keepers book, page 97 Social Security Administration Top names of the 1920s   Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum]]>

Episode 98 features Keepers Jon, Murf, and Dan. We talk about ideas for creating scenarios that are specifically modern in content or tone. This episode was recorded on April 18, 2016.   Campus Crier The Campus Crier is brought to you by our new sponsor: Golden Goblin Press! Golden Goblin Press Release! “We now have an independent fiction line, but remain committed to producing RPG’s. Our 1st independent fiction book is called Heroes of Red Hook, a collection celebrating diversity in the Cthulhu Mythos. Kickstarter launches June 20th, 2016”   Google Plus post by Michael O’Brien, Apr 16, 2016- Congratulations to our friends at Cubicle 7 who have received an Origins 2016 Awards nomination for Cthulhu Britannica, the “ultimate guide to running games of Call of Cthulhu set in London”!   “The Dunwich Horror” (1970) and “Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1971) — have been paired in a new Blu-ray release from Shout! Factory   Gibbous – A Cthulhu Adventure A comedy cosmic horror point and click adventure made in Transylvania. Lucas Arts style, Lovecraft horrors, general insanity!   Campaign Coins have released the Medallion of Ithaqua pulled from the pages of Horror on the Orient Express for only $30. Listener Feedback- Voicemail from Unknown- “Hello, Miska. Tonic university podcast. I don’t want you to lose your exciting providence area phone number, so I thought I’d leave you a voicemail. I enjoyed your episode recently discussing the shock appeal board, but I had a minor if not equipment, but a question. I know you don’t really want to go into spoilers, but I think it would have been helpful to discuss the origin of the Michael shay story that base as that story is pretty informative, and it’s been pretty heavily apologize so while it’s not everywhere most readers, specially the one who really wants to see the genesis of the shot record man wanted again to it. So that would be a suggestion or maybe talking about I can take it to scenarios with appear and courses that famous illustration with Mr. Shining, so I don’t spoil anything done and saying the name, but both would be you know maybe a little spoiler warning is good to have I’m running long so I let it go. go Todd”   Fat Face by Michael Shea (Kindle Edition) Mr Shiny image in question (I think) According to the info on the page, the Mr. Shiny image was a take on Sandy. Mr.Shiny Sculpt from a Kickstarter   Cryptocurium Spotlight- The May Edition of the Parcel of Terror has Nessie, who may in fact be Jack the Ripper! https://youtu.be/OlURaumkAA8     Topic – Idea from Mike Mason- Themes/topics/styles to use in modern day scenarios that aren’t specifically Delta Green. What sort of games would be cool for modern day.   Legs by Jim Phillips Free to download, play, and share!   I Survived the Zombie Apocalypse Guardian article on the show   The Lock-In, by Jon Hook In the book: Dead Leaves Fall   The Space Between, by Scott Dorward In the book: Nameless Horrors Discuss this episode on the Campus Forum]]>