Miskatonic University Podcast

This is a Live Play recording of the scenario Chariot of the Gods for the Alien RPG. It was a last second decision to have it recorded, but we had a lot of fun doing it. None of us, aside from the GM, had played much of the Alien RPG yet, and we all quite liked it in the end. This is the first of a two-part series. The second part will go up in a separate post. I hope everyone enjoys it!

Campus Crier The Campus Crier is where we keep all the mythos related news and info for the podcast, this episode was recorded on August 16, 2021. I want to personally congratulate each of the Alumni of the Storytelling Collective’s Write Your First Adventure Workshop last month. The market has been flooded with over 50+ titles on the MR, Chaosium’s Community Creator Content hub. Ya’ll, I’m so proud of each and every one of you. These scenarios look amazing, the cover arts are BOSS, the Miskatonic Repository Creator’s Circle is buzzing, you’re being featured in Chaosium newsletters, and you’re making your first sales. I’m just– I’m just so proud of you guys. Congrats! Head over to the Miskatonic Repository and make someone’s day by checking out their newest creations!  Annnd speaking of the Miskatonic Repository, Miskatonic Repository Con GM Signups just opened up! This virtual con will be hosted October 15th – October 17th. We have 3 awesome panels and over 16 events already submitted! So, come play some 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu with us! A link to the TTE will be in the show notes… and you can email MisktatonicRepositoryCon@gmail.com to get in touch!  Innsmouth The Missing Child: A Gamebook is a choose your own adventure styled solo game book where you are an investigator brought in to find the whereabouts of a missing child amongst the odd and terrible inhabitants of Innsmouth. It has funded with $23k of a $1300 goal and still has 23 days left at the time of recording. The art looks sparse, but that’s what I would expect from a product of this type. You can get a PDF for as little as $9 and a physical starting at $17. Overall it looks pretty neat, and I’m trying to not back it. Free League has another Kickstarter out for two new products in their Forbidden Lands line, this time a bestiary of sorts called Forbidden Lands: Book of Beasts and a campaign called The Blood March. As we have come to expect from Free League, the art on display is absolutely gorgeous. And this seems to be a no brainer for any fan of the weird fantasy setting. You can get a pdf of both books for $35 or either individual book in print for $35. If you want both in print it will cost you $69. The project has already funded with $285k of a $12k goal, and will have another three days left at the time of this release. Good friend of the show and proprietor of The Old Ways Podcast, Mike Diamond, has officially announced a third campaign for their excellent live play series, but this time with a twist! They are currently accepting GM pitches for a new campaign run by a new Storyteller. So if you have a campaign in mind and have it well thought out put in your submission at the link in the show notes. You can also find Mike on our own Discord, where he is a mod, or over at The Old Ones Discord, or you can just email him at theoldwayspodcast@gmail.com  And finally, it is with great sadness that we have to say a final goodbye to RPG Legend Steve Perrin, who passed away earlier this month. Goodbye Steve, safe travels. https://www.chaosium.com/blogvale-and-farewell-steve-perrin-1946-2021/ The Discord Plug We have our MUP Discord and we are all there! We invite all of our listeners to come and enjoy the community of horror gaming and cute pet pics. A big birthday shout out to Zelda, the pup of patreon backer, Al Smith, who if you’re lucky enough to get a seat at this table, she’ll probably make an appearance. Also, good luck to the kitties, Spaghetti and Meatball, who are currently in foster care with one of our awesome listeners.  MU Discord server invite link: https://discord.gg/vNjEv9D  And thank you beaucoup to Murph for editing this episode. Patreon Plug We have a Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! One new backer!  Brolin Graham Just a reminder, we’re offering Patreon Backers a sneak peek into future episode guests! Back us for an opportunity to ask your favorite creators in the TTRPG circuit your questions!  And you can also help out the show by buying some merch from our Teepublic store!  Thanks to our backers so much for supporting the show!! Recent Gaming Bridgett – Pale Rider Playtest 2 MepaCon Man’s Best Friend by Jazmin Ospa Main Topic We create a monster from scratch! This episode Keepers Murph and Jon catch up with Ruth Tillman as they discuss her Kickstarter, Snake People: A Post-Apocalyptic Story Game, and her contribution to Black Star Magic, a supplement for the Yellow King RPG. Campus Crier This episode was recorded on February 13th, 2020. Free League Publishing has announced their community content program over on DriveThruRPG! So fans can now upload scenarios for Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis: The Third Horizon, Forbidden Lands, and Symbaroum!  Pelgrane Press has released its version of the Yellow Sign into the Public Domain, allowing anyone to use it personally or commercially. You can get the Yellow Sign Image Pack, which has 17 different variations of The Sign from their website. The first episode of the Dead of Winter Live Play event with Mike Mason as GM is now up on Youtube for those of us that missed the livestream even on Twitch.  Modiphius Entertainment has announced another RPG this time based on the popular Dishonored video game series. The 300 page core book using the 2d20 system is slated to be released in Summer of 2020. Discord Invitation: https://discord.gg/vNjEv9D MUP Patreon If you haven’t heard yet, we have redesigned our Patreon and so far the feedback has been all positive! We are greatly appreciative of you, our listeners, and would ask that if you can please back us! Our next goal in funding will pay our worthy editors for their time! Also all backers, regardless of level will have access to the outtakes reel that we are going to put out on a special RSS feed from Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! We have some backers that we need to thank! Republic of Folk Thanks so much for backing us! And a special thanks to Professor Rondy Reeves, who is the Head of the Tobacco Studies and Smoking Department at Miskatonic University. Graham’s Card Catalog This week’s Card Catalog comes from Graham over on the #card-catalog channel on the Discord server! The Proper People is a YouTube channel that explores abandoned buildings and is filled with loads of creepy locations that GMs could use in their games. For the more tech savvy of you, you might be able to play particular clips of walking down hallways to your players to get them more involved. Listening Room This episode Mr. Tyler is back! This time to speak about his favorite Cannibalism Story! You don’t want to miss this one; download and listen to the episode now! Main Topic Keepers Jon and Murph catch up with Ruth Tillman to discuss her new Kickstarter, Snake People: A Post Apocalypse Story Game, and her adventure in the soon-to-be released Black Star Magic, for Pelgrane Press’ Yellow King RPG. Ruth is an amazing guest. Fans can keep up with Ruth on her website. Download the episode now!

Campus Crier The Campus Crier is where we keep all the mythos related news and info for the podcast, this episode was recorded on August 16, 2021. I want to personally congratulate each of the Alumni of the Storytelling Collective’s Write Your First Adventure Workshop last month. The market has been flooded with over 50+ titles on the MR, Chaosium’s Community Creator Content hub. Ya’ll, I’m so proud of each and every one of you. These scenarios look amazing, the cover arts are BOSS, the Miskatonic Repository Creator’s Circle is buzzing, you’re being featured in Chaosium newsletters, and you’re making your first sales. I’m just– I’m just so proud of you guys. Congrats! Head over to the Miskatonic Repository and make someone’s day by checking out their newest creations!  Annnd speaking of the Miskatonic Repository, Miskatonic Repository Con GM Signups just opened up! This virtual con will be hosted October 15th – October 17th. We have 3 awesome panels and over 16 events already submitted! So, come play some 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu with us! A link to the TTE will be in the show notes… and you can email MisktatonicRepositoryCon@gmail.com to get in touch!  Innsmouth The Missing Child: A Gamebook is a choose your own adventure styled solo game book where you are an investigator brought in to find the whereabouts of a missing child amongst the odd and terrible inhabitants of Innsmouth. It has funded with $23k of a $1300 goal and still has 23 days left at the time of recording. The art looks sparse, but that’s what I would expect from a product of this type. You can get a PDF for as little as $9 and a physical starting at $17. Overall it looks pretty neat, and I’m trying to not back it. Free League has another Kickstarter out for two new products in their Forbidden Lands line, this time a bestiary of sorts called Forbidden Lands: Book of Beasts and a campaign called The Blood March. As we have come to expect from Free League, the art on display is absolutely gorgeous. And this seems to be a no brainer for any fan of the weird fantasy setting. You can get a pdf of both books for $35 or either individual book in print for $35. If you want both in print it will cost you $69. The project has already funded with $285k of a $12k goal, and will have another three days left at the time of this release. Good friend of the show and proprietor of The Old Ways Podcast, Mike Diamond, has officially announced a third campaign for their excellent live play series, but this time with a twist! They are currently accepting GM pitches for a new campaign run by a new Storyteller. So if you have a campaign in mind and have it well thought out put in your submission at the link in the show notes. You can also find Mike on our own Discord, where he is a mod, or over at The Old Ones Discord, or you can just email him at theoldwayspodcast@gmail.com  And finally, it is with great sadness that we have to say a final goodbye to RPG Legend Steve Perrin, who passed away earlier this month. Goodbye Steve, safe travels. https://www.chaosium.com/blogvale-and-farewell-steve-perrin-1946-2021/ The Discord Plug We have our MUP Discord and we are all there! We invite all of our listeners to come and enjoy the community of horror gaming and cute pet pics. A big birthday shout out to Zelda, the pup of patreon backer, Al Smith, who if you’re lucky enough to get a seat at this table, she’ll probably make an appearance. Also, good luck to the kitties, Spaghetti and Meatball, who are currently in foster care with one of our awesome listeners.  MU Discord server invite link: https://discord.gg/vNjEv9D  And thank you beaucoup to Murph for editing this episode. Patreon Plug We have a Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! One new backer!  Brolin Graham Just a reminder, we’re offering Patreon Backers a sneak peek into future episode guests! Back us for an opportunity to ask your favorite creators in the TTRPG circuit your questions!  And you can also help out the show by buying some merch from our Teepublic store!  Thanks to our backers so much for supporting the show!! Recent Gaming Bridgett – Pale Rider Playtest 2 MepaCon Man’s Best Friend by Jazmin Ospa Main Topic We create a monster from scratch! In this episode Keepers Murph and Jon are joined by our Discord friend, Ambermancer to talk about using classic monsters in your Lovecraftian games. This episode was recorded on January 30th, 2020. Campus Crier Black Star Magic! Investigators in the Yellow King RPG, from Pelgrane Press, gain the use of mind-bending spells! Playtesting is set to begin soon on the new QuickShock Gumshoe supplement. The book is said to contain 144 spells and 4 scenarios.  Close friend of the show and all around awesome guy Jason McKittrick is bringing back the Cryptocurium Inner Sanctum after five long years of laying dormant. The new offering has a preview of what is included in the three different tiers, with more info coming out on the 31st. Right now they are priced at $100, $200, & $300 dollars. And they look amazing. Mike Mason is playtesting the new campaign from Tim Wiseman, Dead of Winter on Twitch.tv and then on YouTube starting on February 4th at 8pm. If you haven’t had a chance to watch Mike in action, then this is the spot to watch a great GM at work. “The Dead of Winter is an epic story of intrigue, love, and horror set in 1929 across London and Russia. The strange reappearance of people long gone from the investigators’ lives precedes the arrival of two curious letters, both asking for help from unexpected sources. The investigators are drawn into a series of events taking them far from home and into the unfamiliar and potentially dangerous landscape of Soviet Russia where friends may be enemies and enemies might be friends.” Speaking of the Chaosium YouTube channel, Mike Mason has been doing some interviews there the latest is with friends of the show and a good friends of mine, Christopher Smith Adair, Paul Fricker, and Brian Courtemanche! This month is New Gamemaster Month! If you know someone who would like to run a game, or perhaps you yourself would like to, then there are a number of resources at the links below to help you out! The NewGmaeMasterMonth website has a series of posts that help to start and plan out your first session and each post is specifically geared towards Numenera, Unknown Armies, Trail of Cthulhu, and 7th Sea. Monte Cook Games is releasing a horror game add-on for the new Cypher System RPG, called Stay Alive. You can pre-order the game now at their website for $44.95 and it ships in February. The art in this looks awesome, it’s Monte Cook Games written by Charles Ryan who has done writing for just about everything, and I’ve got a growing interest in the Cypher system so this looks pretty cool! And for your meat-space games there is a new Kickstarter offering a solution to the lack of space at the gaming table. The Level Up is a raised gaming platform for miniatures that provides a 24”x36” tiled base that is lifted 6 inches from the tabletop. This project has funded already with 28 days left as of recording. It’s a novel and useful idea to provide more space and sort of acts like a shield as well.  Call of Cthulhu – the story illustrated by French artist François Baranger, available from Free League Publishing. It is an amazing collectible that is a must-have for any fan of Lovecraft or Baranger. Discord Invitation: Please come join the community on the MUP Discord channels: https://discord.gg/vNjEv9D MUP Patreon If you haven’t heard yet, we have redesigned our Patreon and so far the feedback has been all positive! We are greatly appreciative of you, our listeners, and would ask that if you can please back us! Our next goal in funding will pay our worthy editors for their time! Also all backers, regardless of level will have access to the outtakes reel that we are going to put out on a special RSS feed from Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! Graham’s Card Catalog And in line with today’s topic, it’s Ask a Mortician! Ask a Mortician is a YouTube series that covers everything you could ever, (and maybe never), wanted to know about what happens to us after death. Aside from the purely practical information about embalming and body preparations, there is a lot of history covering death and strange murders that have involved funeral homes and funeral directors. Some of this stuff is ready made for a scenario!  Main Topic — Vampires, Zombies, and Ghosts… oh my! Listen to the episode to hear Keeper Jon, Keeper Murph, and Keeper Amber talk about the wide range of uses for vampires, ghosts, zombies, skeletons, werewolves, and mummies. Keeper Jon’s classic monster ideas: Ghosts – echoes of past lives that do not directly interact with the investigators, but the investigators need to observe and interpret the ghosts to gain certain clues. As seen in the Netflix series, The Haunting of Hill House. Vampires – the creature eats something other than blood, like salt, or emotions. A good example of a salt vampire can be seen in the classic Star Trek episode, The Man Trap. As for emotional vampires, it could be a coven of goth kids running a heron den. They feed other kids the drugs, and they “drink” the depression that flows out of them as they get high. Zombies – a perfect example was illustrated by Lovecraft in his story, Cool Air. In it, Dr. Munoz (dead 18 years) is an intelligent undead creature, not driven to consume human flesh, but to further his life and pursuit of science. Skeletons – they can be used as oracles and source of information, similar to the Library of Skulls in the classic Saturday morning TV show, Land of the Lost. Werewolf – bend this classic monster to become a Mythos creature; use the lycanthropy of a human so it transforms into a dimensional shambler. Mummy – long dead wizards with their spells written onto their wrappings. Also, since it was only a very few who were mummified, and their vital organs were removed and put into canopic jars, then they are immortal as long as at least one of their canopic jars is whole with its enclosed contents. Listen to the episode to hear Keeper Murph’s and Keeper Amber’s recommendations.

Campus Crier The Campus Crier is where we keep all the mythos related news and info for the podcast, this episode was recorded on August 16, 2021. I want to personally congratulate each of the Alumni of the Storytelling Collective’s Write Your First Adventure Workshop last month. The market has been flooded with over 50+ titles on the MR, Chaosium’s Community Creator Content hub. Ya’ll, I’m so proud of each and every one of you. These scenarios look amazing, the cover arts are BOSS, the Miskatonic Repository Creator’s Circle is buzzing, you’re being featured in Chaosium newsletters, and you’re making your first sales. I’m just– I’m just so proud of you guys. Congrats! Head over to the Miskatonic Repository and make someone’s day by checking out their newest creations!  Annnd speaking of the Miskatonic Repository, Miskatonic Repository Con GM Signups just opened up! This virtual con will be hosted October 15th – October 17th. We have 3 awesome panels and over 16 events already submitted! So, come play some 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu with us! A link to the TTE will be in the show notes… and you can email MisktatonicRepositoryCon@gmail.com to get in touch!  Innsmouth The Missing Child: A Gamebook is a choose your own adventure styled solo game book where you are an investigator brought in to find the whereabouts of a missing child amongst the odd and terrible inhabitants of Innsmouth. It has funded with $23k of a $1300 goal and still has 23 days left at the time of recording. The art looks sparse, but that’s what I would expect from a product of this type. You can get a PDF for as little as $9 and a physical starting at $17. Overall it looks pretty neat, and I’m trying to not back it. Free League has another Kickstarter out for two new products in their Forbidden Lands line, this time a bestiary of sorts called Forbidden Lands: Book of Beasts and a campaign called The Blood March. As we have come to expect from Free League, the art on display is absolutely gorgeous. And this seems to be a no brainer for any fan of the weird fantasy setting. You can get a pdf of both books for $35 or either individual book in print for $35. If you want both in print it will cost you $69. The project has already funded with $285k of a $12k goal, and will have another three days left at the time of this release. Good friend of the show and proprietor of The Old Ways Podcast, Mike Diamond, has officially announced a third campaign for their excellent live play series, but this time with a twist! They are currently accepting GM pitches for a new campaign run by a new Storyteller. So if you have a campaign in mind and have it well thought out put in your submission at the link in the show notes. You can also find Mike on our own Discord, where he is a mod, or over at The Old Ones Discord, or you can just email him at theoldwayspodcast@gmail.com  And finally, it is with great sadness that we have to say a final goodbye to RPG Legend Steve Perrin, who passed away earlier this month. Goodbye Steve, safe travels. https://www.chaosium.com/blogvale-and-farewell-steve-perrin-1946-2021/ The Discord Plug We have our MUP Discord and we are all there! We invite all of our listeners to come and enjoy the community of horror gaming and cute pet pics. A big birthday shout out to Zelda, the pup of patreon backer, Al Smith, who if you’re lucky enough to get a seat at this table, she’ll probably make an appearance. Also, good luck to the kitties, Spaghetti and Meatball, who are currently in foster care with one of our awesome listeners.  MU Discord server invite link: https://discord.gg/vNjEv9D  And thank you beaucoup to Murph for editing this episode. Patreon Plug We have a Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! One new backer!  Brolin Graham Just a reminder, we’re offering Patreon Backers a sneak peek into future episode guests! Back us for an opportunity to ask your favorite creators in the TTRPG circuit your questions!  And you can also help out the show by buying some merch from our Teepublic store!  Thanks to our backers so much for supporting the show!! Recent Gaming Bridgett – Pale Rider Playtest 2 MepaCon Man’s Best Friend by Jazmin Ospa Main Topic We create a monster from scratch! This episode Keepers Murph, Jon, & Dave talk about how you can scale encounters to fit your group of investigators. Campus Crier We received some exciting news from Chaosium today that a project, (believed to be dead) has risen from the depths! Cthulhu: Dark Ages 2nd Edition is coming! The new edition has been completely updated by Chad Bowser, Andi Newton, Mike Mason, & James Holloway to fit 7th Edition rules. There is a new optional Sanity mechanic to mirror the medieval mindset, rules for the oral tradition of storytelling, rules for mounted combat, spells, folk magic, a full bestiary, and a fully fleshed out Anglo-Saxon community of Totburh in England’s Severn Valley.  The book is 272 pages, 8.5×11 hardcover. The PDF will be released in February 2020, with the physical book coming out in May 2020; it will retail for $44.95! Aint Slayed Nobody is a new actual play podcast for the Down Darker Trails flavor of Call of Cthulhu.  Stygian Fox has released the PDF for the New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley 2ed for Call of Cthulhu, and is now available for sale on DriveThruRPG. Looks great from top to bottom, and the updated maps and design really do it service. And speaking of Stygian Fox, they have a pack available on Bundle of Holding currently. But more importantly, there is a little bit of insight into the company that is somewhat surprising that was included in the Bundle of Holding email that was sent out. Apparently Steve Turner from Britannia Game Design is “is administering the funds from this Bundle offer to help bring Stygian’s New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley and The Wild Hunt across the finish line.”  Discussed on YSDC. YSDC has started another podcast! Beyond the Vale has just one episode released as of this recording which features Paul Baldowski of Just Crunch Games about The Dee Sanction – a game of Covert Enochian Intelligence. They are releasing the show in two formats, The Outer World which is open to all, and The Inner World which is available only to YSDC Patrons. Casting the Runes – a Gumshoe investigations based on the ghost and suspense stories of MR James – is live on KickStarter  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/castingtherunes/casting-the-runes Mystery Adventure for 5e D&D is doing smoking hot on KickStarter Return to Dark Tower is ALSO live on KickStarter Patreon If you haven’t heard yet, we have redesigned our Patreon and so far the feedback has been all positive! We are greatly appreciative of you, our listeners, and would ask that if you can please back us! Our next goal in funding will pay our worthy editors for their time! Also all backers, regardless of level will have access to the outtakes reel that we are going to put out on a special RSS feed from Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! Main Topic — Mythos Mass Combat! Listen to the episode to hear Keepers Jon, Murph, and Dave discuss how to scale down battles with the Mythos in your tabletop roleplaying games.

Campus Crier The Campus Crier is where we keep all the mythos related news and info for the podcast, this episode was recorded on August 16, 2021. I want to personally congratulate each of the Alumni of the Storytelling Collective’s Write Your First Adventure Workshop last month. The market has been flooded with over 50+ titles on the MR, Chaosium’s Community Creator Content hub. Ya’ll, I’m so proud of each and every one of you. These scenarios look amazing, the cover arts are BOSS, the Miskatonic Repository Creator’s Circle is buzzing, you’re being featured in Chaosium newsletters, and you’re making your first sales. I’m just– I’m just so proud of you guys. Congrats! Head over to the Miskatonic Repository and make someone’s day by checking out their newest creations!  Annnd speaking of the Miskatonic Repository, Miskatonic Repository Con GM Signups just opened up! This virtual con will be hosted October 15th – October 17th. We have 3 awesome panels and over 16 events already submitted! So, come play some 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu with us! A link to the TTE will be in the show notes… and you can email MisktatonicRepositoryCon@gmail.com to get in touch!  Innsmouth The Missing Child: A Gamebook is a choose your own adventure styled solo game book where you are an investigator brought in to find the whereabouts of a missing child amongst the odd and terrible inhabitants of Innsmouth. It has funded with $23k of a $1300 goal and still has 23 days left at the time of recording. The art looks sparse, but that’s what I would expect from a product of this type. You can get a PDF for as little as $9 and a physical starting at $17. Overall it looks pretty neat, and I’m trying to not back it. Free League has another Kickstarter out for two new products in their Forbidden Lands line, this time a bestiary of sorts called Forbidden Lands: Book of Beasts and a campaign called The Blood March. As we have come to expect from Free League, the art on display is absolutely gorgeous. And this seems to be a no brainer for any fan of the weird fantasy setting. You can get a pdf of both books for $35 or either individual book in print for $35. If you want both in print it will cost you $69. The project has already funded with $285k of a $12k goal, and will have another three days left at the time of this release. Good friend of the show and proprietor of The Old Ways Podcast, Mike Diamond, has officially announced a third campaign for their excellent live play series, but this time with a twist! They are currently accepting GM pitches for a new campaign run by a new Storyteller. So if you have a campaign in mind and have it well thought out put in your submission at the link in the show notes. You can also find Mike on our own Discord, where he is a mod, or over at The Old Ones Discord, or you can just email him at theoldwayspodcast@gmail.com  And finally, it is with great sadness that we have to say a final goodbye to RPG Legend Steve Perrin, who passed away earlier this month. Goodbye Steve, safe travels. https://www.chaosium.com/blogvale-and-farewell-steve-perrin-1946-2021/ The Discord Plug We have our MUP Discord and we are all there! We invite all of our listeners to come and enjoy the community of horror gaming and cute pet pics. A big birthday shout out to Zelda, the pup of patreon backer, Al Smith, who if you’re lucky enough to get a seat at this table, she’ll probably make an appearance. Also, good luck to the kitties, Spaghetti and Meatball, who are currently in foster care with one of our awesome listeners.  MU Discord server invite link: https://discord.gg/vNjEv9D  And thank you beaucoup to Murph for editing this episode. Patreon Plug We have a Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! One new backer!  Brolin Graham Just a reminder, we’re offering Patreon Backers a sneak peek into future episode guests! Back us for an opportunity to ask your favorite creators in the TTRPG circuit your questions!  And you can also help out the show by buying some merch from our Teepublic store!  Thanks to our backers so much for supporting the show!! Recent Gaming Bridgett – Pale Rider Playtest 2 MepaCon Man’s Best Friend by Jazmin Ospa Main Topic We create a monster from scratch! In this episode, Keepers Jon, Murph and special guest Dave Sokolowski talk about what makes modern horror modern. Campus Crier The recently funded Vaesen RPG has released some alpha material to backers that includes monster descriptions, plot hooks, a weakness, and a ritual, along with some new unpublished art! They have a cool section on “Horror, Mystery and Adventure” which delineates between different modes of play — it’s a cool way to clarify up front what the game will be like. In case you didn’t realize the guys who rebooted Sherlock for the BBC have a new reboot of Dracula that has been released on Netflix in the US. The entire three-episode series is available now. Also from the world of Kickstarter , backers for the Cthulhu 1968: Black Sun 28mm skirmish game have been given the full color PDF ruleset of the game according to their lastest post on the Kickstarter page. Roll20 has finally has added Call of Cthulhu to their popular online virtual tabletop system. The Call of Cthulhu Keeper Bundle sells for $54.95 and includes the Rules Compendium, 2 scenario modules Crimson Letters & Amidst the Ancient Trees, and a Character Art Pack. Inside are “over 30 NPCs and monsters, tables, macros, and pre-generated characters.” It looks like there is a new CoC character sheet to go along with all that as well. MU Discord server invite link MUP Patreon If you haven’t heard yet, we have redesigned our Patreon, and so far the feedback has been all positive! We are greatly appreciative of you, our listeners, and would ask that if you can please back us! Our next goal in funding will pay our worthy editors for their time! Also all backers, regardless of level will have access to the outtakes reel that we are going to put out on a special RSS feed from Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! Some of the backers that we need to mention this show are…. Christopher B. – Keep a lookout for a link to Jon’s scenarios on DriveThruRPG! Adam F. The Farquhar Graham’s Card Catalog This week we’re highlighting a YouTube channel that Graham put us onto a few weeks ago. HorrorBabble is a small UK audio production company that is doing horror story readings of Mythos tales and some other obscure short stories. Listening Room And in the Listening Room for the first show of 2020, we have the fifth installment of The Laura Logan Files. Modern Horror in Call of Cthulhu The Keepers contemplate… What makes horror “modern”? What is the difference between “modern” and “contemporary”? does it matter? what makes “good” modern horror? What are examples of good modern horror? (RPGs, movies, books) “bad” horror? It can’t just be about not getting a signal on your phone what are the best places and takes on modern gaming horror? worse? The Keepers discuss… There’s the new podcast of Whisperer in Darkness from the same folks who did the Case of Charles Dexter Ward was a quite good modern take on Lovecraft. What is game-able from this? New Delta Green keeps coming out  — the Labyrinth from John Scott Tynes just sent out final PDF — how has it morphed through the ages to keep up? Stygian Fox has two modern books out – what makes them award winning and good for modern horror? I think there’s a strong impulse of looking deeper into modern anxieties and mental health that have been examined before. Examples of Modern Horror in gaming and media: Silent Legions RPG Don’t Fuck with Cats West Marches style (RPG Game) The Ritual Movie The Autopsy of Jane Doe John Dies at the End Weird Detective

Campus Crier The Campus Crier is where we keep all the mythos related news and info for the podcast, this episode was recorded on August 16, 2021. I want to personally congratulate each of the Alumni of the Storytelling Collective’s Write Your First Adventure Workshop last month. The market has been flooded with over 50+ titles on the MR, Chaosium’s Community Creator Content hub. Ya’ll, I’m so proud of each and every one of you. These scenarios look amazing, the cover arts are BOSS, the Miskatonic Repository Creator’s Circle is buzzing, you’re being featured in Chaosium newsletters, and you’re making your first sales. I’m just– I’m just so proud of you guys. Congrats! Head over to the Miskatonic Repository and make someone’s day by checking out their newest creations!  Annnd speaking of the Miskatonic Repository, Miskatonic Repository Con GM Signups just opened up! This virtual con will be hosted October 15th – October 17th. We have 3 awesome panels and over 16 events already submitted! So, come play some 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu with us! A link to the TTE will be in the show notes… and you can email MisktatonicRepositoryCon@gmail.com to get in touch!  Innsmouth The Missing Child: A Gamebook is a choose your own adventure styled solo game book where you are an investigator brought in to find the whereabouts of a missing child amongst the odd and terrible inhabitants of Innsmouth. It has funded with $23k of a $1300 goal and still has 23 days left at the time of recording. The art looks sparse, but that’s what I would expect from a product of this type. You can get a PDF for as little as $9 and a physical starting at $17. Overall it looks pretty neat, and I’m trying to not back it. Free League has another Kickstarter out for two new products in their Forbidden Lands line, this time a bestiary of sorts called Forbidden Lands: Book of Beasts and a campaign called The Blood March. As we have come to expect from Free League, the art on display is absolutely gorgeous. And this seems to be a no brainer for any fan of the weird fantasy setting. You can get a pdf of both books for $35 or either individual book in print for $35. If you want both in print it will cost you $69. The project has already funded with $285k of a $12k goal, and will have another three days left at the time of this release. Good friend of the show and proprietor of The Old Ways Podcast, Mike Diamond, has officially announced a third campaign for their excellent live play series, but this time with a twist! They are currently accepting GM pitches for a new campaign run by a new Storyteller. So if you have a campaign in mind and have it well thought out put in your submission at the link in the show notes. You can also find Mike on our own Discord, where he is a mod, or over at The Old Ones Discord, or you can just email him at theoldwayspodcast@gmail.com  And finally, it is with great sadness that we have to say a final goodbye to RPG Legend Steve Perrin, who passed away earlier this month. Goodbye Steve, safe travels. https://www.chaosium.com/blogvale-and-farewell-steve-perrin-1946-2021/ The Discord Plug We have our MUP Discord and we are all there! We invite all of our listeners to come and enjoy the community of horror gaming and cute pet pics. A big birthday shout out to Zelda, the pup of patreon backer, Al Smith, who if you’re lucky enough to get a seat at this table, she’ll probably make an appearance. Also, good luck to the kitties, Spaghetti and Meatball, who are currently in foster care with one of our awesome listeners.  MU Discord server invite link: https://discord.gg/vNjEv9D  And thank you beaucoup to Murph for editing this episode. Patreon Plug We have a Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! One new backer!  Brolin Graham Just a reminder, we’re offering Patreon Backers a sneak peek into future episode guests! Back us for an opportunity to ask your favorite creators in the TTRPG circuit your questions!  And you can also help out the show by buying some merch from our Teepublic store!  Thanks to our backers so much for supporting the show!! Recent Gaming Bridgett – Pale Rider Playtest 2 MepaCon Man’s Best Friend by Jazmin Ospa Main Topic We create a monster from scratch! In the final episode of 2019, Keepers Jon, Dan, & Murph bid a fond and scathing farewell to Keeper Chad. Campus Crier The Campus Crier is Miskatonic U’s student paper. This is where we keep all the Mythos-related news and feedback to the podcast. This episode was recorded on December 16, 2019. Chaosium has released the fourth and last installment of their organised play campaign, Flotsam & Jetsam, for Call of Cthulhu. “On the Banks of the Ohio” has already been released to Cult of Chaos members on the BRP Central forums. Hunters Entertainment and Paradox Interactive has teamed up for Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition. They are hoping for a 2021 release and the project will be marketed and distributed by Renegade Games. Alien the Roleplaying Game is officially out! It looks amazing. It’s definitely worth checking out. The Fall semester at Taylor University came to a close today, and Refractions of Glasston is now available to download for free at the Miskatonic Repository, Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu community content resource at DriveThruRPG. Refractions of Glasston is the result of a creative collaboration between the Professional Writing department at Taylor University, Upland IN and Chaosium Inc. The creators are all students at Taylor University. Though many of the team are members of the professional writing major, this is their first foray into the world of RPG writing. With help and advice provided by Chaosium’s Mike Mason and Lynne Hardy, these writers, editors, and RPG enthusiasts set out to create a unique adventure for Call of Cthulhu fans to enjoy.  Dead Light is back, with two “unsettling” encounters on the road…DEAD LIGHT AND OTHER DARK TURNS contains two scenarios dealing with the theme of roadside adventure, along with six story seeds for the Keeper to expand and develop.  In the classic ‘Dead Light’ scenario, now revised, a chance encounter with a distressed young woman leads the investigators into the hideous aftermath of a crime gone terribly wrong. While in the brand-new ‘Saturnine Chalice’ scenario, seeking help from a nearby homeowner after their vehicle runs out of gas traps the investigators in a house where nothing is quite what it seems. Available in PDF now from Chaosium.com, with print to follow (buy the PDF direct and get the full price of the PDF off the print version when it is released) From Arc Dream Publishing: Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now available in PDF. If you’re a Kickstarter backer, log in to your account and download your copy. If you missed the Kickstarter you can either purchase the PDF from DriveThruRPG or pre-order the hardback and receive the PDF now for free. They anticipate hardbacks to begin shipping to customers some time in January. There’s a link in the show notes to a whole newsletter with other news from Arc Dream.  Nine episodes of the The Whisperer in Darkness program on BBC are available, with Episode nine having dropped on Dec. 16.  And lastly, the Yellow King RPG which was kickstarted by Pelgrane Press is finally in the hands of backers. This new version of the Gumshoe system is called the QuickShock Gumshoe, and it looks amazing! Look for this game too. (Chad) MU Discord server invite link Patreon Plug If you haven’t heard yet, we have redesigned our Patreon and so far the feedback has been all positive! We are greatly appreciative of you, our listeners, and would ask that if you can please back us! Our next goal in funding will pay our worthy editors for their time! Also all backers, regardless of level will have access to the outtakes reel that we are going to put out on a special RSS feed from Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! End of an era as we say good-bye to Keeper Chad! Keepers Dan, Murph, and Jon say good-bye to their friend Keeper Chad as he moves on to dedicate more time to his writing. In addition, the Keepers field questions sent in by the listeners. A couple of fans even sent in audio clips to say farewell.

Campus Crier The Campus Crier is where we keep all the mythos related news and info for the podcast, this episode was recorded on August 16, 2021. I want to personally congratulate each of the Alumni of the Storytelling Collective’s Write Your First Adventure Workshop last month. The market has been flooded with over 50+ titles on the MR, Chaosium’s Community Creator Content hub. Ya’ll, I’m so proud of each and every one of you. These scenarios look amazing, the cover arts are BOSS, the Miskatonic Repository Creator’s Circle is buzzing, you’re being featured in Chaosium newsletters, and you’re making your first sales. I’m just– I’m just so proud of you guys. Congrats! Head over to the Miskatonic Repository and make someone’s day by checking out their newest creations!  Annnd speaking of the Miskatonic Repository, Miskatonic Repository Con GM Signups just opened up! This virtual con will be hosted October 15th – October 17th. We have 3 awesome panels and over 16 events already submitted! So, come play some 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu with us! A link to the TTE will be in the show notes… and you can email MisktatonicRepositoryCon@gmail.com to get in touch!  Innsmouth The Missing Child: A Gamebook is a choose your own adventure styled solo game book where you are an investigator brought in to find the whereabouts of a missing child amongst the odd and terrible inhabitants of Innsmouth. It has funded with $23k of a $1300 goal and still has 23 days left at the time of recording. The art looks sparse, but that’s what I would expect from a product of this type. You can get a PDF for as little as $9 and a physical starting at $17. Overall it looks pretty neat, and I’m trying to not back it. Free League has another Kickstarter out for two new products in their Forbidden Lands line, this time a bestiary of sorts called Forbidden Lands: Book of Beasts and a campaign called The Blood March. As we have come to expect from Free League, the art on display is absolutely gorgeous. And this seems to be a no brainer for any fan of the weird fantasy setting. You can get a pdf of both books for $35 or either individual book in print for $35. If you want both in print it will cost you $69. The project has already funded with $285k of a $12k goal, and will have another three days left at the time of this release. Good friend of the show and proprietor of The Old Ways Podcast, Mike Diamond, has officially announced a third campaign for their excellent live play series, but this time with a twist! They are currently accepting GM pitches for a new campaign run by a new Storyteller. So if you have a campaign in mind and have it well thought out put in your submission at the link in the show notes. You can also find Mike on our own Discord, where he is a mod, or over at The Old Ones Discord, or you can just email him at theoldwayspodcast@gmail.com  And finally, it is with great sadness that we have to say a final goodbye to RPG Legend Steve Perrin, who passed away earlier this month. Goodbye Steve, safe travels. https://www.chaosium.com/blogvale-and-farewell-steve-perrin-1946-2021/ The Discord Plug We have our MUP Discord and we are all there! We invite all of our listeners to come and enjoy the community of horror gaming and cute pet pics. A big birthday shout out to Zelda, the pup of patreon backer, Al Smith, who if you’re lucky enough to get a seat at this table, she’ll probably make an appearance. Also, good luck to the kitties, Spaghetti and Meatball, who are currently in foster care with one of our awesome listeners.  MU Discord server invite link: https://discord.gg/vNjEv9D  And thank you beaucoup to Murph for editing this episode. Patreon Plug We have a Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! One new backer!  Brolin Graham Just a reminder, we’re offering Patreon Backers a sneak peek into future episode guests! Back us for an opportunity to ask your favorite creators in the TTRPG circuit your questions!  And you can also help out the show by buying some merch from our Teepublic store!  Thanks to our backers so much for supporting the show!! Recent Gaming Bridgett – Pale Rider Playtest 2 MepaCon Man’s Best Friend by Jazmin Ospa Main Topic We create a monster from scratch! Campus Crier The Campus Crier is Miskatonic U’s student paper. This is where we keep all the Mythos-related news and feedback to the podcast. Golden Goblin Press has posted a few updates. For the recently completed Lovecraft Country Holiday Collection, Oscar just wrapped up the rewrite for Christmas in Kingsport (…so topical, right?). It’s currently clocking in at more than 28,000 words, but that’ll be streamlined in edits. He also posted a picture of the open manuscript for Britannia and Beyond, which is part of the Invictus line. He’s reading it now. And all maps and interior art are in house for An Inner Darkness.  Noah Lloyd of the Reckoning of the Dead website has released a scenario for the Miskatonic Repository on DriveThru RPG. It’s called A Lark in a Cage, it’s for the Gaslight era set in London in 1895. “A family discovers that their child has been replaced by . . . something else. When the investigators take the case, they find themselves on a tour across the soot-choked streets of East London, revealing new threats to the city, wicked enemies, and even wickeder allies as they race against the clock to save the child.” I got to playtest it, and it’s a solid atmospheric and haunting scenario that’ll make you think. The 5th issue of Blasphemous Tomes from our pals at The Good Friends of Jackson Elias is hitting the press. This is the print-only fanzine that we create for Patreon backers of The Good Friends podcast. It contains articles about RPGs, horror films and weird fiction, not to mention plenty of sanity-blasting artwork and original content for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game.  Everyone backing them via Patreon by the end of December 2019 will receive at least one copy of the Tome. Some news from Chaosium this week! Chaosium will be developing a brand new RPG based on the Rivers of London series of urban fantasy novels by Ben Aaronovitch. The game is set to bring in the unique feel of the novels and its special department of the MET along with gods of the rivers, strange mythical beings and ghosts all set in a modern day London.  Lynne Hardy will be the project lead for the development which is set to use a modified version of the BRP system to account for the series’ use of Newtonian Magic and odd beasties.  Fresh from the Unexpected News Desk, Chaosium confirms they are creating a Basic Roleplaying ruleset to be released as an OGL SRD. There are a few catches, however, mainly that games created with the SRD can’t use the Cthulhu Mythos or be used to re-create Pendragon or, presumably, any of their other properties. We have a link to the original thread on the BRP forums where Jeff Richard confirms the information in the show notes. MU Discord server invite link https://discord.gg/vNjEv9D And thank you beaucoup to SEAN for editing this episode.  Patreon Plug If you haven’t heard yet, we have redesigned our Patreon and so far the feedback has been all positive! We are greatly appreciative of you, our listeners, and would ask that if you can please back us! Our next goal in funding will pay our worthy editors for their time! Also all backers, regardless of level will have access to the outtakes reel that we are going to put out on a special RSS feed from Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! Graham’s Card Catalog Graham spotted an obscure piece of California history in the form of a 1950s article on a short lived monorail that served an Epsom Salts mine between 1924 & 1926.  The article is preserved on the way back machine of Archive.org.  Just because it makes sense for today’s show topic, let’s highlight a blog post from Bret Kramer from 2015 that includes a downloadable list of all the Lovecraft Country scenarios to that point. He also talks about his favorite scenarios for each of the main settings.  Main Topic Kingsport — The City in the Mists  Kingsport is a fictional coastal town that’s featured in three of Lovecraft’s stories. The Terrible Old Man, The Festival and The Strange High House in the Mist. It’s mentioned in other stories. And other writers have used it as a setting. In Call of Cthulhu, Kevin Ross extrapolated a whole fleshed out setting and history for the town that is his own imagining. It’s important to keep in mind the distinction between Kevin Ross’s Kingsport, and a much more vague setting that’s open to interpretation and Ross’s details are not set in stone. It’s very well established from Lovecraft’s letters that he was inspired by Marblehead, Massachusetts, though he wrote the first Kingsport story before he even visited Marblehead. When he did visit the city he described a kind of ecstatic orgasm when he saw the town in 1922. “that instant — about 4:05 to 4:10 pm., Dec. 17, 1922 — [was] the most powerful single emotional climax during my nearly forty years of existence.”  “Efficiunt Daemones, ut quae non sunt, sic tamen quasi sint, conspicienda hominibus exhibeant “Lactantius “They make it, the devils, that the things which are not, so far, however as they perceive them to perform.” “Devils work so that things which are not appear to people as if they were real.” Ross’s Kingsport starts as a colonial farming and fishing village, and involves generations of Kingsport Cult shenanigans, culminating in 1722 with a Green Flame invocation from the Congregational Church and an armed mob running them out of town.    What do you like most about the setting?  What entices you to play or run games there?  What are the big themes or characteristics you see in Kingsport that are different than Arkham or other CoC settings? What are things you would like to see in Kingsport that would improve or expand on the setting to make it your own?  What Kingsport scenarios do you like?  Jon’s scenario — Malice Everlasting, by Oscar Rios (New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley — Miskatonic River Press — slated to be reprinted by Stygian Fox)  Chad’s: Shades of Tomorrow Lost from More Adventures in Arkham Country by Scott David Aniolowski.  Discord server invite link https://discord.gg/up4hRX

Back us on Patreon! We’ve made some long awaited changes to our Patreon page, which you can find here, and we humbly ask you to help us keep this show going forward! Keeper Murph will be adding Patron-only posts there, and Backers can look forward to an exclusive outtake reel of each episode. We can’t thank all of our listeners enough, backer or not, you listeners are the reason we keep going on! If you have any questions please email us at mup.feedback@gmail.com! Campus Crier HBO has released the “first look” trailer for their shows coming out in 2020. Included in this cornucopia of shows are some very brief snipits of Lovecraft Country, by Jordan Peele. A full trailer to advertise Lovecraft Country should be coming soon. The 2019 Delta Green Shotgun Scenario Contest is afoot! It does wrap up soon, on December 7th, so jump in now. Entries must be set in the Delta Green-verse, and be 1500 words or less. You can submit as many Shotgun Scenarios as you want. To submit an entry, there is a link in the show notes. Go there first so you can see all the specifications, and you’ll see the email address to send them to.  The folks at HPLHS have launched a new podcast, titled “Voluminous.” This is Andrew Lehman and Sean Branney’s endeavor, to read and discuss some of HP Lovecraft’s copious personal letters. The first few episodes have dropped, and cover Lovecraft letters to August Derleth, Robert H. Barlow, and…his mom.  There’s a new zine on Kickstarter that would cover a lot of the MUP topic wheelhouse. It’s called TPK, and it’s billed as “a new zine dedicated to exploring and celebrating horror, dark fantasy and the Old School Revival movement of role playing games (OSR).” This is the work of Michael Francis of Canberra, Australia, a veteran zine publisher with titles such as the “Atomic Elbow Professional Wrestling Fanzine,” “Soda Killers” and the “Slash Dance” horror zine.  It has been a while since Haunted West closed out, but just to follow up, it finished strong with 889 backers at just under $54,000. The backerkit survey went out a few days ago, and Chris has pledged monthly updates as it progresses through production. This is the stand-alone game we talked about a few episodes, that pieces together stories of forgotten people of the Old West who have been whitewashed by history. Modiphius is at it again playing the licensing game this time with an Agatha Christie based card game called Death on the Cards. The game for 2-6 players can and last up to 20 – 40 minutes and features many of the characters from the fiction, Miss Marple, Poirot, etc. You can get the game at their website now for $19.33 US. We have a link in the show notes.  Our own Keeper Dan sent us a link to some news that there is a Lovecraftian cinematic universe in the works. SpectreVision’s Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah are partnering with Color Out of Space director and writer Richard Stanley to create a cinematic universe based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Noah and Wood told ComingSoon that they’re working on an adaptation of The Dunwich Horror as a way to “build out a Lovecraft universe.”  A big thanks to our own Keeper Murph for editing this episode! Join us on Discord! You can use the widget on the right of the home page to join or you can click this link! Card Catalog This episode, Graham brings us a couple of links from Project Gutenberg that could be useful for Gaslight or an Old West horror game like Haunted West or Down Darker Trails. This is an 1870 history of gambling, lots of ways to induce Investigators to lose their shirts and who knows what else (They may end up wearing barrels…). “The Gaming Table: Its Votaries & Victims, In all Times & Countries, especially in England and in France by Andrew Steinmetz, Esq (1870) Volume 1 Volume 2 And a related link: an interesting paper on the game that was played in the Old West more often than Poker, Faro. Get ready to ‘Buck the Tiger’… http://jgi.camh.net/index.php/jgi/article/view/3724/3684 Cultes des Fools In Call of Cthulhu, cults often fall into old familiar tropes, with robe-wearing worshipers meeting in stone circles making ritual human sacrifices. Many of these tropes come from a parody of religion from the Lovecraft era, and are caricatures of groups like the Theosophists and the hysteria of a secret “witch cult” in Europe, which turned out to be bogus. While there’s plenty of room to be creative within those tropes, let’s look outside the box a bit. Let’s look at other groups of people who show “cultish tendencies” that we could infuse with Mythos flavor and work into games. A Word of Caution: We are using real-world groups for villains, we should just be mindful of “other-izing” real people and trying to punch up when possible instead of punching down at groups that are already “otherized” and marginalized.  How might we look at cult-like behavior in groups that fall out of the traditional tropes, and use them for inspiration to make antagonists for games?   What kinds of unconventional “cult” groups do we already see in Call of Cthulhu’s deep back catalog? Got a favorite? MUP Episode 54 YSDC Mythos Cults Eden: Paradise Lost Sounds of the Solar Wind Church of the Subgenius Dudeism Iglesia Maradoniana Jon’s Cults Fallstaff Academy Preparatory School for Boys Some of the staff within an all boy’s prep school Boys with a high enough GPA, but also with a history of disciplinary actions Initial threat of expulsion is leverage used to fold the boys into the cult until they’re brainwashed enough to participate voluntarily They worship Yog-Sothoth The goal is to groom the boys to infiltrate the highest positions in industry and politics so they can eventually herald the coming of Yog-Sothoth Patronage of the Bloodied Thumb Patrons of a gifted contemporary artist The artist “signs” artwork with a red thumbprint Artist creates art after tapping into the Mythos through her dreams Admirers of the artist’s work, if they seem sincere enough, are approached by the other patrons to join their “circle” of support for the artist Artist is interpreting dreams from Cthulhu Clockmakers Guild Collection of mechanical and science-minded people Worship the Tick-Tock Man, an avatar of Nyarlathotep The cultists include clockmakers, watch makers, toy makers, and inventors – anyone who uses tiny jeweler-level tools to build, fix, and invent These cultists network with each other, but are typically isolated individuals who prefer to work alone – except for their mechanical servants and assistants Anyone wishing to join the cult must demonstrate a high level of mechanical mastery Nursemaid Sisterhood Group of nursemaids, doulas, and nannies They are strong proponents of homeopathic and natural remedies They worship Shub Niggurath One of the tenets of the cult is to test newborns to see if he/she qualifies to be gifted to Shub Niggurath – then a changeling is brought in to replace the newborn as the real baby is gifted to their goddess Each cult cell is led by a “Den Mother” – the bulk of the cultists are young women – the incredibly few men in the cult serve in a laborer or maintenance capacity Chad’s Cults Meme theory as a way to explore cultish groups, and multi-level marketing as a vector.  Imagine a race like the Mi-Go, but instead of biological experiments, they are conducting sociological experiments on groups of humans.  They launch a multi-level marketing experiment of cultish door-to-door salespeople, with separate groups competing in the same market, each one with different “meme” traits to test recruiting capability.  Reality Shows  Stochastic terrorism. Just as the show runners manipulate the subculture of the show’s participants, a Mythos entity could also be pulling the strings behind the scenes.   Naked and Afraid, or Lost, or Abandoned, or this one that was cancelled (called Eden). Satirical Groups Political Parties “frivolous political parties.” Inanimate Objects Party. Art experiments, like The Institute or the OWL Party. Hobby/Interest group: Amateur electronics kit makers and radio operators in the 20s stumble upon a strange pirate radio broadcast and discover it’s coming from space Murph’s Cults Murph has a companion post that will be released to Patreon backers first, and then will be released to all listeners shortly thereafter.

Hello MU Nation. This is a short special report to cover some podcast news. Keeper Chad has decided to step down as cohost of the show at the end of 2019. There are several reasons coming together for this decision, but a big one is he wants to redirect some of the time spent on podcast stuff into other creative projects. But fear not, Jon and Murph will continue producing the show in 2020. Message from Chad: Thank you to everyone in this weird and wondrous podcast community; to listeners, friends, guest hosts and people I got to meet along the way. It has been one wild ride.     

Campus Crier The Campus Crier is where we keep all the mythos related news and info for the podcast, this episode was recorded on August 16, 2021. I want to personally congratulate each of the Alumni of the Storytelling Collective’s Write Your First Adventure Workshop last month. The market has been flooded with over 50+ titles on the MR, Chaosium’s Community Creator Content hub. Ya’ll, I’m so proud of each and every one of you. These scenarios look amazing, the cover arts are BOSS, the Miskatonic Repository Creator’s Circle is buzzing, you’re being featured in Chaosium newsletters, and you’re making your first sales. I’m just– I’m just so proud of you guys. Congrats! Head over to the Miskatonic Repository and make someone’s day by checking out their newest creations!  Annnd speaking of the Miskatonic Repository, Miskatonic Repository Con GM Signups just opened up! This virtual con will be hosted October 15th – October 17th. We have 3 awesome panels and over 16 events already submitted! So, come play some 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu with us! A link to the TTE will be in the show notes… and you can email MisktatonicRepositoryCon@gmail.com to get in touch!  Innsmouth The Missing Child: A Gamebook is a choose your own adventure styled solo game book where you are an investigator brought in to find the whereabouts of a missing child amongst the odd and terrible inhabitants of Innsmouth. It has funded with $23k of a $1300 goal and still has 23 days left at the time of recording. The art looks sparse, but that’s what I would expect from a product of this type. You can get a PDF for as little as $9 and a physical starting at $17. Overall it looks pretty neat, and I’m trying to not back it. Free League has another Kickstarter out for two new products in their Forbidden Lands line, this time a bestiary of sorts called Forbidden Lands: Book of Beasts and a campaign called The Blood March. As we have come to expect from Free League, the art on display is absolutely gorgeous. And this seems to be a no brainer for any fan of the weird fantasy setting. You can get a pdf of both books for $35 or either individual book in print for $35. If you want both in print it will cost you $69. The project has already funded with $285k of a $12k goal, and will have another three days left at the time of this release. Good friend of the show and proprietor of The Old Ways Podcast, Mike Diamond, has officially announced a third campaign for their excellent live play series, but this time with a twist! They are currently accepting GM pitches for a new campaign run by a new Storyteller. So if you have a campaign in mind and have it well thought out put in your submission at the link in the show notes. You can also find Mike on our own Discord, where he is a mod, or over at The Old Ones Discord, or you can just email him at theoldwayspodcast@gmail.com  And finally, it is with great sadness that we have to say a final goodbye to RPG Legend Steve Perrin, who passed away earlier this month. Goodbye Steve, safe travels. https://www.chaosium.com/blogvale-and-farewell-steve-perrin-1946-2021/ The Discord Plug We have our MUP Discord and we are all there! We invite all of our listeners to come and enjoy the community of horror gaming and cute pet pics. A big birthday shout out to Zelda, the pup of patreon backer, Al Smith, who if you’re lucky enough to get a seat at this table, she’ll probably make an appearance. Also, good luck to the kitties, Spaghetti and Meatball, who are currently in foster care with one of our awesome listeners.  MU Discord server invite link: https://discord.gg/vNjEv9D  And thank you beaucoup to Murph for editing this episode. Patreon Plug We have a Patreon! To back us you can click the button on the sidebar of our website, mu-podcast.com or head over to Patreon directly at www.patreon.com/mup! One new backer!  Brolin Graham Just a reminder, we’re offering Patreon Backers a sneak peek into future episode guests! Back us for an opportunity to ask your favorite creators in the TTRPG circuit your questions!  And you can also help out the show by buying some merch from our Teepublic store!  Thanks to our backers so much for supporting the show!! Recent Gaming Bridgett – Pale Rider Playtest 2 MepaCon Man’s Best Friend by Jazmin Ospa Main Topic We create a monster from scratch! Campus Crier Jon talked about Robert Bloch’s story, Black Bargin’, in our previous episode, which centered on a malevolent shadow — well, he has created a new spell and a new monster based on that shadow creature for Call of Cthulhu, and I call it Shade of Yog-Sothoth. It’s available now from the Miskatonic Repository.  Dave Heath has a blog, called “Dave’s Corner of the Universe,” and in a pair of recent posts he talks about the “Final Girl” movie trope. Dave’s blog talks about how to introduce a “Final Girl” occupation into your Call of Cthulhu game: https://davescorneroftheuniverse.wordpress.com/2019/10/29/final-girl-trope-for-coc-7e/ Old Gods of Appalachia is a Lovecraftian horror anthology podcast. Long before anyone lived in those hills, beings of immeasurable darkness and incomprehensible madness were entombed beneath them. Old Gods of Appalachia is set in an alternate, (or shadow), Appalachia. An upside-down Appalachia, if you will. This is an anthology podcast of original weird short stories set in this alternate version of the Appalachia.  Chaosium has announced a contest for a new logo for the Cult of Chaos! They are looking for a logo that will pay homage to each of Chaosium’s current main RPG lines. The winner will be given a contract from Chaosium and a sub-license for it to be used for Cult of Chaos properties. Oh and $60. We have links in the show notes. “Gateways to Terrors – Three Evenings of Nightmare” was just released by Chaosium. The book contains three short scenarios that were originally designed to be run as demonstration games of Call of Cthulhu. The included scenarios are: The Necropolis, by Leigh Carr, The Dead Boarder, by Todd Gardiner, and What’s in the Cellar, by me. I have a copy, and I can attest that it looks amazing! Shout out to Matt Ryan who did the maps and handouts, I know for my scenario, he did a fantastic job making them look amazing for both the Keeper and the players.  MU Discord server invite link: https://discord.gg/vNjEv9D And thank you so much to Max for editing this episode. Graham’s Card Catalog This episode, Graham brings us a YouTube channel called ‘Curious World‘ a tale from 2016, where he said the circumstances immediately made him think of Ithaqua. Listening Room The Listening Room is closed for renovation today. Sheets of newsprint have been taped to the inside of the windows, and while several undefined shadows can still be seen skulking about in an oddly flickering light, there are no sounds coming from in there. None. In fact, if you get too close to the windows, you’ll even stop hearing any sounds. Even the sound of your own breath, or the trepidatious scuffling of your feet against institutional carpeting…   Main Topic A new edition of Malleus Monstorum – is in the works! What can Mike say about it? 2. Journalist investigators – “What aren’t all investigators journalists? Discuss.” – What are the inherent problems of a journalist investigating the Mythos? Ethics, greater good vs. suppressing information, game-rich dilemmas… Resources: a Free Newspaper Article Generator Ethics case studies from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) The ethics page for National Public Radio (NPR) The ethics page for The New York Times A security guide from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Here is a guide from the Ethical Journalism Network listing “the five principles of journalism.” https://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/who-we-are/5-principles-of-journalism 3. Pacing your horror games – “Keeping on time – why directing your players is not a bad thing.”