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In episode 54, the full MU crew meets up once again to revisit the topic of cults and how best to use them in horror gaming. Plus, a new Bestiary segment to chat about the not-so-sparkly Star Vampires from one of Robert Bloch’s early stories, a history lecture about cargo cults in Melanesia, and more!
Campus Crier
- This portion of the show was recorded on April 20, 2014, while the rest of the episode was recorded on April 6th.
- Go Pods, Go Go! We are preparing for the MUP IndieGoGo campaign to raise funds for GenCon, equipment and website upgrades. The campaign will run from May 1 through May 31. Perks include original scenarios, new audio content, items from Joe Broers and Cryptocurium, and exclusive games at GenCon!
- There’s a Kickstarter underway for a Lovecraftian mode of Fate Accelerated — Arkham Fate Accelerated Companion for Lovecraft and Cthulhu.
- The Eldritch Cases: Dagon – A point-and-click lovecraftian horror adventure game, stories like Dagon, Shadow over Innsmouth and Herbert West, The Reanimator — and also draws from the Illuminatus trilogy — the music and visuals are creepy, the story is sort of a tossed salad of Lovecraft references to be honest, but it shows promise.
- Lovecraft’s Monsters, a reprint anthology book of stories focused on Cthulhu and Shoggoths and some other classic HPL fiends. Work by Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Karl Edward Wagner, Elizabeth Bear, and Nick Mamatas. The monsters are illustrated by John Coulhart, who draws lovely atmospheric pieces.
Card Catalog
Summon Cthulhu to Your Tabletop Game With 20,000 Historic Free Maps! Adam Gauntlett shared the info that the New York Public Library has released more than 20,000 hi-res scanned maps to the Public Domain! Example — City of New Manhattan: proposed May 1911, revised May 1930, shows proposed extension of Manhattan into harbor south of the Battery. Also: Wharves & Piers on North River Chad also mentions a 1934 plan to pave over the Hudson River — sometimes great ideas for some reason just never come to pass.History Lecture
This week, Dr. Gerard pontificates once again for the MU History Lecture Series, this time on the topic of: Cargo CultsCryptocurium Spot
“With him he bore the subject of his visit, a grotesque, repulsive, and apparently very ancient stone statuette whose origin he was at a loss to determine.” – H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of CthulhuA smaller recreation of the alien statuettes described in H.P. Lovecraft’s classic tale, The Call of Cthulhu. One seized by Inspector Legrasse from the crazed swamp cultists of Louisiana and the other captured by Johansen from the frightful sea-raiders in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Each idol is available in two finishes: Ancient Granite and Celestial Soapstone. Both may be purchased separately or together as a set. Check them out right here.
Bestiary
This week, Star Vampires, Lesser Independent Race.
“The dim outlines of a presence came into view; the blood-filled outlines of the unseen shambler from the stars. It was red and dripping; an immensity of pulsing, moving jelly; a scarlet blob with myriad tentacular trunks that waved and wavered. There were suckers on the tips of the appendages, and these were opening and closing with ghoulish lust. . . . The thing was bloated and obscene; a headless, faceless, eyeless bulk with the ravenous maw and titanic talons of a star-born monster. The human blood on which it had fed revealed the hitherto invisible outlines of the feaster.” – Robert Bloch, “The Shambler from the Stars”(They’re outlined in the Malleus Monstorum on Page 88) In Update #74 on the Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Kickstarter, Mike Mason shows us some new creature art, including the Star Vampire!
