Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Episode 48 returns to the roots of the show with the original three hosts (We didn’t get rid of Chad, he’s just out of town), and the standard side and main topics. We have some cool info in the Campus Crier including awards for Island of Ignorance, plus we take a trip to the Special Collections vault to take in a play. Then we wrap up with a chat about running games amid the chaos of a convention setting.

Campus Crier

Cthulhu’s Eldritch Knowledge– Crafthulhu LLC returns to Kickstarter with an exciting new campaign for all Arkham Horror & Eldritch Horror players. This includes accessories to organize your cards, dice, chips and other game accoutrements.

Diehard GameFAN has just posted the results for their 2013 Tabletop Gaming Awards, and Island of Ignorance: The Third Cthulhu Companion has won Best Adventure (Collection or Campaign)! Speaking of Golden Goblin Press, they have started their Kickstarter for Tales of the Crescent City! They’re already funded and now smoothly racing past the stretch goals. The next one at the moment is a complete rewrite of the classic adventure Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign by original author Kevin Ross! And, if that’s not awesome enough, our friend Matthew from episode 32 and his gaming group are participating in the book!

Lovecraft eZine is moving into print! Starting with issue 27, readers will be able to get the magazine in printed format, so I guess now it’s the Lovecraft ‘Zine without the e.

Bret Kramer is moving back the deadline for submissions for Arkham Gazette issue 2 to February 15, 2014. He needs submissions to keep the Gazette going, so if you have any ideas that fit into the theme for an issue, or anything else, just let him know. Even if your idea isn’t right for the current issue, it may be good for a future one.

 A potential film about Houdini with Lovecraftian elements has a screenwriter.

Black Sugar is an independent film about when a group of bored suburban teens experiment with a mysterious new drug, they are thrust into a nightmare world where hallucinations kill.

Sixtystone Press- Call for writers – 7e Cthulhu Organizations Book

Sponsor thank you to Hastur! We appreciate the help in keeping the show running.

Special Collections- The King in Yellow

Here is the Wikipedia article on the Chambers story. Tell Me, Have You Seen The Yellow Sign? The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers is public domain and free to read on Project Gutenberg.

The lovely Hotel Carcosa, ready to accommodate your functions. Make reservations now for meetings, weddings, or ritualistic sacrifices intended to summon dead gods to devour all life and return the earth to a blasted husk hurtling through the void of space. Here is the Wiki article.

The Yellow Sign is another film that uses the King in Yellow as a basis for its story. Here’s the very cool trailer.

 Here are the Tatters of the King scenario, and the audio game from Yog-Sothoth.com.

 Curse of the Yellow Sign, Act I: Digging for a Dead God

Curse of the Yellow Sign, Act II: Calling the King

Curse of the Yellow Sign, Act III: Archimedes 7

A Season in Carcosa by Joe S. Pulvers Sr.

Role Playing Public Radio games that have Carcosa an an element.

A Monograph from Chaosium with three Carcosa stories is Ripples From Carcosa. (Print)

 Cryptocurium

Cryptocurium’s new e-mail list has alerted fans of some new and limited edition items that have been available on the store site. There have been the Haunter of Chaos Idol, which had a limited number of pieces, and the Dagon Artifact, which was only available for 72 hours.

Now there is a limited run of Esoteric Order of Dagon Pint Glasses. This is a limited run of 25, so get over there now if you want one. If you want to be notified of the new items and deals coming out, the join the e-mail list and be ahead of the game on when these come up on the store.

Main Topic- Convention Gaming

Here are some aspects of con games to keep in mind-

Prepping:

Brevity- You have a limited time to get the complete story played. What is the main goal of the scenario, and what kind of memories do you want your players to take away from the game? Pregens- If you supply more character choices than the number of expected players, they have options to choose from, and the game will play dramatically different because you have a mix of players and protagonists. This is particularly nice if you run a game more than once at a given convention. Mood and Tone- Don’t expect a dark and horrific tone in a setting where you’re in a room with dozens to thousands of other people playing their own games. Just roll with the chaos, and make the game fun. This is where you turn up the pulp adventure dial and let it ride. Make the players at other tables wish they were in your game. Death and Sanity- Make sure there are uses of the Sanity rules in con games. This may be the first time someone has played this game, and you want to give a sample of the possibilities that Call of Cthulhu offers. Don’t be looking for a TPK because you can, but don’t  make things to easy either. Death and madness are part and parcel to Call of Cthulhu. Give a true example of the game, but make it the most fun example you can for the whole group. Killing someone early in the game can have them feeling cheated out of the story. Bring Dice- Seriously. Know your setting and rules- Don’t be surprised by players trying to explore a location mentioned as flavor. Be ready to improvise both setting information and make rules calls on the fly. It may be useful to let players know in advance you won’t slow down play with rules research. As GM, you’ll make a call and keep going. If you have a game that needs to take two or more slots at a con, then make sure you title them Part 1, Part 2, etc in case the description is not carried over to the print version of the convention guide. In most cases though, you should probably tailor the scenario to fit within a single block in a convention schedule. Games referenced in this segment: “The Last Stop” by  Badger McInnes. A Delta Green game that is apparently not available online. Here is the Cluethulhu game that Jon played in.

Here is The Iron Ghost, a game Jon ran.

The Lock In, a game by Jon where fat kids from Arkham high are going missing. Available in the Dead Leaves Fall Monograph from Chaosium in print and PDF.

No Man’s Land started as a convention tournament game.

Timeless Sands of India is Jon’s game from Goodman Games. (PDF)

Discuss this episode in the Campus Forum here. Yellow Sign art found here.]]>