Paul of Cthulhu

A friend of mine (Hal) has got up and running an audio-based RPG web site RPGMP3.com. It all kind of started when I accidentally recorded part of a gaming session back in January 2003, and what is now known as 'BURPS Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil' has since become something of a minor legend (at least in these parts and as far as DCI is concerned).

While Hal is now collecting further resources and plans a more systematic archiving of various games for the web site, I recently tried another ad hoc recording with my current group playing 7th Sea. It's hilarious. I found it funny and sad at the same time. The entertaining audio just reminded me how many thousands of hours of gaming go unrecorded, unmentioned and forgotten.

With the advent of cheap digital recording, audio processing and MP3 storage it seems a pity not to record the odd game or two, if nothing else than to act as a kind of RPG audio scrapbook. Even after only a few days, playing back the tape brought back the nuances of the session I had begun to forget. It'll be worse in a year, five years, ten.

You may feel that your games are 'things of the moment' and best left that way - for me, I like to save things - if not all of them, at least a sample of them. OK, I may be a nostalgic old buffer, but those who know me, know exactly why.

The audio recording of the 'Haunted House' scenario has been quite popular (even the guys at Chaosium liked it), however I think it surprised a few people with its particular demenour. We knew we weren't going to get a proper atmosphere surrounded by 20 other people on a Sunday afternoon, so just played for light entertainment. A normal game of CoC? No, but most of the gaming elements are still there. :)

I've been told by Dustin that a Bungalow isn't the same thing in the US as it is in the UK (i.e. a one storey building) - so you can laugh at our genuine mis-interpretation.

Hal's threatened more recordings, this time with fewer technical hitches (blame it on Cthulhu).

Paul

That would be the 4th edition rules. While not a hardback, Call of Cthulhu 4th edition had the colour plates, the fold-out size chart and much of the flavour of the previous editions (re: skills increases and point allocations). I always carry a copy of it around in my games bag (sometimes softbacks do have their advantages).

So what? Well, the 4th edition may be my overall favourite but I still have a soft spot for the Games Workshop 2nd edition boxed set. (Yes my preference is boxed sets even over hardbacks, but hey, it's my Journal entry). The GW 2nd edition set was my first copy of the game. It was cheap I could afford it (in 1983), prior to that we used my rich school friend's imported US 1st edition copy. However, GW 2nd edition was mine.

While the boxed set was an odd shape (especially for Brits who use the A4 paper standard), it did allow me to carry around a world of stuff crammed into that space, including much of the material that's now in the Juvenilia section of YSDC. Of all the editions it was by far the most heavily used, even after GW 3rd edition hardback was released in 1986. Many good memories.

...and they all came flooding back yesterday.

Why? - because I walked into my local games store (Travelling Man, Leeds) and there sat on the 2nd hand shelf was a pristine copy of that 2nd edition set. When I say pristine I mean as in untouched, as new, all the plastic 'mud dies' present and unfilled. The paper looking as if it was printed only yesterday. Unbelievable after 21 years, all it was missing was the shrinkwrap. I bought it, took it home and compared it to my beloved battered old copy lying in the attic, what a difference. This new copy will replace the other that actually sits in my collection (which means I have a spare going), but after ploughing through the pages, I'm also tempted again to hawk my original copy around once again. The box is just so damn useful. Then again, my bag is full of strange (sometimes very strange) gaming junk already, so I'll see if better sense prevails.

Ahh well.

Speaking of new editions, I just saw that Brad Elliott of EOS Press has announced that the new edition of 'Creatures & Cultists' has gone to press. Huzzah! I'm looking forward to this re-issue for a number of reasons. Must now try and get an ETA out of him! :)

Paul

Cult War is the short name for one of my planned Call of Cthulhu scenarios. It's quicker to say than the full title which is:

The Horror that came to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantyssiliogogogoch

Told you so.

As you may have guessed (or Googled) it's based in Anglesey, and is a Classic era adventure with mysterious locals and rum goings-on. The outline for the plot came during a week's camping holiday there in 2002 with (the now) Mrs of Cthulhu. (You can tell the obsession when you go on holiday and plot ideas for your next Cthulhu game keep popping into your head.) Anyway, for lots of reasons (like this web site) I've yet to get round to properly writing up the umpteen pages of notes, or run the first draft by my players - but it's on the agenda.

One of the things I want to do with 'The Horror that came to Llanfairpwllgwyngy...' -> 'Cult War' is use it as a testing ground for some of my ideas on scenario presentation, such as:

Deluxe (wide) margins for a gloss and Keeper's own notes
Clear layout
Mind maps/flowcharts showing adventure connections and possible clue trails
Copious illustration
Index
Key coded page sections
Concise one/two page overview of the entire adventure for the Keeper
NPCs and potential tournament PCs printed in Byakhee format (also available as Byakhee files or similar)
Emergency pick list of extra names and places
Lots of player handouts and recommended resources
Calendar of the nominated year(s) of play (with moon phases)
Advice on tie-ins to other published adventures and support materials
A blatant advert for this web site
and so on...

(I didn't say they were good ideas)

The adventure is part one of a two-parter (I find trilogies tend to suffer from the "middle book" syndrome). The second part is also a British Isles piece, this time based in Shetland. i.e. there is an island community theme. What also inspired me recently was play testing the new edition of 'Shadows of Yog-Sothoth' and the great social dynamic that can happen in the Cannich chapter. A sufficiently well plotted and dynamic village setting can be a veritable microcosm and easily pull in a group of players almost regardless of the overarching plot. In essence - much fun to be had.

There is no pretense for these scenarios to reach the heady heights of award winning plot writing - they're designed for straight forward pulpish fun with a degree of spectacle, (yes I do like those tournament style scenarios) and as I said, are mainly a vehicle to play with ideas for better information delivery. Still, it will keep me entertained while writing it and hopefully playing it. The more I can reward the Keeper, the more chance the Keeper will want to keep running Call of Cthulhu for the group, and obviously that's something I'm all for.

End note:
Cult War is not a miss-spelling, and for the curious, Llanfair P-G roughly translates to: "St Mary's Church in the hollow of white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and St Tysilio’s church near the Red Cave"

- but we really know it's just part of a summoning ritual...don't we Mr. Stanford? :)

Well, today we reached 666 signed up members to Yog-Sothoth. So we're trundling along quite nicely. :D For some reason I find the word 'trundle' quite apt for this web site - a bit creaky at the edges, amateur (in the best sense I hope), full of enthusiasm while done on a shoestring.

Still trying to sort out the Arkham Horror/Chaosium/Skotos thing, but as developments arise I'll let people know. Richard is a very nice chap however and has promised something special for Yoggies in the next month or two.

CDA is now available! (in theory) - However one comment on the news item I just posted said that some distributors have had it for a few days? Ah well, it'll be a little while yet before it hits these beknighted shores anyway.

We plan a site 'upgrade' by Easter (with luck), not that much should appear to change but hopefully it will keep the content management system fairly current. We've always tried to keep the graphics fairly light as many people are still dial-up users (and I may be again one day) - the exceptions are the downloads which can be large - I understood people's comments about the size of David's A Handful of Dust scenario weighing in at a hefty 6.4MB, but that's often the price for a print resolution mid-sized scenario. Hopefully people only have to download it once.

David said that the other part of the 'Witch Cycle' - 'Devil's Children' should be ready for a final lookover in the next few days. I'm looking forward to seeing how it's turned out, especially to compare the final result to the original. No World Wide Web in 1992...

A gent on the Strange Aeons list did a naughty thing (innocently enough) and reposted the entire transcript of last Sunday's chat session to the SA list. A few comments arrived here in short order and I'm now assured that while copies of chat transcripts may be saved for people's personal use, they won't be published so publicly in the future. :)

As a result of the success of said chat session, I've found another use for our countdown timer (now that Cthulhu Dark Ages is officially launched) - to count down to the time of the next chat - saves confusion for all with respect to time zones across the planet. It may actually be useful.